Brattleboro Community Television Inc

Brattleboro Community TV is a community media center serving eight towns in southern Windham County, Vermont. As the one and only television outlet for the area, BCTV covers municipal government meetings, educational matters, and documents local events and activities. BCTV also provides equipment and training that allows community members to create content, reaching viewers on cable channels 1075 & 1085 and at brattleborotv.org.

When the BCTV community gathered virtually in September 2020 for our Annual Members Meeting, we discussed that before COVID-19 hit in March, FY20 was on track to be a banner year for BCTV:

-Your donations, underwriting and membership fees made a huge difference; federal threats and the trend of cord-cutting by cable viewers means we need the financial support of our viewers and producers.

-Comcast assigned new channel numbers for BCTV (1075 & 1085, no more 8 & 10!) and purchased Southern Vermont Cable, so all of our towns now have the same service provider.

-BCTV's live multi-camera coverage of the Harris Hill Ski Jump had 20,000 views on Facebook Live over President's Day Weekend 2020, making it a major milestone for the station in terms of production complexity and audience reach.

Following the Governor's 'Stay Safe, Stay Home' Order, staff worked from home and rallied to help the community through the COVID-19 crisis. From March 17 - July 6, BCTV:

• Attended, recorded, edited, and archived 90 online meetings
• Edited, uploaded, and archived 350+ local shows, including 10 new series
• Produced and/or livestreamed virtual and in-person graduation ceremonies at Landmark, BAMS, BUHS, and Leland and Gray
• Assisted municipalities, individuals, and producers with technical questions of any kind.
• All staff remained on payroll with similar hours to pre-COVID, with assistance from a PPP loan.

In July, BCTV reopened the offices and facilities on a limited capacity basis to our volunteer producers, and the schedule filled up immediately. Staff support producers in person or virtually, and livestreaming services are increasingly requested, particularly after our entire crew helped produce the highly publicized multi-venue fundraising event "Arts Unite Windham" in August.

Another highlight this fall was the 13-hour livestream of Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting to BCTV viewers on Facebook and cable - this was the first virtual Town Meeting in Vermont and is being hailed as a model for the State. Town Meeting 2021 is right around the corner, and BCTV will be there to assist municipalities with using technical tools to achieve governmental transparency and smooth communications.

Thanksgiving weekend, BCTV helped create virtual events that kept the holiday traditions alive:

• 'Grateful for Brattleboro' went live at 4 PM on Thanksgiving, in place of Brattleboro's Community Thanksgiving

• Downtown Holiday Tree Lighting went live at 6 PM on Friday 11/27, in place of the annual event.

It has been BCTV's privilege to be of service during this time of crisis as your community media center and public access TV station for southern Windham County.  Thank you for any support you can give so we can maintain the station as a vital community resource.