This goes back to: what gives the town board the right to force me to pay for any channel that Time Warner provides to me. It should be between me and Time Warner to chose the channels I want to pay for. Let Philip Morris figure out how to support OSM it was his brilliant idea. He could raise money the way channel 17 does or maybe it there really is a demand for the channel look for some advertising to support the channel and stop sucking the life out of the taxpayer. It's not the amount of money it's the principle of the thing.

Hi Benny.  It is the three men in the tub approach now in Schenectady just like state politics.  Stratton, McCarthy and Morris who now rule over PEG.  They are the cable committee.  Residents have no say say now in PEG and that is wrong and also the franchise agreement has been made.  A 10 year commitment.

Not sure how the four communities coordinate and set up their contracts or for how long.

Note these three men also played a part in setting up the Schenectady cable franchise agreement in the city.

Personally I like watching the city Committees meeting The City Council Meetings are fluff.

Quoted from Shadow

This goes back to: what gives the town board the right to force me to pay for any channel that Time Warner provides to me.

Cause they can if they choose to in regards to PEG.  Every community has their own way of creating the contract agreement with TW.  

I assume a town board collectively could be doing this but I highly doubt it.  Probably just a few individuals will make all the decisions.  Fight it, demand public hearings and get petitions started not sure that would make a difference but maybe in your community it could.

dont forget about the county tax (chunk of change) collected on cell phone use......oh, yeah,,,,bend over....because right now the public isn't paying
attention to the nickel and diming for communications they use,,,(too busy counting out change for eggs and milk)....

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE RIP OFF.....SHOW ME THE $$ TRAIL.....

internationally these systems of communication are being set up and it has to be seamless for communication around the world to work...but we are all
paying....it's the 'Alaskan Pipeline' only with communications....

as far as OSM...they can go !@@!##@$@$%^@#^@$%^$%......collect it from your ticket sales.....or better yet ask for a refund on The Big House

Quoted Text

Who pays for cable access in Schenectady?

    Long before the city of Schenectady concluded a new franchise agreement with Time Warner Cable in 2009 and transferred the public access operation to Open Stage Media, a subsidiary of Proctors, we were calling for what Proctors’ CEO Philip Morris is calling for now: some contribution from the towns and Scotia.
    It’s only a matter of fairness. Residents of those places have been freeloading all along — getting the benefits of public access programming, from interview shows to movie reviews to local and county government meetings, while city subscribers have been paying for it all through a surcharge on their cable bills.
    Glenville officials are upset because Morris has threatened to take the town off the system if it doesn’t provide some fi nancial support.
    But Morris says he made the threat only after it became clear that Glenville and the other municipalities weren’t cooperating — despite meetings at which they appeared interested. And after he heard through the grapevine that Glenville, the only one actively negotiating with Time Warner, had concluded a new agreement. That agreement is expected to be approved by the town board tonight, and apparently doesn’t include any provision for a payment to Open Stage Media. .........................>>>>...................................>>>>.............................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00902&AppName=1

Every town should follow Glenvilles lead and tell Morris where he can stick his OSM fee.

Quoted from Shadow

Every town should follow Glenvilles lead and tell Morris where he can stick his OSM fee.

Right Rotterdam must finally stand up for the sheeple. To Mercury Morris-one penny. This is a cash grab by Morris who has totally ruined our community television. Channel 16 is an unwatchable mess featuring ancient Chinese movies. Perfect for the late night communist viewers. The fact that the Gazetto has to defend this blatant cash grab proves the support Glenville and old SACC still have in the County.

    "Most importantly, they can do the right thing by paying something for what they are getting?" Proctor's/Key Bank/Morris should immediately start paying a PILOT for the excellent 24 hour police and fire protection that the oppressed City residents are paying for at Proctor's. If you want another taxpayer handout at least have the decency to start paying your fair share-$250,000 a year would be a good start.

Instead of playing the meetings continously so we are informed, these jerks keep playing the bumper for their company, with annoying and amateur graphics so they can keep us in the dark. There is enough airtime to run all the meetings 6 or 7 times rather than just a few. Of course like all good elitist statists they want the electorate as dumbed down as possible. I know what they crooked motives are.

