Rogue Valley
Citizens who follow the business of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners and County Staff will be pleased to hear that the Commissioners have granted RVTV and several other organizations a six month reprieve from budget cuts. The Budget Committee last month targeted the RVTV television contract and other agencies and service partners for over 1 million dollars in budget reductions should the County not identify new revenue sources. The six month extension for services was proposed by Administrator Danny Jordan. A County funding measure is in the works for the November 5 election. If passed, the targeted cuts would not take place and programs would be able to continue past the December extension. Supporters of the OSU Extension Service and other programs packed the Courthouse Auditorium Wednesday to encourage County officials to continue working with agency partners to maintain funding going forward. The online file of the May 29 meeeting is available here.
RVTV began providing television and internet archiving services for Jackson County in 1995, the same year the City of Medford signed it’s initial contract with Southern Oregon University. With the addition of the two largest government entities what had been Ashland Cable Access for five years became Rogue Valley Community Television, with an expansion from one channel to three. By collaborating through RVTV, the Cities of Ashland and Medford and Jackson County are able to reduce costs and personell time in scheduling and operating the channels and transcoding and posting digital archives of the meetings that citizens can access online. The Digital Media Center at SOU is also the hub for Public Access activities, where citizens can take courses to learn field and studio production and begin creating programs for PA Channel 15. More information is available on our website at rvtv.sou.edu.