While town council was shocked to learn last Monday night that Shaw Cable might be pulling the plug on its community programming here, Mayor Dan Onichuk said this morning the situation isn’t as dire as first thought.
The mayor met yesterday with Shaw regional systems manager David Inglis to discuss the loss of the mobile production truck here and the future of community programming.
“He assured me that live programming will continue as it has,” Mayor Onichuk said.
“It was a good meeting. We met for about an hour and we talked about the situation,” he added. “We talked about programming and what it means to the community.”
“He came down because of the reaction from council, as well as the public outcry,” the mayor noted, adding he’s aware people have been making comments when they’ve been going to Shaw’s office here to pay their cable bills.
Petitions also have been circulating around town.
Mayor Onichuk said Inglis told him the letter submitted to council by local Shaw community programmer Lyndon Hughes “was a little premature,” and that while the company has been reviewing its community programming everywhere, including the best use of its equipment, it hasn’t made any decisions.
“As far as a deadline, he said they initially planned to have the study done by mid-November,” Mayor Onichuk noted. “But now they’re shooting to have it done by the new year.
“I’d like to see how the study ends up.”
While it’s still possible the local Shaw office may lose its mobile production truck, the mayor said that doesn’t necessarily mean the end of community programming.
He noted locations such as the Memorial Spots Centre, Civic Centre, and Townshend Theatre already have permanent wiring for television broadcasts in place, and events at these locations could be done without the use of the mobile unit.
In the case of an location where events don’t normally take place throughout the year, like at the Sorting Gap for the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship, a mobile unit could be booked for that time slot and borrowed from Thunder Bay.
This also would be true for other smaller communities in the region, such as Atikokan.
“You may not have the flexibility to do an event with only a day’s notice, but most events are scheduled far ahead of time,” noted Mayor Onichuk.
He added Shaw also may decide to be moving towards more in-studio community programming in the future.
“I feel comfortable that things will continue on,” he concluded.
As first reported in last Tuesday’s edition of the Daily Bulletin, town council received a letter from Hughes at its Oct. 25 meeting.
“As a part of our customer relations efforts, I am writing to you to inform you Shaw Cable Systems have made a decision to no longer support the mobile production truck here in Fort Frances,” Hughes wrote.
“They will be transporting it to Thunder Bay in a few weeks.”
Without it, Hughes added, he no longer would be able to broadcast council meetings, public school board meetings, high school sports, Border Figure Skating Club ice shows, events at the Townshend Theatre, high school graduations, “Quest for the Best,” or political debates prior to elections.
Inglis could not be reached for comment prior to press time today.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
