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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Dater March 13, 2007 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. .~ rte, <br />SUBJECT: Authorization to Debut Live Casting of BOCC Meetings <br />DEPARTMENT: County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Introducing Orange County Government Gwen Harvey, Assistant County <br />Channel 265 Manager, 245-2300 <br />(Digital Tier, Time Warner Cable) <br />PURPOSE: To receive authorization to officially debut live casting of BOCC meetings from <br />Southern Human Services Center on March 27, 2007 on Orange County Government Channel <br />265. . <br />BACKGROUND: A major objective and outcome of the cable franchise renegotiation with Time <br />Warner Cable (TWC) that concluded in 2005 with a new 15-year agreement, was the <br />designation of an exclusive Orange County governmental access channel, 265, on the digital <br />tier. Additionally, TWC agreed to capitalize the technical up-fitting of the two BOCC public <br />meeting rooms -Southern Human Services Center (Chapel Hill) and the soon-to-be remodeled <br />Link Center (Hillsborough) to accommodate live casting of regular BOCC meetings. As the <br />BOCC is aware, the County currently contracts with The People's Channel (TPC) to videotape <br />BOCC meetings at both locations for rebroadcast on Channel 8. <br />The new franchise agreement called for TWC to install a basic package of technical equipment <br />valued at approximately $50,000. In preparations to begin live casting procedures, upon the <br />recommendation of County staff from the Clerk's Office, Manager's Office, Planning, <br />Purchasing, and IT, the BOCC approved $23,000 to provide additional enhancements to the <br />basic equipment package. <br />Requisite equipment to initiate live casting of BOCC meetings has been installed and tested. <br />County staff has worked with The People's Channel and the TWC technical contractor to plan <br />for transition from tape to delayed broadcast, to live and replays on Channel 265. BOCC <br />meetings at Southern Human Services Center since December have allowed TPC and .TWC to <br />experiment and tweak systems as a prelude to live casting. The live signal has been monitored <br />and validated through TWC Engineering and TPC production. <br />