Local Community Access Television Channel Shuts Down - Nevada

Submitted by atheis on Thu, 07/01/2010 - 6:45pm

Local Community Access Television Channel Shuts Down

Arash Mosaleh
Channel 2 News
After years of serving the community, Sierra Nevada Community Access Television (SNCAT) is closing up shop.
The organization made the announcement today via its Facebook page and sent us the following statement:
After almost twenty years of service to the Truckee Meadows, SNCAT will cease providing tools, transmission and training to the community.
We regret that we will be unable to provide a community wide resource to learn and practice the latest technologies.  We regret that broadcast equipment and Internet access for those who cannot afford to purchase their own will no longer be available.  We regret that one of the last public places in which to exercise and broadcast the First Amendment will no longer be accessible.  And we are saddened by the apparent apathy of the public to maintain its rightful place in the public airways.
The people have spoken through their elected representatives.  Neither City nor County cares to budget operational support for Public Access.  State legislators further annihilated the platform upon which public access was built with the 2007 passage of AB 526.  The educational institutions never actualized the Education Consortium to which they originally committed.

It is no secret that the economy has put tremendous pressure on individuals, civic organizations and foundations that formerly provided additional funding to support public access to dedicate their precious donor funds to humanitarian needs.

Technology development over the last two decades has created the affordable tools through which a citizen may film news, entertainment, editorial and personal commentary.  Edit it with a flick of a finger, and upload it to the Internet for instantaneous worldwide distribution – all via their "telephone" within minutes.
On a national and international level, the political fights, acquisitions and mergers of corporate telecommunications continues at a "Star Wars Galactic" pace.  The FCC is frenetic; the courts are filled with litigations stemming from cases such as the NBC/Comcast marriage.  

Thus, in deference to our fiscal responsibilities and a bleak future, the SNCAT Board of Directors have concluded that dissolution is the most responsible next step in SNCAT's long history of service to northern Nevada.  We regret to inform the public that these actions commence immediately on July 1, 2010.  Broadcast on Charter channels 216/16 will cease operations immediately following.

For two decades, the lively discourse of opinion, the breadth of people's talent expressed in the arts and the joy of self-discovery through skill development has been nurtured and recorded at SNCAT.  Thousands of Truckee Meadows residents have participated in some way; many more thousands have viewed their efforts.
We leave you each with these memories, whether they be on 3/4 inch tape, cd, dvd, electronic stream or just in your own vision.  A vision made consistently more enriching by the staff, volunteers, donors and supporters of Sierra Nevada Community Access Television (SNCAT).

-          SNCAT Board of Directors