Channel 4 no more?

Georgia College & State University and the city of Milledgeville may be losing a cable channel.

In a letter sent Oct. 4 to University Television, the Milledgeville City Council wrote that it “wishes to terminate the current contract for television services. provided by Georgia College.”

“Georgia College gets one percent of the franchise tax we pay to Charter which equaled around $29,000,” said Jennette Walden, chairman of the Finance Committee. “We’re just looking into a more economical way of providing the service.”

“We are working under a 10 year old agreement, which is outdated,” said Bill Wendt, director of University Broadcasting. “When the new mayor came into office, we began looking at ways to improve on what we were doing.”

The original contract, signed in 1993, states that GC&SU would manage and operate the channel provided by what was then TCI Cable System,
now called Charter Communications.

According to Walden, the city has been footing the bill and the advertisers are not contributing.

“The channel was set up as a government access channel,” said Max Allen, director of University Relations. “This means that there are no commercials, and the channel is not for profit making. Its purpose is to inform the public of meetings and to provide additional community programming.”

The money GC&SU receives from the franchise tax is based on the number of cable subscribers, and the number has grown since the signing of the contract.

“The city is on a tight budget and just like anyone on a tight budget, the luxury items go first,” said Walden. “We have to do whatever we can to be cost effective.”

“No matter what, we’re going to support the studio,” said Allen. “The big issue is can we keep doing things without the funding.”

Contract renegotiations are planned, but they will not begin until the first of next year.

“We’re hoping to work out something that is win/win to everyone,” said Allen.

The loss of funding will not affect the other student channels maintained by University Television.

“We have a separate relationship with Charter because of the cable that is in the dorms and other buildings on campus,” said Allen. “If the funding falls through for Channel 4, it would mainly be a loss to the citizens of Milledgeville not to the students.”

“We feel we do a lot for the community,” said Wendt. “We hope the city wants to be a part of it, but it’s up to them.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 25 2002. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry