PORT TOWNSEND — After two months of swaying back and forth, Port Townsend TV station producers have rejected City Manager David Timmons’ suggestion to go nonprofit.
PTTV, broadcast on Millennium Digital cable channels 47 and 48, is run by a board comprised of representatives from the public, school district and city administration.
The station board’s report will go before the City Council at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Waterman and Katz Building, 181 Quincy St. The council may determine the future path of the public-access station.
Timmons in March pitched the idea to remove city participation and decrease its control over the station’s operations.
The nonprofit option would allow PTTV greater autonomy and control over its budget, derived from franchise and subscriber fees, Timmons said.
In return, the city would relinquish its liability for the station’s content, Timmons said.
City administrators came under criticism several years ago over the content of a late night show that some viewers considered inappropriate.
Caution advised
Station board managers said they see benefits in gaining nonprofit status, but want to proceed with caution and maintain the status quo until benefits and disadvantages are carefully weighed.
“While there are advantages to [nonprofit] status, the majority of the committee members felt that, currently, the disadvantages of nonprofit status outweighed potential short term benefits,” the station board report to the City Council states.
“Unanswered questions of cost, accountability, philosophy and long-term station viability make such a transition unlikely to succeed.”
Many public access TV stations operate successfully as nonprofits, both Timmons and the board acknowledged.
But station managers pointed out that the nonprofit model works mostly for stations in larger communities with significantly greater financial resources.