Live ... from Los Gatos ... it's Monday night council meetings!
KCAT will operate in town hall to broadcast public meetings
By Gloria I. Wang
It's taken 21 months, and there's been some miscommunication, but the town is now ready to take action on its June 2000 vote to broadcast public meetings on KCAT.
The Los Gatos Town Council recently chose a video production system that will be operated out of town hall, instead of from the headquarters of Los Gatos public access channel KCAT. Making the decision enabled town staff to take bids for the purchase and installation of the system at a projected cost of $123,000.
Along with video production, council members opted to replace the microphones in the town council chamber, upping the total by $5,000 or $6,000.
Jenny Haruyama, Los Gatos administrative analyst, prepared a report with two video production system options, which was presented at the March 4 town council meeting. The cheaper option, which would cost $102,000, involved producing meetings at the KCAT facility, behind Los Gatos High School. That option still required installing some technical equipment at town hall that would transmit a video signal to KCAT.
According to KCAT General Manager George Sampson, the main advantage of going off-site was that it would be cheaper for the town. The main disadvantage, Sampson said, was that KCAT could not do anything while town council meetings were going on because its control room would already be in use.
The alternative was to run the production from town hall, transmitting a signal to KCAT. Although Sampson said that KCAT would incorporate its existing equipment into the process, some material in the studio would have to be duplicated at town hall.
There were more benefits to the second option. Sampson said last-minute changes and glitches during council meetings could be accommodated on-site, while there was little off-site personnel could do to rework the broadcast. The town staff report stated that "an on-site system would also provide a future opportunity for the town to implement its own government access channel."
For those reasons, the town and KCAT leaned slightly toward the more costly alternative. In either case, KCAT would have to hire additional staff, Sampson said.
"Let's do it right the first time," Councilman Steve Blanton said, "even if it is a bit more." A unanimous motion supporting the second option followed Blanton's comments.
Council members suggested replacing the microphones immediately, since the current system was inconsistent and outdated. Councilman Joe Pirzynski pointed out, however, that the microphones must be compatible with the video production system. Pirzynski said both systems should be looked at together, but there should be a sense of urgency for the new microphones to be installed.
According to Sampson, the video production system would include three cameras: one behind the town council, another facing council members and a third to the right of the council, where town staff usually sits. No monitors or additional lighting would be necessary, and Sampson emphasized that the cameras would not generate a noise that would disturb the meeting.
Haruyama said the town will place the project out for bid within the next two months and anticipates the system will be put in place before the end of the year.
There is $132,857 available for the project: more than $80,000 from a settlement between the town and South Bay Cable, and the remaining $45,000 part of the money received from AT&T.
The town sued AT&T in 1999 after the company bumped KCAT from Channel 6 to Channel 15. The town argued that AT&T had reneged on a previous franchise agreement.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
