NASHUA, NH – The Community Television Advisory Board (CTAB) held a public meeting in the City Hall auditorium Thursday to discuss the extension of the BRTV contract. Bartis-Russell Broadcasting, LLC is the operator contracted by the city to operate Nashua Public Television Channel 6 (NPTV).
BRTV is approaching the end of the base contract term and is requesting that the city exercise its option to continue it for the next two years.
CTAB board chairman Andrew Cernota described the goal of the hearing as, “We are looking primarily for feedback on how that incumbent has fulfilled their responsibilities under the current contract. To assess in particular their efforts at community outreach, how accessible they’ve been for producers and for members of the public who have questions about public access. We’re looking for information about how public access is utilized under their incumbency and generally how they perform under the contract.”
Bob Bartis addressed the board and gathered the public on behalf of his company, BRTV.
“Our goal is to keep the channel on, put content on so that there’s a little something for everybody in there. Public access. It’s relevant, it’s available, it’s free. It’s free to watch, free to record, free to sign out equipment, free to share and it’s free of taxpayer dollars. Public access benefits a free society,” said Bartis.
He ran through a significant list of reasons why the contract should continue He gave a comprehensive review of the operational achievements and community connections during the contract to date. Much of what he offered was anecdotal. The company does not have an accurate way to measure viewership and streaming because Comcast does not share that information.
One data point he provided was comparing their output in 10 quarters of record compared to Access Nashua, the previous operator. Access produced 6,800 shows compared to the 26,524 shows produced by BRTV, according to Bartis.
He was followed by several Nashua residents who all voiced their support for the contract extension. One important fact was there was nobody who came to speak in opposition to continuing the operation by the company. Multiple letters of support were also read into the record.
CTAB member Nick Miseirvitch offered a counterpoint to Bartis’ claims of a “free service.” The operation is funded by the steadily declining Comcast franchise fees. While not technically a tax dollar it is revenue paid for the use of city infrastructure.
From the public comments, there is no question that the community values the public access television operation. That level of community support is going to be tested as CTAB weighs the extension in the short-term and long-term budget issues they face.