6210_NewGloucester_2017-2018_AnnualReport_Web

ANNUAL REPORT Cable Television Committee

The Committee continued its basic mission to record and broadcast public Meeting House meetings as well as events held there and elsewhere, making such recordings available as video-on-demand on the Internet in addition to “cablecasting” on channel 3/1302 (cable box) and 121.2 (direct connection). Committee members, as individuals, produced public access programming of nongovernmental events and offered DVDs for purchase at a nominal fee. Staffing of video operators for meeting coverage was provided by a part time employee with hours based on need, backed by a volunteer who also maintains the video server recording and playback, as well as being responsible for all technical matters. Meeting recording operations were without significant equipment incident, although the DVD recorder expired and was replaced by a spare, which, in turn, was replaced by a similar but later-model used recorder. However, three wireless microphone systems destined to become unusable by 2019 were replaced, funded by an equipment grant. As they have for many years, volunteers have supported Town meetings, public hearings and public workshops held at Memorial School or the AMVETS Hall by operating the public address system and recording the sessions for broadcast, video-on-demand and archiving. Volunteer production of public access programming continued, including a Selectman candidate forum, four Historical Society presentations, the annual library play, two referendum informational meetings, a G-NG “business summit” and a dedication ceremony of the memorial for Malaga Island residents, including those buried in the Pineland Cemetery. These productions and older NGHS presentations were telecast on weekends (Fri.-Sun.) starting at 7:00 am. and pm. In support of the Capital Improvement Plan and Budgeting processes, those meetings were rebroadcast on weekends at 2:00 pm soon after they occurred. All recorded meetings are sent to the Town’s video-on-demand service, then trimmed and published at http://newgloucester.viebit.com for access via Internet. DVDs are retained at the Town Office. The library retains DVDs of annual and special Town Meetings. In addition, all meetings and other content are retained on “hard drives” retired from the video server. The Committee encourages those desiring greater communication within our town to help us expand our utilization of the cable channel and video-on-demand web site.

Respectfully Submitted,

Cable TV Committee

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