Town's TV Channel Getting New Programs

Town officials are taking steps to do more with the town's cable television channel.

Residents are beginning to see much more content on WTOC Cable Channel 11, including a weekly newscast, and future programming may include delayed broadcast of meetings, special events such as the annual Christmas Parade, some previews of scheduled Clayton Center performances and even some locally produced shows.

"Programming will be significantly enhanced," Town Manager Steve Biggs said. "There's much more we can do with PEG access than we have in the past."

The town recently decided to join East Wake Television, a non-profit group that provides community access television content for nearby towns Knightdale, Rolesville, Wendell and Zebulon. The group will install equipment necessary for local programming and assist with production.

A locally-produced 28-minute monthly government operations program is in the works.

The town intends to pay for the service with its share of state shared money from cable television franchise fees. There will be no direct cost to the town budget, except for any special programming that town officials might decide to produce as time goes on.

The town got its PEG (Public, Educational and Governmental) Cable Access Channel up and running on Time Warner Cable a couple of years ago, with some standardized programing. The channel doesn't run commercials, but local businesses could sponsor programs for on-air credit or make donations to support programming.

The town first looked into establishing its own channel several years ago, but the high cost kept the idea from going very far. By sharing equipment and staff costs with other agencies through EWTV, the channel is much more affordable. Biggs said the town has gotten several requests over the years for a PEG channel, which leads officials to believe it will get viewers.