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COUNCIL ROCK School District May Tune Into TV Business
April 9, 2000
Bucks County Courier Times
By Gwen Shrift
Courier Times
gshrift@calkinsnewspapers.com
Council Rock's proposed 24-hour TV channel comes with a high price tag, which the district hopes sponsors will help pay.
Council Rock envisions a mini-public TV operation to cablecasts school related events and educational programming 24 hours a day.
It won't be cheap, but district business manager Robert McAuliffe says it may become a self-supporting entity if enough sponsors can be rounded up.
Last week McAuliffe told the board the 24-hour cable channel would cost about $254,302 a year to run, based on estimates prepared by Video Gold Inc., the Northampton production company that airs the school board meetings.
McAuliffe said that figure includes a cable operator fee, equipment leasing, legal fees and business development costs. It doesn't include the cost of production, i.e., sending video crews to tape events such as football games.
District public relations counsel Leza Raffel contacted a number of vendors who do business with the district to see if they'd be interested in donating money in return for a plug of the kind seen on public television.
She said about 72 companies expressed interest, but cautioned the board against assuming those were commitments to the new venture. Estimates of potential annual outside funding range from $250,200 to $538,200 a year, according to McAuliffe.
Eventually the cable channel could turn a profit for the district, based on projections from McAuliffe and Video Gold. They project cumulative net income of $120,943 by December 2002.
The proposal would involve a contractor developing the channel, then turning it over to the district in a few years to allow students to take over production duties.
Some officials have expressed hope that the channel would be up and running in time to air this year's graduation ceremonies, which are scheduled for June 6. School Board President Jim DiDio said that may not be realistic, as the work would have to be competitively bid.
Many questions about the TV channel have yet to be answered. To get on television in all municipalities covered by the district, Council Rock needs the cooperation of Northampton and Newtown townships, which hold franchises with cable providers.
So far, Northampton has agreed to the deal, according to McAuliffe.
The district also needs to develop a policy governing use of the channel. Proposed content includes programs currently seen several hours a week on the Northampton Township cable channel, such as the school board meetings and "Roving Rock Report," a program about board activities.
The proposal also lists other programs that could be cablecast, including sport events, parenting programs, student recognition, special board hearings, homebound instruction courses, student government meetings and a variety of educational videos on topics such as health, drug abuse and the environment. |
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