The Daily Catch

PANDA TV Hopes To Broadcast on Mobile Devices, Add Closed Captioning As Part of Plan for Major Upgrades



Steve Beer films Rhinebeck village and Town Board meetings for Panda (photo by Victor Feldman).

Officials at PANDA, the nonprofit public access TV station, and Red Hook Town Supervisor Robert McKeon are pushing to win money from Spectrum to expand the station’s reach and bring its aging technological infrastructure into the 21st century. 

For the past 30 years, Public Access Northern Dutchess Area 23 (known locally as PANDA), has served as the public access station for the towns of Red Hook and Rhinebeck, along with the villages of Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Tivoli. 

But the station’s future was cast into doubt last March when the server that allowed PANDA to broadcast on channel 23 suddenly died. “We knew it was old but we were not expecting it to fail, so now we simply don’t have a signal on channel 23 anymore,” PANDA board chairman Eric Riback told The Daily Catch this week.

Viewers can still view Panda’s programming on its YouTube channel. But, said Riback, “it’s a problem because there are people used to viewing us on their TV who might not even know about the YouTube channel.” 

The station has provided broadcasts of recordings from government meetings across the local municipalities through its cable channel on Spectrum. Videos of these meetings, and PANDA’s general programming, including footage of local events as well as videos submitted to the station from local residents, are also posted on its YouTube channel, typically two to three days after they take place.

Eric Riback, chair of PANDA TV, hopes a $54,600 package of upgrades will yield mobile apps, closed captioning and other upgrades for the local public access station (photo by Emily Sachar).

Flashy Upgrades

Now, PANDA hopes to secure $54,600 from Spectrum to fund a series of long-overdue equipment upgrades. “We are asking for more money than is required to get us back on the air,” Riback explained. 

The recent setback, he said, is an opportunity to expand Panda’s broadcasting abilities. “We see this as a chance to provide service to everyone, not just those with a cable package,” he said. The $54,600 request includes money for a new server and software to provide closed captioning on videos. A portion of the funds would also be used to purchase new streaming cameras that can connect to the Internet and allow for live broadcasts of events and local government meetings. PANDA has never had the ability to broadcast live, and all of its programming on channel 23 is pre-recorded. 

In 2021, PANDA was able to broadcast the proceedings of local government meetings live on its YouTube channel because these events were held on Zoom and did not require PANDA camera operators to film them. 

Red Hook Town Supervisor Robert McKeon hopes for $54,600 in funding from Spectrum to enhance and upgrade the services of PANDA 23 (photo by Emily Sachar).

For its flashiest upgrade, PANDA hopes to develop a TV and mobile app on which to upload all its programming for on-demand access by viewers. “This would allow us to create Netflix-like capabilities for any device,” exclaimed Riback. 

Like other video-streaming apps, PANDA’s app would be available on the iOS, Roku, and Google Play app stores and could be downloaded on personal tablets, smartphones, and TVs. The app would organize its programming for specific types of meetings, say  Rhinebeck or Red Hook Town Board meetings, in “chapters.” Viewers could then jump directly to the chapter that houses the content they seek. 

But the biggest benefit of a PANDA app, Riback said, “is that it makes our programming available to everyone, not just cable subscribers, so you can watch PANDA wherever you are. That is important to us.” 

For residents like Donna Patton, a mobile app for PANDA could be a game-changer. “I would love to be able to download a PANDA app to my iPad so I can just tune into videos when I’m traveling,” she said. Patton, a Tivoli resident who spends her winters at a second home outside Miami, Fla., frequently viewed Red Hook and Tivoli Village Board meetings on channel 23 before PANDA went off the air. “I’m not able to attend most of these local meetings in person, but I still really try to keep myself up to date on what’s happening, so anything that makes that easier for me is a good thing,” she said. 

What Happens Now?

On Nov. 16, after nearly one year of negotiations, Red Hook Town Board members approved a new, 10-year franchise agreement with Spectrum that would require the cable company to provide $54,000 to fund the upgrades PANDA is requesting.

