Time Warner Moves Public Access Channels to Digital

By Stephen DravisWilliamstown Correspondent
12:11PM / Tuesday, July 23, 2013Print Story | Email Story


	Top, a blank screen Tuesday morning greeted viewers of WilliNet at its previous location. Left, the new digital WilliNet home on Channel 116-1

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Residents accustomed to watching the local community access television channels woke up to a blank screen on Tuesday morning.

If they had a digital television, it was just a matter of reprogramming the set to find WilliNet's new home.

If they didn't, they had to use a digital converter box, which, for a limited time, will be available for free from Time Warner Cable.

But town officials are asking why the cable company needed to move community access stations from conventional, analog channels to its digital service.

At Monday's Selectmen's meeting, Town Manager Peter Fohlin brought the panel up to speed on his conversations with Time Warner and explained why he believes it is important for the town to continue pressing the company for answers.

"I don't feel any great obligation to stick up for Animal Planet or Soapnet or the Oprah Winfrey Network, but this seems like it strikes us in the heart," Fohlin said.

WilliNet provides residents with live coverage of local government meetings, including town meetings, as well as replays on both television and online, community-generated content and a valuable bulletin board.

Time Warner announced the switch in a letter to subscribers dated June 21.

According to the letter, the cable provider will only provide the town's Public, Educational and Government (PEG) channels in digital format as "one way we continue to improve the quality of our service."

To soften the blow, the company is offering "free" digital adapters through Sept. 23. It will begin charging for the use of those adapters on Jan. 1, 2015.

Fohlin said there is no obvious clause in the town's cable contract that precludes Time Warner from charging more money to view "public access" programming, but the Selectmen encouraged him to pursue the question further. The matter likely would require consultation with town counsel.

"The 99-cent fee will by definition hurt most those who can least afford it because if they could afford digital TVs, they'd buy them," Fohlin said.

WilliNet posted a prominent article on its home page advising viewers of the switch. The change is occurring for Time Warner subscribers throughout the area, affecting subscribers and local access stations.

The affected WilliNet channels have been moved to Channels 116-1, 116-2 and 116-3.

Tags: cable television, public television,

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Mount Greylock School Committee Discusses Collaboration Project with North County Districts

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:34AM / Friday, December 19, 2025

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — News that the group looking at ways to increase cooperation among secondary schools in North County reached a milestone sparked yet another discussion about that group's objectives among members of the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee.

At Thursday's meeting, Carolyn Greene reported that the Northern Berkshire Secondary Sustainability task force, where she represents the Lanesborough-Williamstown district, had completed a request for proposals in its search for a consulting firm to help with the process that the task force will turn over to a steering committee comprised of four representatives from four districts: North Berkshire School Union, North Adams Public Schools, Hoosac Valley Regional School District and Mount Greylock Regional School District.

Greene said the consultant will be asked to, "work on things like data collection and community outreach in all of the districts that are participating, coming up with maybe some options on how to share resources."

"That wraps up the work of this particular working group," she added. "It was clear that everyone [on the group] had the same goals in mind, which is how do we do education even better for our students, given the limitations that we all face.

"It was a good process."

One of Greene's colleagues on the Mount Greylock School Committee used her report as a chance to challenge that process.

"I strongly support collaboration, I think it's a terrific idea," Steven Miller said. "But I will admit I get terrified when I see words like 'regionalization' in documents like this. I would feel much better if that was not one of the items we were discussing at this stage — that we were talking more about shared resources.

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