Each York Council meeting webcast costs £1620

Details of the cost of webcasting York’s full Council and Executive committee meetings have been revealed.

During the last 4 years a total of £99,000 has been paid to contractors “Pilot Theatre”.

The details were revealed in a response to an FOI request. The request was made by the Conservative candidate in the June local by election in the Hull Road Ward.

One commentator has said “a permanent webcasting solution could be put in place at a fraction of that price”

The main concern seems to be the absence of an open tendering process for the service, although the Council says that this has been complicated by its planned short term move to the Citadel Hall in Gillygate (while building works at the Guildhall take place)

The exchange doesn’t ask how much the in house broadcasting of small committee meetings costs, nor is information provided about the number of people who actually view the web casts.

In most cases, viewer numbers are thought to be measured in dozens rather than hundreds (including a chunk from outside the UK who are practising their language skills!).

The Tories may have a point. One of the promises of the new York TV station was that it would provide free access to material of this sort, so perhaps there are cheaper ways of doing things?

York TV channel remains nameless?

The new TV channel aiming to start broadcasts in York next spring apparently still has no name.

A “competition” – offering a £1000 prize – to find a name ran on “Twitter” until 27^th June.

With a similar project in Birmingham having recently been abandoned there is now some speculation about the future of the York channel.

There was some suggestion that the company could be based at the Guildhall but it now appears that the new channel will be located initially at the University’s Department of Theatre, Film and Television.

The station enjoyed the ringing endorsement of Council Leader James Alexander last November when it was awarded a license to broadcast on a “freeview” channel.

Station publicity said, “Launching in spring 2015, York’s new television channel will provide original and exclusive news, current affairs, entertainment, heritage, business and culture programming about York and the local area.

It follows the award of a 12-year L-DTPS license to broadcast on Freeview channel 8 by Ofcom to a consortium of leading local institutions including One&Other TV, University of York, York St John University, SCY, Visit York, York CVS, City of York Council, Yorkshire Film Archive in November 2013.

The channel is expecting to create 12-15 new jobs initially”

NB. Science City – which was involved with the station – has recently been taken over by the City of York Council reviving some concerns about the impartiality of any affected media outlets.

A report on the future of the Guildhall is scheduled to be considered at the Council’s Cabinet meeting on 7^th October 2014

Competition launched to find name for York’s new Local TV Channel

Launching in Spring 2015, “with the local community at its heart”, the channel is asking for ideas for its brand name in a campaign entitled #MyYorkChannel that will run on Twitter and at http://www.myyorkchannel.com/

The channel has been viewed with suspicion by some because of its links with the York Council Labour Leadership.

It has even been suggested that the station may have a studio at the Guildhall

The prize for the individual or company behind the chosen name is £1,000 and the opportunity to work with the channel’s creative time to bring the brand to life. For everybody else, they hope it is the first of many opportunities to help shape the local television channel they want to see.

Naming ideas can be submitted at http://www.myyorkchannel.com/ and via Twitter using the #MyYorkChannel hashtag. The competition will run until 5pm on 27 June 2014.
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