The Town of Herndon is preparing to assume control of the public access TV channels that broadcast its official meetings and local events.
The board of the nonprofit that has operated Herndon Community Television (HCTV) for 36 years notified town officials on June 27 that it plans to dissolve the organization, Herndon Chief Communications Officer Brent Heavner explained to the town council at a Nov. 4 work session.
HCTV Corporation asked the town to take over administrative responsibilities for the station, which currently broadcasts Channel 23 for Cox Communications subscribers and Channel 28 on Verizon FIOS. The nonprofit has offered to donate its production equipment to the town to support a seamless transition.
“Accepting this donation will support the Town’s ability to maintain these valuable sources of information, which have served local residents for the last 36 years,” town staff said in a memo for the council.
Established in 1990 by volunteers from the community, HCTV is still run almost entirely by volunteers. In addition to broadcasting local government meetings, including those of the town council and planning commission, the station covers many town events, such as the recent Herndon High School Homecoming Parade, and produces its own community, cultural and educational programs.
According to Heavner, the town’s existing communications and information technology teams are both ready to take over operations.
“IT is prepared to assume responsibility for equipment and technical operations — that is the engineering side,” he said. “The communications team is prepared to assume responsibility for the content development on the program side, with the goal that this changeover will be transparent to the residents that will continue to enjoy this service they’ve enjoyed for almost 40 years.”
HCTV Corporation is planning to donate 162 pieces of TV production equipment to the town as well as approximately $15,000 in cash. Valued at $112,507, the equipment includes cameras, cables, mobile packs and other materials that are mostly already integrated into the town’s infrastructure in the Herndon Council Chambers and Old Town Hall, where the station maintains studios.
Heavner said nine of the 11 volunteers that remained with HCTV at the time of the corporation’s dissolution have already applied to stay with the station as part-time town employees.
They will be paid honorariums funded by the Public Education Grant fees that the town has traditionally received and provided to HCTV from cable franchise agreements. The town says those fees will also continue to offset broadcast operational costs.
Two volunteers who provided engineering support for the TV station aren’t planning to make the transition, but Heavner said the town’s IT team is “ready to step into the breach.”
“We don’t foresee any need to any additional immediate recruitment,” Heavner told the town council. “In the long term, our [human resources] team has done a great job of starting partnerships with Marymount University and Northern Virginia Community College so that interns can still come in, be a part, learn from that operation, and hopefully, as they move through that progression, kind of backfill as volunteers.”
Mayor Keven LeBlanc suggested that the town could also collaborate with Herndon High School to provide experience for its broadcast media students through HCTV.
“They do have students that would like to do things more frequently, so they would like the town to consider how we might work together,” he said.
Town staff will present a resolution to the council at its next meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 17) authorizing the acceptance of HCTV Corporation’s donation.
At the work session, Heavner acknowledged the decades of work by HCTV Executive Director Nancy Rose, President Blake Rose and other supporters to help keep local residents informed and entertained.
“It is an honor in talking with Blake, Nancy and the other dedicated volunteers that they trust the town, they trust the communications team and IT team to keep this valuable community asset operated,” he said.
