Production in Rockland and Rockport

Local television beefs up presence: Maine Coast TV, VStv to share airwaves

Mon, 07/28/2014 - 12:00am

    ROCKPORT — The number of cameras focused on Midcoast Maine will ramp up this autumn as one entirely new TV station dives into a full schedule and a second channel looks to increase its content through a new partnership.

    Maine Coast TV and VStv are undergoing major restructures and will both begin broadcasting to the Midcoast this fall. But neither considers competition to be a problem because of radically different content philosophies.

    Maine Coast TV is a public access channel. Time Warner Cable is required by law to provide the airwaves free of charge. Anybody is welcome to submit content to be broadcast.

    It is a nonprofit station. While some shows that are broadcast may have sponsorships to cover production costs they may not profit. Creators of these shows are required to cover all production costs that Maine Coast cannot provide equipment for. There are no advertisement sales.

    In 2002, a group of community members met to form a public access station as a nonprofit under the Heritage Foundation.

    In 2004, a new board was established and connections to the Heritage Foundation were cut.

    In 2007, Robert Nichols became active as a member and enlisted Craig Mathieson to help with programming and provide new content.

    Robert describes it as down to earth.

    “We don’t have a big budget,” he said. “It’s not a fancy desk with all sorts of things and guys in suits. It’s a radio studio and the control board and the guy you’re talking to is across the table from you.”

    Craig Mathieson of Maine Coast TV said the Channel 7 station is purely public access, a true community television station.

    Of VStv, Alan Hinsey said, “It is absolutely not public access.”

    VStv, an affiliate of Village Soup and the Courier Publications, will be managed chiefly by Alan Hinsey and Reade Brower.

    Hinsey said they plan to develop a regional, hyper-local station for Knox and Waldo counties. Using the Village Soup infrastructure the station will cover news, arts and entertainment, sports and a variety of additional local topics.

    Hinsey said there is a major gap in the local media market.

    “We don’t generate ourselves any programming, it’s all from the community,” he said. “We have several producers in the community who produce shows and bring them in.”

    The classification as public or local access is the significant difference in approach between Maine Coast TV and VStv.

    “If there’s a plane crash or triple homicide we’ll have Portland and Augusta cover it but otherwise they don’t care a lot about local events,” Hinsey said.

    Hinsey said he wants VStv to capture the morning news network spot by providing daily news in the Knox and Waldo county area.

    Separate daily morning and evening news shows will be part of VStv’s “hot and fresh” programming.

    Daily programming will also include weather, local talk, “soup du jour,” a food show and a daily sports piece.

    VStv as a local access station is truly seeking the community market with a focus on local events and topics.

    Maine Coast TV as a public access station is taking the community aspect a step further by focusing entirely on local, community-produced content.

    Mathieson said that anybody from the community may submit finished content to Maine Coast TV.

    “The idea is that the community provides the programming,” he said. “If one side wants to bring in a program fine, if it’s a local show. They produce it, we’ll show it.”

    VStv will be a local access channel, on Time Warner Channel 88. Time Warner is required to provide a few of these local access channels to smaller, local, groups for much less than what major TV stations can afford.

    VStv will be broadcast into 50,000 households in the area. Although the content is focused mostly on Knox and Waldo counties, Time Warner’s division of Maine made it impossible for VStv to choose this area alone. The station will also go into homes in the Kennebec, Sagdahoc, Lincoln, Piscataquis, Penobscot, Hancock and Oxford counties.

    VStv must cover all production costs in house. Unlike public access it produces all its own content using its own studio space and equipment. It plans to be a self-sufficient organization through advertisement sales. For every 30-minute show there will be eight minutes of advertisements and a sponsor. The sponsor will get two minutes of advertisements; VStv will sell the remaining six. 

    VStv is organized by Reade Brower, who owns Village Soup and the Courier Publications, and Alan Hinsey, who has broadcast and production experience through hosting Mainebiz Sunday for three years.

    The channel is moving into a new space at the Lincoln Street Center, in Rockland, and it will share room there with the WRFR 93.3 radio station.

    Bob Nichols, of Maine Coast TV, said the new space will afford the volunteer organization much more production capabilities. Until now, the station has not had any studio space or much equipment of its own.

    “We’ll have a wider variety of programming, the ability to have people come in and do shows,” said Nichols. “We’ll also be part of Lincoln Street, which is very important. They’re doing their own shows and we’ll be able to broadcast some of that.”

    The Lincoln Street Center has changed ownership but remains a center for arts and entertainment. The new group has refurbished much of the space including the gym and auditorium and is renting out rooms to groups, such as WRFR and private artists.

    Mathieson said the Lincoln Street space is great because it allows Maine Coast TV access to lots of studio and shooting space, including the gym and auditorium, but the channel doesn’t need to fill that space all the time.

    Another big difference between Maine Coast TV and VStv is revenue. Maine Coast TV will remain a volunteer organization. While some programs may have sponsorships there will be no advertisement sales.

    VStv on the other hand is aiming to both find sponsors for daily programs and sell advertisement space throughout the day.

    Hinsey said that if every show has eight minutes of commercial time, with 22 minutes of content, a sponsor would be given two minutes for advertisements. The remaining six minutes would be for VStv to sell.

    This difference also translates into unequal production budgets. Whereas Maine Coast TV will share the Lincoln Street Center space with a number of other artists, VStv is building an entire production studio including sound and video editing rooms, several sets and a green room on Meadow Street in Rockport.

    Hinsey said they are also buying all high-definition equipment and a mobile broadcasting truck for on-scene reports.

    “In studio, we can control content, quality and it’s cheaper that way,” said Hinsey.

    Maine Coast TV also keeps costs low by having much of their content shot and produced by the community.

    Nichols and Mathieson don’t plan to change much of their programming but think content will increase because of improved access from the Lincoln Street Center.

    Hinsey doesn’t think Maine Coast TV and VStv will compete for airtime or viewership because their content is so different. 

    One area where the two stations intersect is in online access. Both plan to provide video streaming through video on-demand services and even allow access through smartphones and tablet computers.

    Whether the Knox and Waldo county region has enough community to support two local stations remains a question.

    WRFR and its new partner, the Old School, are moving to new quarters at the renovated Lincoln Street Center. They believe the Lincoln Street Center will be an incubator for further creative advance in our local culture. The plan to inhabit the place has already led to a collaboration with Maine Coast TV who will share the WRFR studio space.

    Mathieson said Maine Coast TV has always been community-led, and that it will continue that tradition.

    Hinsey said VStv wants to brand “real TV, real local.”

    “Sooner or later you’ll be on,” said Hinsey. “Sooner or later we’re going be at your workplace, your basketball game or your school. You are going see us.”


    Reach Ari Salas at news@penbaypilot.com