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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 22, 1978)
New TV waves may ride air By KEVIN HARDEN Of the Emerald Television may be a pioneer industry, but one Eugene group thinks the local cable TV company could do a lot more to broaden its scope of community coverage. According to Catherine Lauris, head of the Friends of Public Broadcasting (FPB), the recent controversy over rates charged by the Teleprompter Cable Television Company of Oregon may be just the oppor tunity the group has been seeking to estab lish a public broadcasting station in Eugene. The group, established in January of 1976 by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, began working to es tablish a public-access channel for the local community. Two years and several at tempts later, the group may be close to their goal. In a proposal written for the Metropolitan Cable Television/Translator Commission, the group regulating cable television opera tion in the area, the FPB outlined their plans for the local public access channel to be carried by Teleprompter. The proposal, Lauris says, was met with out a great deal of enthusiasm by the com mission members two years ago, but has since been seen as a real possibility. “It (the proposal) wes accepted when we presented it but it wasn't accepted with much enthusiasm, which just may be the commission’s style,” Lauris says. “But, gradually some of them are beginning to see the reasonableness of the proposal.” The public-access channel, which would allow use by nearly every organization and group inside the city limits with something to say, has so far been received without much enthusiasm by the Teleprompter company, Emerald graphic she says. The FPB group will be able to voice its views along with those of other community members when the question of Teleprompter’s franchise extension is brought to a public hearing tonight, 7:30 p.m., in the city council chambers, 777 Pearl St. If a 15-year extension is granted to the Teleprompter company by the cable television/translator commission, Lauris says the FPB will work with the company to make the channel a reality. “We presented to them what we think is for the public good,” she says. "We pro posed a franchise fee increase of 5 percent instead of 3 percent to finance the channel, which isn’t unreasonable.” The Lane County Commissioners, in their regular Tuesday meeting, agreed with that fee request bv the FPB and placed it with several other requests to be consi dered by the Metropolitan Cable Tele vision/Translator Commission. Further action by the commission will come after the public hearings. The proposed access channel will be dif ferent from regular educational or public broadcasting channels like the channels operated by the Oregon Educational Public Broadcasting Station (OEPBS) and the Na tional Public Radio, Lauris says. The channel will offer a variety of pro gramming , from the public hearings and city and county government meetings to selected community programs, she says. “There are a lot of interesting things that are going on in the community that people may want to see,” Lauris says. While newspapers may hold a perma nent record of what happened at a particu lar public meeting, television coverage by the access channel could make the whole issue “alive" to people who wouldn’t nor mally attend. “People gain so much more information by actually seeing the whole thing instead of just reading about it later,” Lauris says. MCAT w OCAT • MCAT • SAT • VAT • LSAT NAT L DENT BDS • NURSING BDS STANLEY H. KAPLAN EDUCATIONAL CENTER Test Preparation Specialists Since 1938 OPEN DAYS, EVENINGS, & WEEKENDS For Information, Please Call: 343-2618 Summer Class in Eugene begins August 5th. Welcome summer students and faculty, come to our get acquainted.... Buy one at the regular price — get the second for a penny. BANANA SPLIT SALE TODAY ONLY * 706 E. 13th Ave. only at Campus ‘Maverick’ tries for guv Politics in Oregon have traditionally been considered independent no matter what the issue, and this year’s gubernatorial race will prove to be no different. Clif Everett, a political maverick who championed the ill-fated at tempt to change the state’s last-use planning laws two years ago, will enter the political arena once again this Sunday at a nominating conven tion that may put his name on the state ballot. Everett, 58, a registered independent, will challenge both incum bent governor Robert Straub and Republican nominee Victor Atiyeh for the governorship if the convention can muster 1,000 valid signatures. The convention will be held at the Lane County Fairgrounds all day Sunday, June 25. A* , "^German AUTO SERVICE reliable service for your foreign car Volkswagen • Mercedes • BMW • Toyota • Datsun 2025 Franklin Blvd. 746-1207 Close-out Books We are closing out our stock of hardcover and paperback left-overs. These are books from our regular shelves which we will no longer carry. Each day the prices get lower! Thursday 40% off* Monday 80% off* Friday 60% off* Tuesday 90% off* *off the retail price While they last. Look for our special table upstairs in THE TRADEBOOK DEPARTMENT 13th & Kincaid 686-4331 Open: Mon-Fri 8:15-5:30 ,'\W\ww
