Future of community access TV station remains in doubt

Jeffrey Libby

Tuesday, June 25, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.

A funny thing happened on the way to a more professional BC-TV.

The city's cost to produce Southern Nevada's only community access television station kept going up, from $7,400 in 1993, when it started, to as much as $131,000 for next year.

But now, with a 22-page city request for proposals in the mail and advertising due to run in the local newspaper starting Thursday, enthusiasm for a new, privately run station is already ebbing. City officials are asking: Why fix something that isn't broken?

Councilman Joe Hardy is even asking if community access television shouldn't be scrapped altogether in favor of a leaner, cheaper government access channel run in cooperation with the Clark County School District and the Community College of Southern Nevada.

"With community access television, there are no boundaries," Hardy said. "If we keep doing it, I guarantee we'll be at a quarter-million dollar budget six months from now."

The push to farm out BC-TV started shortly after an April workshop, when local movie producer Anna Maria Davis submitted a proposal to the city that promised better programming for less money.

"I might as well come right out and say it," Mayor Bob Ferraro said. "When we first spoke of a (request for proposals) two months ago, Anna Maria Davis said she could do it for $80,000 and that was attractive. But now we've found out she hadn't taken a number of things into consideration."

By mid-May, Davis had submitted a second proposal with a staffing budget of $131,000 -- equal to the current budget. But her proposal put aside no money for equipment. Instead, Davis said she would rely on money raised through a nonprofit foundation she created recently.

The 2003 city budget includes $44,000 for equipment maintenance and purchases.

"The only reason to farm BC-TV out would be to provide more services at a lower cost," Councilwoman Andrea Anderson said. "Otherwise, we might as well stay with what we've got."

Councilman Bryan Nix said while he remains skeptical of contracting out BC-TV, he would like to see funding increased.

But the request for proposals appears to lean toward the more restricted programming Hardy and City Manager John Sullard favor.

"A large part of the studio coordinator's job was to extend the station to wider groups, to encourage people to use it," said Nicky Collins, who held that position until April, when the city opted not to continue funding her position. "There's nothing about that in there (the RFP) really."

The request also asks contractors to outline a proposed fee schedule for independent producers, which could mean the senior center, a church, the art guild and the hospital, which each produce shows, could be charged for use of the studio.

In the meantime, city studio manager Roy Theiss, whose job is on the line, has continued to improve the station, incorporating new post-production film techniques culled from software he says he purchased with $1,500 of his own money.

On Wednesday that meant that a program celebrating the first anniversary of the bed and breakfast at the Boulder Dam Hotel opened with the image of a suitcase.

"I had a suitcase, I rotated that around and had it end up at the front door of the hotel," Theiss said. "Not the best mind you, a first try, but it's good. Jazz it up a little."