TV gears up for public access

There’s a new medium with a big difference in Boise and the surrounding area. Treasure Valley Public Access Television means cable TV production and broadcast access to anyone who cares enough to learn the basic skills needed to produce television shows.

Money is not the obstacle it has been in the past since a burger flipper with a vision can afford to make a personal hallucination public on TVTV, cable Channel 11, slated to premiere in Dec.

Peter Lutze, a Boise State communication professor and TVTV Board Chair said the station is, “a chance for everybody in the Treasure Valley to tell their own story via television.”

TVTV does not discriminate against potential producers. Cooking programs, public affairs, news and discussion from people like Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler are all fair game for TVTV. Lutze said, “I’d be much more interested in hearing what Richard Butler has to say for himself than to hear what somebody else says about what Richard Butler says. If what he says doesn’t make much sense and isn’t very convincing, or is frightening, then I can judge that and I think other viewers can judge that too.”

Lutze added, “The great thing about public access is that if somebody sees something they disagree with, then they say, ‘I want to answer that,’ and there is a place to do it.”

The way to use this place is to pay $20 annual dues for associate producer (who can submit already-completed works to be aired) or $30 resident producer (who can take certification classes to learn to use TVTV resources to produce original works, at $35 for each of four classes). $40 is the annual dues for non-resident producers. A one-time introductory offer of $200 lets six persons become resident producers and includes one training course apiece. This means six people could kick in $35 apiece, divide up the classes and become a television production crew, with access to studio, field and digital editing gear, plus broadcast facilities, at no extra cost.

“I would like to see a channel that truly reflects the diversity of its citizens; I would like a channel that meets some needs that aren’t being met by current broadcast media,” Lutze said.

He lists as examples the possibility of regular broadcasts in Spanish to serve the growing Hispanic population, or in Bosnian for the low-profile Islamic community in Boise. Other potential producers include churches, synagogues and support-hungry non-profit organizations – of which Boise has around 1,200. Children’s and comedy shows, political forums, sports, arts and entertainment events could make the community-produced line-up on TVTV.

Scott Horting

Related Posts:

1. Funding for Idaho public universities to be cut by $32.1 million
2. Professor Gregory Raymond named Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs.
3. A plea for public access
4. Dead Eight gears up for Sundance
5. Smith gears up for long haul