Future of local television channel seems uncertain

BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

Scott Martin JACKSON - The chance for Jackson to have a municipal cable television station may have gone down the tubes.

Responding to a request for a municipal cable station, Township Councilman Scott Martin looked into the matter.

Speaking at an Aug. 8 meeting, Martin said, "At the last meeting [July 25] it was asked why don't we have our own cable channel and why aren't our meetings being televised."

Martin said he reached out to Cablevision, which has the franchise to provide cable television service in Jackson. He said it was determined that negotiations were going back and forth with the prior township administration, but no agreement could be reached.

"It's unfortunate, because we may have missed out on getting our own channel," Martin said.

He said he requested a meeting with a Cablevision representative, but said the company was reluctant to talk with him about an agreement because at that point in time the firm was waiting to find out if Gov. Jon Corzine was going to sign a bill, which he said would allow cable TV companies to go directly to the state Board of Public Utilities to obtain their franchise agreements.

"[Cablevision] would not have to sit down and talk with us [if the bill was signed]," Martin said. "The township would lose the power to negotiate."

He said the company was waiting for the 45-day period to end in which the bill would be signed or vetoed by the governor. But in the past few days Martin said he learned that Corzine had signed the bill.

"That was on Aug. 4," he said. "That means [Cablevision] no longer has to deal directly with the township."

Martin said Jackson may have lost the chance to have its own cable television channel. He said students may have lost a chance to have their own cable TV channel and the municipality may have lost the ability to have a channel that would broadcast meetings to residents.

He noted comments that had been made by a resident at a previous meeting. The resident said there are people who, for any number of reasons, may not be able to attend municipal meetings but who would like to be aware of what is happening in town. Broadcasting local meetings would have been one way for residents to see what is happening in Jackson.

Martin said Cablevision executives will now decide whether they will deal with the township directly or go to the Board of Public Utilities when negotiating a franchise agreement.