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Second Public Access Channel

What would SFCTC do with a second channel?

The San Francisco Cable Franchise Agreement allocates a second cable channel (each) to public access, educational access, and government access. The government station rolled out their second channel late last year. Access SF is already equipped for a second channel, which is to say the automated playback system is capable of programming a second channel if it were made available. What would we do with a second channel if it were connected? Most of the cablecast day is not committed, so it's programed with replays and specials. If we had twice of many producers submitting programming, we could use a second channel. Until then, what would SFCTC do with a second channel?

A second station is not needed for our current program load. Some think Zane would use a second station for non-profit programming that is not public access. Why else would the SFCTC Development Effort be focused on outreach to non-profits rather than outreach to the public?

Zane has been putting a lot of effort into getting funding to upgrade the automated playback system. Sure, upgrades are nice if it adds value above the costs. Upgrades would be nice if it fixes problems we're having, but why would we trust Synergy Broadcast Systems to sell us an upgraded system when they never got the original one to work as promised? So we have so much disposable income that we would dump the system we have and replace it, or could we use that money for other purposes (i.e., open the facilities 7 days a week, non-linear editing suites, streaming our programming, etc.)? Considering the current system is capable of programming a second station already, let's have SFCTC reconsider the priorities on where to spend money.

Before we consider what to do with a second channel, we must get the one we have running better. We need to outreach to prospective producers to get more programming. We need to get out existing automated playback system to work better. We need to be able fix the technical problems we've been having with a stereo signal. We need to fix the digital playback problems. We should be streaming our entire schedule as it's cablecast, and we should be able to archive shows for streaming on demand.

Questions/Comments?