Rev. Timothy Rouse, President of the South Bend Common Council.

After the closing of Comcast's public access television studio in December, the City of South Bend selected the local PBS affiliate, WNIT, to record its three remaining Common Council meetings for 2007. But when that contract was extended through 2008 without an open bidding process, African American Council members and previous bidders cried foul during a meeting of the Information and Technology Committee on February 6, 2008.

Rev. Timothy Rouse, President of the South Bend Common Council, was adamant that minority vendors not be excluded and that the intent of the council was to approve just the three tapings for 2007. The opposition raised by Rev. Rouse and committee member Councilor Karen White helped to force a new round of open bidding for 2008.

But what about the rest of what was shown on public access TV in South Bend? It was discussed only briefly during the committee meeting. As of now, Comcast is running a graphic on the channel, and the WNIT-taped meetings of the Common Council are shown only on the Internet. The former public access TV studio equipment is reportedly boxed and unclaimed.

The Right-of-Way asked Rev. Rouse about his perspective on the future - if any - of public access television in South Bend.

“We definitely will continue with taping the Common Council meetings,” explained Rev. Rouse. He said there is also interest in starting to tape the committee meetings, but he noted that the administration is reluctant to take on the responsibilities of running a full public access channel on its own. “However, I feel as though the Council has an obligation to look at the total aggregate picture of public access -- that takes in the government, education and … public access,” said Rev. Rouse. “It’s going to take someone to champion it. I’ve already expressed an interest to see that the consulting and research is done.”

Although the committee made no firm commitment to take any next steps toward restoring public access television, Rev. Rouse believes there is enough support on the Council to make it happen if the right research is done. “I think it’s the underserved that’s going to be most harmed by this if we don’t do it.”

To stay abreast of what is going on with public access TV around the state, visit www.ourchannelsindiana.org.

Andrea Price is Board President of Public Access of Indianapolis.