HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000 06 01 Letter Re: Additional Cable Television Channels
BOARDOFCOUNTYCOMM~~ONERS
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June 21,2000
Commissioner Cindy Gennell,
Chairperson
Council of Local Governments
C/o City of Winter Springs
1126 E. State Road 434
Winter Springs, FI 32708
Dear Commissioner Genne!l:
This is in response to your letter dated May 26, 2000 enclosing the Resolution adopted
by the Council of Local Governments relative to additional cable television channels.
Seminole County appreciates the support and interaction of CALNO, the School Board
and Seminole Community College, and applauds your cooperation and participation to
date. SGTV has come a long way in a short period of time, and the future of our
programming and broadcasting capabilities are just beginning to materialize. The
impact that SGTV has had in our County has been very refreshing, and we believe
we're building a repetitive viewing audience among our citizens. We are building an
information exchange resource that will meet many of our citizen needs and requests
as we move into the future. SGTV has recently employed an operations manager and a
technical engineer who bring many years of experience, enthusiasm, and fresh ideas in
all facets of public television broadcasting, and we are ready to take SGTV to the next
level of government / education services.
At a recent School Board meeting the Board discussed the feasibility of obtaining a
dedicated education channel for Seminole County. The Board requested a letter be
drafted and sent to the County, as well as to all of the municipalities, to "ask that we
remain sensitive to the needs of public education by recognizing and supporting the
dedication of an education only television channel" when negotiating renewals to our
existing franchise agreements.
During our negotiations with Time Warner for our existing Government Cable Channel
we agreed to combine, and extend the franchise renewal date for all Time Warner
Agreements with the County to the year 2005. In our discussions with them the subject
of a second, and possibly a third dedicated government / education channel was
discussed, and we indicated at that time it would probably be at some point in the
future. The County in its original discussions with the School Board, CALNO and S.C.C.
discussed and agreed, that a dedicated education channel would be desirable in the
future as we created and expanded our broadcast capabilities, hours and material.
1101 EAST FIRST STREET SANFORD FL 32771-1468 TELEPHONE (407) 665-7219 FAX 665-7958
Commissioner Cindy Gennell
June 21, 2000
Page two
We are still sensitive to the expansion towards a 24-hour dedicated education channel
in the future, and will be adding such a request to the negotiating agenda of the Time
Warner renewal in 2005. We will also be addressing this important need during the
rewriting of the County's Cable Franchise Ordinance that is nearly completed, where we
have included language to insure our success in obtaining additional channels for
education and government use in the future.
We look forward to our continued partnering, working with the CALNO, the School
Board and S.C.C., as well as any other qualified participants of the County as we
expand the services and programming of SGTV.
Sincerely,
(!~
Carlton D. Henley
Chairman
Board of County Commissioners
CDH:mm
cc: J. Kevin Grace, County Manager
James Marino, Deputy County Manager
Cindy Coto, Deputy County Manager
Chris Grasso, Director, Information Technologies