Contact:        Mary T. Prenon, Chairman                                                              Posted: 7/07/2004

                        (914) 923-7745

 

For Immediate Release

 

Petition to Help Save GO-TV, Greater Ossining Television, Now Available Online

 

Public Access Station Faces $30,000 Deficit for 2005

 

Ossining, NY  (July 2004) As Greater Ossining Television (GO-TV) faces a $30,000 shortfall for 2005, the local public access station is turning to the community to help sustain its operations. 

 

A petition urging the Village and Town of Ossining to share its Cablevision Franchise Fees with GO-TV is now available online at www.greaterossiningtv.org .  GO-TV supporters can simply log on, click “Sign Our Petition,” and add their name to the growing list of people who value public access television and want to see it continue.

 

Franchise Fees are paid to Cablevision by its customers, and then passed on to local municipalities.  Every other Westchester municipality except Ossining distributes these fees  -- either fully or partially --- to their local public access TV station.  In Larchmont, for example, LMC-TV receives $277,000 the full amount of the Franchise Fee, from the Villages of Larchmont and Mamaroneck.  In New Castle, NCC-TV receives more than $100,000 from $170,000 in Franchise Fees from the Town of New Castle.

 

GO-TV survives only on a $46,000 annual stipend from Cablevision and fees that it receives from covering the Village and Town Board meetings, as well as private shoots.

“While we have raised nearly $5,000 in funds to date, fundraising alone will never bring in the kind of money we need to maintain our current operations, or plan for an expansion that will better serve the local community, said Ann LeClair, GO-TV Treasurer.  “A public access station should be fully available to the public, and right now, we not able to do that.”

 

Currently, the Village of Ossining receives about $200,000 in Franchise Fees, while the Town receives near $60,000.  GO-TV has been lobbying for a share of these funds for more than a year, providing both municipalities with extensive research on the subject, as well as a slide presentation of other public access TV stations in Westchester.

 

If GO-TV receives a share of the Cablevision Franchise Fees, the station could move to a more visible location and expand its hours of operation to better serve the public.  Currently, GO-TV is located in a tiny classroom at Ossining High School, with zero visibility to the community.  The public studio hours are Tuesdays through Fridays, from 6:00 p. to 9:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

 

GO-TV broadcasts public access on Channel 18, and government access on Channel 78.  Now in its 9th year of operation, GO-TV serves the Village and Town of Ossining, Briarcliff Manor, Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow, and parts of Chappaqua, Pleasantville, Valhalla and Mount Pleasant.  GO-TV televises a growing number of community activities and provides a variety of original programs, in addition to broadcasting regular and special meetings of the Ossining Town and Village Boards.

 

###