Community TV in new home

A new-look community access cable channel is expanding its reach in the Spokane area, offering new programming and a chance for residents and organizations to tell their stories on TV.

“We are up and running and ready to rock ‘n’ roll,” said Jeff Anttila, general manager of Spokane’s CMTV on Comcast cable Channel 14.

The new station marks a quantum leap for community access.

Previously, community access TV was housed at Comcast facilities in northeast Spokane. Productions were for the most part individually inspired and at various levels of sophistication, many amateur.

Changes in federal law allowed the cable company to shed responsibility for operating community-access, leaving the city of Spokane in the position of having to find a new operator.

A year ago, Community-Minded Enterprises, a nonprofit outreach organization, won a City Council resolution and contract to take over the channel with a new mission: to become a training, education and outreach resource as well as a production facility.

New offices and studios with high-definition cameras and production equipment were installed in a corner of the fourth floor of the Saranac Building at 25 W. Main Ave.

The city’s franchise agreement with Comcast allowed for $200,000 to be spent in 2007 to build and equip the facility and another $80,000 for the same purpose this year. The money is coming from cable television fees paid by subscribers.

Antilla said he believes the facility is one of the best in the country. The staff is made up of Anttila, Rob Foote, who oversees productions, four interns and a work-study student.

It took the better part of a year to get the new operation installed and established. KSPS-TV, the region’s public television station, is partnering with CMTV on technical aspects of putting the signals over the local cable network.

Programming has been slowly increasing for the past several months, and now can be seen from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Additional hours will be added as more people and organizations start taking advantage of the station. The facility is available to the entire Spokane County area.

A flagship production about a Spokane team that competed last year in the National Disability Junior Championships in Spokane was shown on Monday at “premiere” screening at the Magic Lantern Theater on the ground floor of the Saranac. The show follows five athletes from Team St. Luke’s out of St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute in Spokane. It is not yet scheduled for cablecast.

“This is a very inspiring piece,” Anttila said.

Other programs include health advisories, a weekly Catholic mass and youth forums. City Forum speaking events will also be cablecast.

A coordinating committee established policies and procedures to ensure that productions meet the channel’s mission of enhancing community life.

Out-of-town productions with no local connection are not allowed. Also, profanity, hate messages and strong sexual content are against the policies.

Potential producers are asked to meet with station staff to talk about their ideas and to take advantage of their professional guidance. Productions done by community members or organizations become the property of those producers, and can be posted on Web sites.

Newcomers may learn camera and editing skills through training classes, some of which are offered free of charge. Training classes on sophisticated programs such as Final Cut Pro are done for a fee.

Already, the classes are filling up through word of mouth, Anttila said.

“We give the tools they need to create a quality production,” he said.

Most productions will use on-scene video and audio to complement studio work. “We refer to ours as a more community-based product where we’re out there in the environment creating productions,” he said.

The progress of CMTV so far is meeting the expectations of city officials, who in a way, were bailed out by Community-Minded Enterprises when the new cable franchise allowed Comcast to jettison community-access responsibilities.

Comcast accepted a franchise provision in 2005 to allow community access to operate for an extra year at Comcast facilities during 2006 while the city found an alternate operator.

To get the station up and running, the City Council added a $50,000 startup subsidy for operating costs in 2007, and is being asked to provide an additional $25,000 for this year. CMTV is also working with grant programs for income and offering some services to the community for modest fees.

John Waite, vice chair of the city’s Cable Advisory Board, said he is concerned with CMTV’s shoestring budget, but likes the “nice synergy” created through Community-Minded Enterprises.

“What they are doing is great,” he said. “The community needs it.”