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.
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‘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.
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