3 groups seeking local-access TV revival in Montco

Local public-access cable TV might be falling out of favor elsewhere in the country, but four months after the station serving Lower Merion Township and Narberth went dark, three groups are vying to revive it.

George Strimel, who runs the public station in neighboring Radnor Township, has offered to take over Lower Merion's operation, not to be confused with the channels that carry public meetings. The Lower Merion Historical Society also is making a pitch, as is a King of Prussia group.

Strimel appeared before the Lower Merion Cable Advisory Committee last month offering an attractive price - $0. The Radnor group's offer, however, has encountered some resistance.

"It's giving it away to nice people, but it's still giving it away," said Perry Hamilton, a former board chairman for the defunct Lower Merion station, who is leading the bid by the Historical Society.

Hamilton's proposal would make use of whatever funds Lower Merion can provide - $10,000 in the last year of the former channel's operation - and rely on fund-raising to cover the rest of the programming costs.

"Whatever funding you get, that's what you work with. If the public is energized and really loves their public-access station, they'll give us more," Hamilton said, adding that while public support "comes and goes," the society plans to provide consistent content to the station.

Industry experts say that local public-access cable stations have fallen on hard times, in part due to the tremendous range of viewing options offered on the Internet, but Pennsylvania is one of a few states where laws still favor community stations over regional or statewide operations.

Radnor 21 broadcasts six hours of content daily, and benefits from $200,000 annually from Radnor's franchise agreement with cable operators to fund original programming from local residents.

Funding, Strimel said, "is not a problem for us, so we just want to share that good luck. We are not asking for any dollars or cents.

"It costs you no more to do a good job and reach one, than do a good job and reach 101."

Hamilton raised concerns about the local relevance of Radnor 21's content, which includes nightly showings of older British films; a medical talk show hosted by a nurse; and interviews with local figures. The station shows documentaries made in Europe and recently spent $5,000 producing a 40-minute documentary of its own on SEPTA.

"It's not enough to do the program," Strimel said at the advisory committee meeting. "The most important thing is to be seen, and we try to make sure what we present is attractive and interesting and fun."

If Radnor 21 were granted operation of the channel, Strimel said, he would rebrand the station as Main Line Public Access Television, and open his studio to use by Lower Merion residents, who currently have access only if they are sponsored by a Radnor resident.

Organizers of a third proposed operator, King of Prussia-based Astera Film & Video Inc., agreed with Hamilton that the station should remain exclusively for Lower Merion residents.

Astera's operators, Anthony Seligson and George Brusstar, have proposed forming a nonprofit entity to run the station on $55,000 in annual funding, most of which they say will come from fund-raising and program sponsorships.

Brusstar and Seligson said they were not invited to the recent meeting of the Cable Advisory Committee to present their proposal, and their names were not on the agenda, yet they showed up and were allowed to present.

Lower Merion's Cable Advisory Committee will vote on a recommendation to be submitted to the Board of Commissioners next Thursday, and the board is expected to make its decision in March.