2005 Annual Report

Plymouth Community Channels 3 & 20
2005 Annual Report

In FY’05, the Town of Plymouth raised and appropriated $15,000.00 from a 2% franchise fee collected from Plymouth cable subscribers. For the first time in the history of PCC3 and now PCC20, revenue was also generated from video duplications in the sum of $305.00 From December 2004 through November 2005.

On September 12, 2005, Plymouth Community Channel 3 began cablecasting from Plymouth Town Hall as a government access channel. Operations at Pease Public Library were reassigned to Plymouth Community Channel 20 as the public and educational access channel. Plymouth Selectboard, Planning Board and Zoning Board meetings are now all cablecast live. Additionally the Veterans’ Day Parade on November 11, 2005 became the first live parade cablecast in Plymouth.

Bulletin Board
PCC3 and PCC20 continue to use PowerPoint-driven bulletin boards making it easy for volunteers to work from home. Bulletin board use continues to increase and more volunteers have come forward to keep up with the demand. PCC3 continues to bring draft agendas of Board of Selectmen meetings, as well as agendas for both the Planning Board and Zoning Board.

See below how the 2005 total of notices run compares to seven previous years. Please consider that the 2004 total is not complete as some information, such as notices submitted by email prior to October, was not available. It is estimated the total number of announcements cablecast in 2004 is in excess of 1,000. Information on the number of notices cablecast in 2003 was not available.

 

Year	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2004	2005
Notices Run	339	265	231	292	205	325	700	1772

 
Video Programming
Students in PSU’s meteorology program produced weekday weather forecasts during spring and fall semesters. Public Access Users submitted programming produced by five area churches. A Public Access User also submitted videotapes of the N.H. Electric Cooperative’s Board of Directors meetings. Volunteers produced videos and live cablecasts of budget hearings, annual meetings, special hearings and informational meetings for the Selectboard, Planning Board, Zoning Board, Plymouth School Board and Pemi-Baker Regional School Board.

In addition to prerecorded programming, a Public Access User for the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce produced four evenings of live programming. These shows were the Chamber’s 11^th Annual TV/Radio/Internet Auction in December 2004 and their 12^th Annual TV/Radio/Internet Auction in November 2005. Another Public Access User produced and submitted a weekly live talk show titled “Plymouth Live.”

The amount of video programming has also increased sharply. See below how the 2005 total compares to six previous years. The figures for educational access in 2004 are estimated as an exact number of PSU Weather forecasts was not available.

 

Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003		2004		2005
					Unique	Total	Unique	Total	Unique	Total
Public	43	54	111	94	119	254	204	363	215	1266
Edu.	96	120	126	114	56	186	118	361	118	364
Gov’t.	4	4	3	1	32	71	8	37	57	530
Totals	143	178	240	209	207	511	330	761	390	2160

 
Future Development
Many plans are in the works for the near and far future. One immediate concern to be addressed is the expansion of our video programming capacity. Once again we have reached playback deck capacity on PCC20. Research is being done to investigate purchasing a larger automation system that includes digital playback capabilities. This will not only solve playback capacity issues but also bring us up-to-date on video production technologies as more and more production is done digitally.

We continue to make outreach efforts to surrounding communities in the viewing area to collect franchise fees from their cable subscribers toward the operations of PCC3 and PCC20. Dialogue has occurred and continues with the Towns of Ashland and Holderness.

New cameras are our greatest need at the moment. We currently have two cameras available for productions, one of which is very old and only partially functional. These two cameras allow us only one production at a time and limit our ability to readily facilitate public involvement in production. It is expected that grants will be applied for to purchase new cameras and a set of studio production equipment for public access purposes, leaving the current equipment to be dedicated to Plymouth Town Hall.

 
Thanks
Volunteers who deserve many thanks include Peter Adams, Jim Bleyle, Ben Conte, Kyle DaRosa, Greg Degraeve, Beth Harrington, Brendon Hoch, Andy Kniskern, Joanne Koermer, James Moriarty, Bob Shirey, Wallace Stuart, Calista Weichel, Dylan Weichel, students in Professor Eric Hoffman’s meteorology class and members of the PCC3 Advisory Board. The trustees, staff and volunteers of Pease Public Library deserve special praise for all time and resources they contributed to PCC3. The Selectboard and office staff, headed by Elizabeth Corrow, were extraordinarily supportive. Efforts of Adelphia Communications’ technical crew were very much appreciated in establishing two channels in Plymouth.

Submitted by,
Jamie Cadorette
Executive Director
Plymouth Community Channels 3 & 20