Cable channel funds approved by council

Valerie Miller

Thursday, Oct. 7, 1999 | 12:02 p.m.

A joint cable station for Henderson and North Las Vegas is one step closer to reality after the Henderson City Council this week approved more than $300,000 in startup funds for the venture.

The cable channel would be a municipal channel shared between the cities of Henderson and North Las Vegas. A portion of the funding approved by the Henderson council will go to hiring a consulting firm for a market analysis and need assessment.

The funding also would pay for the first six months of expenses of the cable operations, including equipment and advertising costs and hiring a cable manager, Henderson city spokeswoman Brenda Fischer said.

One of the first tasks of the firm, which would be hired for three months, would be to survey Henderson residents to find out what kind of programming they want, Fischer said.

"We want residents to tell us what they want to see," Fischer said, adding that the survey might begin in December.

One idea discussed has been the possibility of the channel carrying political and business programs along with current events, Fischer said.

"We are not eliminating anything at this point. The only limitations on programming would be if we didn't have the necessary equipment (to do a certain type of show), or because of funding limitations."

The $300,000 approved for the cable channel came from franchise fees paid by Cox Communications, Fisher said. A year ago, Cox purchased Prime Cable and offered to make available another municipal channel. The city of North Las Vegas will likely have a separate budget.

Another municipal channel, government access cable Channel 4, is currently used by Clark County, Las Vegas and Boulder City to broadcast council, County Commission and Planning Commission meetings along with event calendars and documentaries on local history and government agencies.

While the new municipal cable channel will be available on Jan. 1, 2000, it isn't expected to air Henderson programming until next summer, Fischer said.

"We want to come out with a really solid, quality product, so we are looking at the summer for implementation," she said. "This is going to be a 24-hour, seven-day a week channel that we'll share with North Las Vegas."

Fischer said the city is taking bids for the consulting now, a process that should be completed by the end of this month.

The channel number has yet to be assigned.