Travis County Commssioners Court
February 4, 2003
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Item 12
Number 12 is to determine the feasibility and level of participation for live cable cast of the current Texas house of representative legislative sessions on tctv, that's channel 17, right, and take appropriate action. No additional funding was what was indicated in the backup. How is this done, by the way? What do they do and what do we do?
>> judge, commissioners, steven broberg, director of management resources. The way it's done, this is the third session that we've done this, and the technical part of it is that we just flip a switch and say you're now on tctv channel 17. Our question has always been that it preempts certain broadcasts that are usual for tctv and requires a policy direction from the court court. That's why we're here. Did I answer your question, judge?
>> so they do the bulk of the work after we flip the switch?
>> yes, sir.
>> do we know that residents actually look at this?
>> we do, yes. This is one of those items that we actually get calls. And we get thank you e-mails and calls as well, yes.
>> we've got calls already asking where it is.
>> we get always about the pree.m.s. As well. -- preemption as well?
>> do we have to broadcast when the senior size program is on?
>> unfortunately, that is our recommendation, that we do preempt that because of the continuity of the Texas legislative broadcast. And if we don't, we'll get more angry calls if we stop the legislative broadcast than if we stop -- it's only two days a week, and not only on those two days for roots. So we think it's more problematic if we stop the legislative session rather than continue. They become accustomed to it after a few weeks.
>> this is only through may.
>> maybe we could ask the house and the senate if they would enjoy ruth leading them in these exercises before we get riewtd off the -- ruth off the screen. [ laughter ]
>> it might be good for the legislature.
>> can they also use other access channels other than 17?
>> yes, sir, both the city of Austin and aisd --
>> what about aisd?
>> yeah, aisd broadcasts the senate sessions. And the city of Austin and tctv broadcast, between the two, the legislative sessions.
>> so what days are we looking at for them?
>> we're looking at Wednesdays and Thursdays for tvtv.
>> so Thursdays would clash with our work sessions when we have them?
>> yes, sir. The only issue there is that those buildings in the capitol complex will still be able to see the work session live through our closed circuit system, and there will be a brief rebroadcast on Thursday night. So any of those --
>> and Friday morning.
>> and Friday morning, yes.
>> there are hundreds of thousands of fans who will not get a chance to see the work session live.
>> that's true.
>> but they've been able to live with that during previous years.
>> they have.
>> they've preferred that on previous years. [ laughter ]
>> I think that was really unnecessary. [ laughter ]
>> I'm talking about vis-a-vis the legislature. [ laughter ]
>> judge, I move approval of the recommendation from --
>> it sound like you have state employee aspirations.
>> i've gotten enough calls from the state legislature and from other lobbyists and whatnot every time it switches over.
>> this is a good thing. I move the motion as recommended by --
>> we certainly don't want to disappoint our state partners. [ laughter ] especially during the budget process.
>> so this will be Wednesday and Thursday?
>> Wednesday and Thursday.
>> what are the hours?
>> they begin at 10 on Wednesdays, 9:30 on Thursdays until they complete. And it won't go too late until it gets near the end of the session, and that's when we start going later in the days. But probably it will terminate in the afternoon sometime, early evening, till around may or late March or something, April.
>> just make sure they understand ha that the more unfunded mandates they ship to us, the greater the pressure to reduce the number of programs we televise.
>> was there a second to that?
>> yes.
>> any more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 2, 2003 10:25 AM