PCT could be a breath of fresh air for Coastside TV

I have more to say on this subject, but I’ll break it up into a couple of posts.

The county has been grinding through the process of deciding who gets to run PEG (public, educational, and governmental) TV on the Coastside for nearly a year.

Following the county’s grand jury criticism that MCTV’s programming was deficient and that the station needed oversight, the county’s Public Works department put out a request for proposals for the Coastside PEG contract, reviewed the proposals, and recommended awarding the contract to Pacifica Community Television (PCT-26).

I’ve often criticized MCTV, but I was uncertain whether it would be a good idea to move our PEG provider off the Coastside. My hope was that a local entity would compete for the contract. I didn’t know a lot about PCT and I was concerned about losing local control.

Since then, I’ve had an opportunity to learn more about the station, and I now support PCT’s bid for the contract.

Last week, I toured PCT’s offices with the Midcoast Community Council. I was impressed with Station Manager Martin Anaya, the station’s well-worn-but-well-run facilities, the level of activity at the station, and the way PCT is governed.

Then, last Friday, Ian Butler invited me to appear on his public affairs talk show on PCT.  MCTV has no public affairs shows and discourages programming that might express a point of view. Ian’s show was shot in PCT’s studio, with a crew of nine, including three camera operators. I’m told MCTV has a studio, but I’m not aware of any studio shows produced by MCTV in the last decade. Why don’t we have that kind of programming in our community?

There are still some details that need to be negotiated by the county, including what kind of presence PCT will have on the Coastside, how they will cover all of our public meetings, how they will manage outreach to the community, how programs will be streamed over the internet, and how they will change their name to reflect the full community.

But, having met the folks at PCT and participated in their production process, I’m looking forward to having PCT on the Coastside.