Maine
After years of committed service, Sally Ann Hebert stepped down from the ACM-NE Board of Directors as the representative from the Community Television Association of Maine (CTAM). Sally still chairs CTAM, still works as Deputy Tax Collector, Deputy Town Clerk and Registrar of Voters in the Town of Greene, and still manages WGLT (Greene Local Access TV). JP Fortier (CTAM treasurer and chief, cook & bottle washer at Mt. Blue TV in Farmington) will return the ACM-NE Board to represent Maine. We all thank Sally for her continuing work with CTAM; her playful icebreaker exercises at Northeast retreats will be missed!
Massachusetts
MassAccess seemed to be making policy progress with the advance of H.2682/S.2577, the bill that would have introduced high-definition carriage of PEG channels to cable subscribers, as well as detailed PEG program listing in the Electronic Program Guide. Although the state Senate Way & Means favored it; the bill died on the senate floor this past summer. Nevertheless MassAccess pushes forward with other initiatives and a schedule of Meet&Greet events.
Connecticut
Connecticut ACM held its own Meet&Greet in Waterbury at Skye Cable XIII studios in mid-June. Folks from seven PEG organizations attended to hear about closed captions generated with voice recognition software. The budgets of most of CT’s access stations are still too constrained even for this labor-saving offering. But people hope to meet again in September.
New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Coalition for Community Media (NHCCM) plans to hold a Summit on Saturday, October 6, with workshops and roundtables. Their website is still under renovation.