Attempted channel theft?

By CHRISTINE CARRIE FIEN
Messenger Post Staff
January 11, 2007

Some west side communities are looking to move public-access TV to a studio at Greece Olympia High School, and the director of Edu-Cable smells a rat.

Gates Supervisor Ralph Esposito has made the trek to Ridgeway Avenue in Greece once a month for 18 years. Two days after the monthly Town Board meeting, Esposito would head down into the basement studio at Cable 12 West to record his "Community Report," to air the following Monday. The supervisor and another board member – they took turns – used the show to go over the agenda from the latest meeting and to discuss other goings-on in Gates.

But the town's three-year contract with the station ended last month, and, Esposito said, he has recorded his last "Community Report" – at Ridgeway Avenue, that is.

"We are going to do it. I don't expect it's going to be with them," he said.

Gates is one of the communities exploring the idea of moving public-access production from Ridgeway Avenue to a television studio at Greece Olympia High School. The studio was built during the district's last capital project, in 2000, and shares space with the district's radio station, Jazz 90.1.

Making the move would save money, Esposito said, improve quality and open a whole new world of technological possibilities. Ridgeway Avenue was fine in its day, he said, but it has run its course.

"We think we can do something that will improve the quality to the public," Esposito said. "There are some opportunities we don't explore because of the logistics of the current facilities," including panel discussions and audience participation.

The Olympia idea is also, supporters say, a great opportunity for Greece students to get hands-on experience in television and media. There would be more student programs and more district news, said Greece schools communications coordinator Laurel Heiden.

"It is exciting. That's why we want to do it," Heiden said. Students "would have tangible experience with radio and TV."

The public-access work could be tied into the curriculum, Greece school officials said.

Supporters say the cable channels would have the same reach and accept tapes from the public as they do now, as long as they meet certain guidelines.

The Greece school board last week unanimously agreed to keep discussing the Olympia idea with the town of Greece. Kathryn Firkins, the town's director of constituent services, has taken the lead on the issue and is sharing what she learns with other municipalities, including Gates.

But Brian Caterino, director of Edu-Cable — educational channels 12 and 15 — said he has been told nothing of these negotiations. All he knows is he sent new one-year contracts out to municipalities, and they haven't been returned.

Caterino said he sees the Olympia proposal as an attempt at a "hostile ambush" of the public airwaves.

"They're trying to negotiate with other towns to get rid of us," he said.

Switching to Olympia is a government move to squash free speech, Caterino said.

"Anytime you lose an independent voice, the community is weakened, of course," he said. "Would I trust the school district or town government to be guardians of free speech? No."

Caterino doesn't buy the idea that the switch would save money, either.

"That's complete B.S.," he said. "The equipment is incredibly expensive, and they can hide the cost of staff in the budget. They'll spend a fortune and tell people they aren't."

Heiden said the goal is for the whole project to be self-sustaining, with no money taken from the district's operating budget for public access.

Edu-Cable's two channels covers 17 towns and villages in Monroe County's western suburbs and even leaks into Orleans and Genesee counties, Caterino said. They reach 70,000 households, he said, and approximately 200,000 people. Local programming airs on Cable 12, Caterino said, five days a week from 6 to 10 p.m. Cable 15 runs local programming only "occasionally," Caterino said, and is often used as a community-events calendar. It has the same reach as Cable 12.

The channels are funded by the municipalities they serve. According to Brian Wirth, vice-president of public and governmental affairs for Time Warner, the cable company collects a franchise fee from subscribers and gives that money to the municipalities. The towns and villages give a portion of that to fund public access. For Gates, that comes out to about $12,000 annually, Esposito said.

Caterino said the money he gets from the towns and villages amounts to "starvation" wages. How can Esposito and the like complain about quality, Caterino said, when they won't provide decent funding?

"Ralph refused continuously over the years to fund Cable 12 at a reasonable level," he said. "It's like giving someone a car with no motor and no wheels and then criticizing you when you can't drive it."

Although Esposito said he would like to have a new agreement worked out by the end of the month, Firkins and Heiden said there's no firm timeframe.

Esposito said he's certain the other west-side communities will join Gates and Greece.

"It's too good an opportunity to pass up for any town," he said.

It is unclear what the switch would mean for Caterino. Time Warner's only role, Wirth said, is to provide space on the cable system for public access, and channels 12 and 15 are the extent of the space available.

"They all share those channels," Wirth said. "Every municipality has equal rights to use those channels. It's up to them what programming ends up on (them)."

Caterino and the Greece folks could work together, Wirth said, to program the channels.

That seems a remote possibility. It has been suggested that access be moved to Greece in the past with Caterino becoming an employee of the school district, Caterino said.

"They tried to pull that on me three years ago, and I told them what to do with it, basically," he said. "My opinion is they don't want independent voices. People are going to get less."

Caterino fears the school district will use access to spread "propaganda" out over the public airwaves.

"Public access needs to be by people and not controlled by government," he said. "That's not access. Access is supposed to be for citizens"