Town of West Newbury Massachusetts Launches Webcasting Technology
First town in MA to use Granicus streaming media technology goes live and on-demand.
West Newbury, MA, December 04, 2009 --(PR.com)-- West Newbury residents are now able to watch town meetings broadcast live on the Internet. Users can also instantly replay all or part of those meetings at their convenience through a link on the town’s Cable Channel web site (http://thetown.tv and click on the link titled “Granicus Meetings”).
The Town officially launched the new webcasting technology at the November 18th, 2009 by broadcasting its first live Selectmen’s Meeting on Verizon FiOS Channel 42, Comcast Channel 9, and web streaming with Granicus enhancing the accessibility of local programming to citizens who may not have access to Verizon FiOS or Comcast service, but do have a broadband internet connection.
"The Town of West Newbury has made open government a priority by listening to the residents and implementing a state of the art solution to support enhanced access to public meeting”, said Cable Advisory Committee Chairman Jim Teal. "We are excited to be able to offer a diverse number of options for our residents to become more informed and engaged with local government and the related issues that affect our town and our school district."
West Newbury is a new Local Cable Access startup and this effort will be largely volunteer supported. The Cable Advisory Committee, with the help of volunteers, plans to start broadcasting of the weekly Selectmen’s meetings, with the hope of more public meetings to be made available live and on-demand on the web as the volunteer base grows. These meetings can be accessed live at their regularly scheduled time on their two cable channels (Comcast 9/Verizon FiOS 42). The broadcast schedule is available both from http://www.wnewbury.org as well as the stations web site http://TheToWN.tv where users can find links to the full schedule as well as the meetings that are available through Web Streaming.
“The Town is very excited about this new technology as a way to outreach to a greater number of residents and members of the Pentucket School District.” said Glenn Kemper, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen. “We look forward to providing more ways for our voters to engage with our Public Process through TV and through enhanced Internet access.”
The new on-line service is powered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc., the premier provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions to over 500 government agencies spanning 45 states across the nation. West Newbury is proud to be the first municipality in Massachusetts to go live with this new service.
“West Newbury is a great example of the positive direction cities and towns across the United States are moving in to foster more openness in government with innovative technology. They are the first town in the State of Massachusetts to deploy this type of technology,” said Hilda Stevens, Strategic Accounts Manager of Granicus, Inc. “The more meaningful information they can put online, the more they can encourage citizen awareness and involvement.”
The Granicus solution includes streaming software to capture, manage, store and distribute online video recordings. In addition, the video player window includes the meeting agenda with direct links to access specific agenda item discussions within the archived meeting. Archived meetings will generally be available for viewing by 10 p.m. the same evening depending on the length of the meeting. