Cities launching their own TV channels

Olympia launched its cable-access television channel, Oly TV3, following the city's conclusion of its partnership with Thurston Community Media (TC Media).

At Tuesday's city council meeting, Strategic Communications Director Kellie Braseth announced that the communications staff has been working on establishing its TV channel since August of the previous year. The city has purchased a system from CASTUS to allow live streaming and cablecast content.

Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, and Thurston County ended their ties with TC Media on December 31.

TC Media has been providing the entire county with public, educational, and governmental (PEG) television content broadcasts for nearly four decades, starting in 1986 when it signed a contract with Olympia.

The organization has since been the designated access provider of several television channels to broadcast the city council meetings of Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater, as well as the board meetings of Thurston County.

The four jurisdictions are now the designated access providers of their channels. Olympia and Thurston County will continue to share Channel 3 while Lacey is now on channel 77. Tumwater will stay on channel 26.

TC Media will continue to operate its public access channel on channel 22.

Braseth said that the city completed the installation of its new system on December 19 and got to broadcast its first live council meeting on January 2.

Braseth noted that city staff are still getting familiar with the new broadcasting system. "We're testing the system, refining our processes, and learning where all the buttons and functions are,” the communications director said.

Oly TV 3, Braseth added, broadcasts council meetings and other programming by standard definition. The city also launched the Oly TV3 website, a web portal for residents to watch live meetings or access videos on demand.

Accessibility

Braseth mentioned that they are working on increasing the accessibility of meetings and information by adding live captioning in different languages.

Mobile apps for Apple and Android devices are also being developed.

"We're working on the copyright agreement right now through legal and will take several weeks to work through the Google and Apple Stores approval process. When completed, the community can download the Oly TV app on your phone," Braseth added.

Original content

Once Olympia's staff fully develops the new system's capabilities, they plan to produce original content.

"That is what we are most excited about because that is an opportunity to tell stories the community cares about," Braseth said, adding that one of the first projects would be a video profile of newly elected Mayor Dontae Payne.

A screenshot of Olympia's community channel

Thurston County to collaborate with Olympia

At a meeting back on December 5, county staff told the Board of County Commissioners that they have notified TC Media that the City of Olympia and Thurston County will maintain Channel 3 as it is currently set.

The county released a letter connected to this for city administrators and the county manager to sign, which has been reviewed legally.

The staff added that the county might be unable to post to channel 3 for a bit after the beginning of the year because they still need to learn what the access is or if the building has enough access. Staff will collaborate with the City of Olympia early this year to address this.

There is already an approved resolution from the county's legal to name TC Media as a designated service provider for public access, granting them continued access to post to Channel 22.

Tumwater hopes to be live with own production in February

Tumwater hopes to get its in-house productive live by February, Communication Manager Ann Cook reported to the Tumwater City Council on Tuesday, January 9.

Cook told the council that they completed the installation of cables in the council chambers and server room this month. City staff are also working on a staffing solution for their in-house production team.

“Barring any glitches, we hope to be live with our in-house production at the beginning of February,” Cook said.

Cook added that they will now be able to livestream city council meetings on multiple platforms and continue to offer video-on-demand the same way they can do through TC Media.

Tumwater’s meetings and future programs would also be available on smart TVs, FireTV, and Roku. Cook explained that they chose Amazon and Roku as they make up 50% of the market share.

Cook said they will also work on including captioning in their broadcasts, which the law does not require for PEG providers.

Once Tumwater has established its live in-house production, city staff will focus on other programming content.

Lacey last to bid goodbye to TC Media

Olympia, Tumwater, and Thurston notified TC Media about ending their contracts in 2023 as early as August 5. Lacey followed suit eventually.

At a previous city council meeting in December, Mayor Andy Ryder announced that TC Media will no longer provide broadcast services to Lacey City.

While no reason was cited for the change, Councilmember Carolyn Cox emphasized that it was not the city's choice to end its relationship with TC Media. She explained that other jurisdictions that were initially part of forming TC Media decided to go their own ways.

"Lacey could not pull the whole thing, which is why we have to end this part of the relationship,” Cox explained.

"This council has been very supportive of TC Media. We have worked with them and try to support them as much as possible. They have been an important part of this community for a long time. They have been a valuable asset." Ryder said, adding that Lacey has worked with TC Media for over 30 years.

TC Media was initially formed as CCTV at the local jurisdictions' request when public access television was being discussed.

Thurston County, Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater formed an association with CCTV – later TC Media– to provide public access to TV services to the community.