ACTV, the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government's television channel located on Charter Communications cable channel 7, will show the first live broadcast of a Mayor and Commission regular session meeting on Tuesday, March 5, at 7:00 p.m. The meeting will be televised in its entirety from the City Hall Commission Chamber. Additionally, rebroadcasts from a tape of the meeting will take place during the remainder of the month on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. and on Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

ACTV will show live broadcasts and taped rebroadcasts each month of the Mayor and Commission regular session meeting held on the first Tuesday of that month. The broadcasts are produced by the Athens-Clarke County Public Information Office in conjunction with Radar Multimedia Productions, Inc.

The Commission Chamber has been equipped with four cameras that are manually operated in a control room built in the former Probation Office next door. The cameras allow for a variety of angles and views of the Mayor and Commission, the crowd in attendance, speakers at the public podium and other ACC staff members. In addition, an "information bar" overlay across the bottom of the broadcast will provide meeting details and identify officials for viewers. Citizens can also reference meeting agendas, which have been posted online at the ACC Web site (www.athensclarkecounty.com) since last year.

"Broadcasting Mayor and Commission meetings on ACTV will provide citizens with another way to follow the issues that are important to them and become more involved in local government," says Public Information Officer Sandi Turner.

Two broadcast "practice rounds" took place during the Mayor and Commission's regular meeting on February 5 and agenda setting session on February 19. Although the broadcasts were not aired on ACTV, they were used to test video and audio capabilities, as well as pinpoint improvements for the first broadcast.

Athens-Clarke County's Facilities Management Division assisted with the construction of the control room and equipment installation, which was done by Comprehensive Technical Group (CTG) from Atlanta, GA. The equipment itself was purchased with money from a Charter Communications grant to Athens-Clarke County, which was part of the franchise agreement between the two entities. These funds are designated solely for government access television purchases.

The live broadcast of Mayor and Commission meetings is the second stage in the progression of ACTV. On October 27, 2000, ACTV began to air computer-generated government information slides in a bulletin board fashion 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. For more information, contact the Athens-Clarke County Public Information Office at (706) 613-3795.