Leesburg Town Council and the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors will continue researching whether it’s worthwhile to form something of a public access cooperative, the two groups agreed Feb. 13 during a joint meeting at Leesburg Town Hall.

While none of the elected officials said no, there wasn’t much enthusiasm, either. No official vote was taken.

A void in public access will come this summer when Comcast vacates its studio in Ashburn. Comcast, the media company that provides broadcasts of town, county and school meetings, announced it will close its public access studio some time around July.

Verizon Fios and OpenBand provide public access channels to subscribers, but those shows are fed to companies through Comcast.

Loudoun County Public Schools are also included in the plan, which calls for the creation of a public cable access entity to broadcast school, town and county meetings.
The need for such an organization, the costs and who will be involved are questions without answers at this point.

Oliver Peters, a former member of the Loudoun County Cable Commission, has led efforts to develop a joint public access system between the three entities. Peters spoke during the Feb. 13 meeting, providing a rundown where the process currently stands. Peters has met with the the town, county and schools, and all seem willing to explore the possibility, he said.

Peters believes the swiftest way to solve the impending public access hole will be to create a nonprofit organization.

“We can start running a business, if you will,” Peters said. “But we’re going to need some sort of staff. Maybe it’s two people, maybe it’s one person, I don’t know.”

It’s up to the town, county and schools to decide who would be dedicated to overseeing the public access cooperative, Peters voiced.

Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) posited whether the joint approach was the most efficient. He said each individual government board could theoretically find their own avenues to provide broadcasts and adhere to state transparency (sunshine) laws.

Delgaudio called it a “big project” that shouldn’t be “underestimated.”

“[Public access] can be easily managed if we work out a formal arrangement where we figure out what we want to do, what the costs are, and then just have a staff member take care of the broadcast for the respective governmental bodies, and that would be the end of it. That’s not going to require a 501c3,” said Delgaudio.

Peters responded by saying if a new public cable entity were created, all the operations and scheduling can be arranged “in-house.”

“If we were to have a public access system with a couple of staff members, then they can wrap everything into it, meaning they would control the calendar for your broadcasts, town broadcasts, school broadcasts—all done from a central point,” Peters said.

The question of cost remains a question mark. While Comcast has agreed to essentially give some of their broadcast equipment to the proposed entity, it’s likely more equipment would be needed. Locating a base studio and potentially paying a staff member or director of the public access organization could cost additional funds.

Public Education Government (PEG) fees, collected from the county through cable companies, should also be available to purchase equipment for a new entity, Peters said.