Charter TV changes the channel

WINSTED — Live broadcasts of town government meetings will no longer be aired on public access television Channel 13, which is broadcast on the Charter Communications cable system.Public Access Coordinator David Whitney said that live meetings now will be broadcast on Government Access Channel 15.Whitney said that before the change, town government meetings have aired on Channel 13 since 1994.“Former Public Access Coordinator John Palinkas, who was here before me, ran the channel a certain way, and it was the wrong way,” Whitney said. “You are not supposed to have government meetings on a public access channel. You are supposed to broadcast them on the government access channel.”Whitney said the meeting broadcasts on Channel 13 have made it difficult to air public access programming on the channel.“A few people who have wanted a show on Channel 13 would have to go program around selectmen’s meetings,” he said.At one point last week, Whitney said live meetings from Town Hall would not be broadcast due to a deterioration in the channel’s live audio connection.However, on Monday, March 7, technical problems with the live audio connection were resolved and the channel broadcasted the Board of Selectmen’s meeting live. Whitney, who in the past has manned the video camera for public meetings, said he will not be at the camera for any future meetings.“Providing someone to film a meeting is not what a public access station is supposed to do,” he said. “Our job is to get the public involved and have the public shoot meetings and shows. We have been doing all the work. They [the public] are the ones who are supposed to be the ones to do the work.”