But before Spectrum agrees to provide the money, the cable company wants all five of the municipalities in Red Hook and Rhinebeck to adopt the deal, explained Riback. 

On Dec. 13, in an effort to bring all the affected municipalities on board, McKeon pleaded with the Village of Rhinebeck Board of Trustees to sign onto Red Hook’s new deal with Spectrum. 

“It’s important to move as expeditiously as possible,” said McKeon, who stressed the importance of preserving local public access TV. The requested funding, he added, “will bring PANDA’s equipment to state-of-the-art standards, or very close to it, so the local cable channel will be much better.” 

Rhinebeck Village Mayor Gary Bassett concurred. “I think that we should work hard to get PANDA back and operational as soon as possible.” The village Board of Trustees, he added, will review Red Hook’s contract with Spectrum before taking any action. The villages of Red Hook and Tivoli have yet to adopt the agreement.

Riback noted that the deal could still benefit Spectrum, even if a forthcoming PANDA app allows viewers to access public access programs without a cable subscription. That’s because, Riback noted, cable companies don’t typically view public access channels as major assets worth requiring a cable package to access.

I think they are mistaken because we have heard from residents that PANDA is one of the reasons they subscribe to cable,” he said. “But, I don’t think it bothers them that people might view us off the cable system.”

Riback noted that Spectrum is also the area’s primary internet service provider and already offers its own Spectrum-branded app that allows cord-cutters to watch on-demand TV programming without a cable subscription. 

History of PANDA 

PANDA’s future has long been on shaky ground. The five municipalities that fund and are served by the station have not had a franchise agreement with Spectrum since 2001, the year their original contract with the cable company, which was called TCL at the time, ended. 

PANDA was created in 1991, when Red Hook and Rhinebeck signed their first franchise agreement with TCL. The deal was made possible by the Cable Communications Act of 1984, which mandated cable TV companies to provide local public access programming for public, educational, or government use, to municipalities who requested it, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). However, to this day, companies like Spectrum are not required to list public access channels in their TV guides for customers, lamented Riback. 

Today, PANDA operates on a shoestring budget of $72,900 annually. The money pays to maintain PANDA’s office at the Red Hook Community Center, fund the part-time salary of the station manager, and hire freelance camera operators. The station, Riback added, also relies on help from volunteers and local college and high school interns. 

Surprisingly, even though the original agreement with Spectrum expired two decades ago, PANDA’s day-to-day operations continue to be funded through the 5 percent franchise fee all five municipalities collect each quarter from Spectrum. In the absence of an official franchise agreement, the cable company has continued to remit 5 percent of its gross revenue from local subscribers each quarter to the five municipalities to fund the public access TV station, Riback explained.

On Tuesday, Riback expressed cautious optimism that all five municipalities can again reach an agreement with Spectrum soon. “I hope an agreement would be a matter of a couple more months away, but I don’t really know,” he said. 

3 responses to “PANDA TV Hopes To Broadcast on Mobile Devices, Add Closed Captioning As Part of Plan for Major Upgrades”

  1. George Karpel says:

    Seems to be a couple of Red Hook Town meetings missing from the FaceBook site.
    Specifically, the ones between Thanksgiving and Xmas in 2022 that were the most heavily attended (online) meetings in the last several years.
    — Is there a reason for the omission of those controversial, high audience-participation interactive discussions ?
    — Is there a record of either one of those PUBLIC meetings that we can access?

    Just asking as a concerned resident.

    • Eric Riback says:

      Sorry for the delay in responding! If you’re referring two special meetings apparently held in December, PANDA was not made aware of those. All the regular meetings are on our Youtube Channel at www.youtube.com/@PANDATV23/videos, and we try to get them posted within a few days.

      • Eric Riback says:

        Mr. Karpel and I spoke and clarified the meetings of interest were from late 2021. They were posted at that time and are on PANDA’s YouTube page. Anyone who is looking for one of the town board or village trustee meetings can go to that page and they are in reverse chronological order, at this link: www.youtube.com/@PANDATV23/videos

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