Alarm sounded on deal for NJN

TRENTON - New Jersey Network will "cease to exist" as most know it if lawmakers scrap a deal to allow a New York public broadcasting station to operate it, state Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff told lawmakers Thursday.

The law that granted the treasurer authority to negotiate the deal gives the Legislature the right to nullify it by Tuesday. The Assembly voted Thursday to approve a resolution to block the transfer to WNET-TV in New York.

Testifying before the Senate Budget Committee, the treasurer said that should lawmakers veto the deal, the network would broadcast the minimum programming required to keep its license. No nightly newscast would be included.

The transfer is scheduled to go into effect next Friday.

Gov. Christie, who believes the state does not need and cannot afford its own television station, eliminated funding for the network from his 2012 budget. He recently announced that New Jersey would keep ownership of the lucrative broadcasting license, but would enter into a five-year renewable operating agreement with WNET.

Under the agreement, NJN would be known as NJTV and would continue to provide a nightly news broadcast and live broadcasts of major Statehouse events, including the governor's budget addresses and State of the State speeches, and live election night coverage.

The agreement also calls for 20 hours of weekly New Jersey-centric broadcasting, half of which would be provided by Caucus Educational Corp., headed by Steve Adubato Jr., son of a major political powerbroker in Newark.

As soon as the deal was announced, Democrats criticized the bidding and selection process, and Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D., Middlesex) and Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D., Bergen) sponsored resolutions to kill the deal.

The station has about 120 state-paid employees. About half are eligible to retire and a handful of others would be kept on by the state to maintain the broadcast towers, the treasurer said.

The state would save an estimated $11 million annually, Sidamon-Eristoff said, and no funding is in the governor's proposed budget to keep it operating.

Sen. Paul Sarlo (D., Bergen), the Budget Committee chairman, hinted that lawmakers might be considering adding funding for NJN back into the budget, which must be passed by next Friday.

Even if they do, Christie retains the power to line-item veto spending in the budget. Asked by Sarlo whether the governor would do so, Sidamon-Eristoff would not say or indicate whether he would recommend that the governor consider the measure.