Sunday, January 31, 2010

Cable-access-television to be closed Monday in keeping with bylaws that mandate closing when Fayetteville public schools are closed


We hope everyone is keeping safe and warm with all of this onslaught of winter weather. Just to give you a heads up, Community Access Television will be closed tomorrow. Per our policies, we reflect the local public schools closings and Fayetteville schools will indeed be closed tomorrow.
We apologize for any inconvenience and are hoping to be open on Tuesday. Thank you all for your support and understanding.
In other news, Free Speech TV is having their winter fundraiser from now until February 21st. Since we can't air anything that is a "call to action," CAT will not be airing FSTV or Democracy Now until the 21st. For more information, you can visit their website at www.democracynow.org.
Everyone be safe and we will see you all soon!
All the Best,
Heather Drain

3 comments:

aubunique said...

Call late Tuesday morning to find out about doing short takes for the following week between noon and 1:30 p..m. on Tuesday,

cat man due said...

Will CAT have a snow day to make up for being closed today? What do the bylaws say about making up for lost opportunities for residents to communicate with the public? Can CAT really adopt bylaws that relieve the organization from meeting the terms of the contract with the city? Aren't city offices, including the PEG Center, open today? So many questions that go unanswered because of the bickering.

aubunique said...

Actually, at least one CAT employee was working today.
I do not know whether they are paid on these mandatory off days.
Teachers are paid, so the extra days they do to hold school in summer or spring break have already been paid for. And teachers have benefits and, in Fayetteville, the average teacher makes four or more times as much per day as the average employee of CAT. Also, the teachers get wonderful benefits, including a subsidized retirement program that, even after setbacks in recent economic downtimes, is about as good as it gets.
A person who called me today asked why more of the Cable Franchise fee isn't used to fund CAT and Government Channel. This year with the weak economy, the answer might be that the city council and the city administration dare not put more of that money into the Fayetteville Television Center projects. However, during the magical years of rampant environmental destruction from a constant stream of new construction proposals, there was no reason not to put more money into the public-television services.
The cable-franchise fees all go to the general fund now and there are plenty of excuses not to improve funding of CAT and Government Channel this year. But the economy will improve. So hold onto that thought.