Did you ever notice how the sound goes off and picture blank when Vince Riggi steps to the podium? This is all about controlling information. Continuation of the 36 year working together reich. By any means necessary. They want to discourage viewership. Make it unwatchable with nonstop self promotion and idiot maps. Almost as bad as the LWV "debates". Joseph Goebbels would be proud.

good old marv -

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Modest-proposals-on-public-comments-961763.php


It's no secret a few years ago, some Schenectady City Council members wanted to silence critics by doing away with the public portion of their meetings.

Gary McCarthy, council longevity leader, advised against such a move, but he's implemented a new timing device designed to squelch lengthy citizen harangues.

When speakers approach the three-minute limit, a yellow light on the podium starts flashing. When the allotted time expires, a blinking red light is activated.

Speakers ignoring the red light warning are then intimidated by the increasing shrillness of the beeping. The beeping is similar to the annoying -- too loud, too long -- sound of commercial vehicles in back-up mode.

Some residents last week said the tactics were implemented to discourage them from speaking. They facetiously suggested several further methods of silencing the disgruntled citizens.

They included replicating a device used on the old TV "Gong Show'' to terminate performers, bringing back the old vaudevillian technique of using a hook to pull untalented entertainers off the stage and activating a trap door to make long-winded speakers disappear.

One of the regular citizen speakers suggested wiring the podium with 220 volts that would stop a mule. "One could imagine the City Hall lights going dim when the juice is turned up to stop the speaker,'' one wiseguy quipped.



Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/defa.....63.php#ixzz1BVhS0YUB

Instead of wasting time trying to suppress the voice of the people maybe the DEM morons should look for tax savings and efficiencies? This has got to be the worst legislative body in the State. Militant disregard for businesses and residents.

The explorer/scouts did a great job, I too would like them to come back.

I noticed the continuous posting on OSM about the service being provided to all towns and cities by the citizens of Schenectady. I never agreed to pay extra for this, not even a  verbal agreement like Farstad or Mastro : (

Quoted Text

GLENVILLE
Flap over money may cut town’s public access TV
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Michael Goot at 395-3105 or mgoot@dailygazette.net.

    Glenville officials soon may not be on TV.
    Open Stage Media is planning to pull the plug on airing Glenville Town Board meetings if it does not contribute to the cost of the operation.
    Proctors, which operates OSM, is seeking a $5,000 contribution to pay the cost of hiring an outreach employee that would help create content for the public access channels.
    Proctors Chief Executive Offi cer Philip Morris had originally set a deadline of the end of the month, but that is fl uid.
    “I met with the Glenville Town Board last week and am going to delay the 28th for a little bit, possibly up to a month,” Morris said.
    Morris also seeks $5,000 contributions from the towns of Rotterdam and Niskayuna and $2,500 for the village of Scotia. The coordinator position would help provide technical assistant and help residents create content for the government, education and public access channels.
    Morris countered Supervisor Chris Koetzle’s claims that the switch from SACC-TV to OSM was done in secret. “It happened neither silently nor quickly,” he said.
    All municipalities that participate will have a seat at the table in determining the direction of the operation. However, Glenville is in a holding pattern as it is negotiating a new contract with Time Warner Cable. Town officials have held off on signing a new pact because they claim that the cable company was keeping 5 percent of the fees from customers — the so-called “pass-through” — instead of the 2 percent that had been specifi ed in the contract.
    Town officials say the mistake could mean that customers were overcharged by as much as $2 million and are seeking for Time Warner to make good by helping fund some type of public benefi t project.
    “I don’t see a short-term solution here because we’re going to have to wait for Time Warner to respond,” said Koetzle. “They haven’t done so yet in a timely fashion. It’s going to be a while.”
    Right now, Glenville meetings are being shown on Channel 17, which town residents cannot watch anyway because the town gets its signal from Saratoga County as a holdover when the contract was with Saratoga Cablevision. The town is trying to get that signal moved as part of a new agreement.
    Koetzle said he never had the understanding that municipalities would be kicked off the system if they did not contribute.
    The town is going to stream meetings online and petition Time Warner to get its meetings shown on Channel 17 of the Saratoga system if OSM drops coverage. .................>>>>.................>>>>.........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01501&AppName=1

that's what SKYPE AND THE INTERNET ARE FOR......who cares about OSM......media has gone VIRAL FOLKS......ever walk through a high school as of late
THEY DONT NEED OSM.......nor do they care if they have it......move forward.....

Just a slight correction on the PEG fee. City of Schenectady cable subscribers pay 52 cents, not 40. I don't know when it increased.