City holds off on giving up TV station

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2002 | 9:29 a.m.

BC-TV, Southern Nevada's only community access television station, will get a technical checkup rather than being handed over to private producers, the Boulder City Council decided Tuesday.

The City Council voted unanimously on the basis of recommendations by a three-member panel of media experts, turning down three proposals by outside groups to run the television station for the city.

The panel concluded that all three groups lacked the technical qualifications to set up, operate and manage the studio. But they added that the city needed to define what it wants from BC-TV.

"They need to get more focused on their goals with the existing system," said panel member Timothy James, chairman of the communication department at Community College of Southern Nevada.

To do that, the city plans to assemble a technical team to inventory the studio's motley stock of equipment.

"Maybe we ended up with Chevrolet fenders on a Ford automobile," finance director Bob Kenney said.

The city is also looking at a possible partnership with the City of Las Vegas' government access television station.

Anna Maria Davis, one of the three unsuccessful candidates, helped prompt the city's request for proposals earlier this summer when she said she could run the station for a fraction of the $130,000 budgeted for this year. Her final proposal came in at about the same price.

Kevin Polk, director of the Boulder City senior center, submitted a proposal that would have reorganized the station as a nonprofit.