The purpose of TV 79, Darien’s Town Government Channel, is to bring public meetings to residents via cable television. As part of its franchise agreement, Cablevision provides each town with three TV channels… channel 77 for Public Access, channel 78 for Educational use and channel 79 for Town Government.

Equipment for videotaping and airing TV 79 is provided by a grant from Cablevision using money collected from cable TV subscribers. Eventually the camera and microphone equipment will be installed in an inconspicuous and unobtrusive fashion, but from time to time, depending on location, meetings may be recorded with conventional camera, tripod and microphone.

Videotaping of public meetings is allowed by law under the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act of 2004, Sec. 1-226.

Independent camera operators will record and produce the video record of each meeting without editing or commentary. Recording will commence when the meeting is called to order and will stop when it is adjourned. The only editing of a meeting will be if a tape change is necessary.

The camera operator will focus only on the person who is speaking. Members of the public attending any meeting may be photographed momentarily, but only in the context of repositioning the camera to focus on a member of the public who has been recognized by the Chair and given the floor to speak.

Meetings will be aired on Cablevision channel 79 on a rotating basis, with a schedule of airtimes to be posted on that channel. Eventually we hope to be able to air meetings live, but at the moment we can air them only on a tape delayed basis.

As appointees by the Darien Board of Selectmen to the Connecticut Department of Public Utilities Commission’s Area Nine Cable Council, our intent is always to present accurate, unbiased and unfiltered coverage of Town government public meetings in the same manner that C-Span covers sessions of Congress.

We are looking for volunteers to run cameras at upcoming meetings. Please contact us if you’d like to help out.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at any time.

Jim Cameron
Area Nine Cable Council
Phone: 655-0138
Email: jim@camcomm.com

David Dever
Area Nine Cable Council
Phone: 323-7786
Email: dadever@aol.com

Submitted by Jim Cameron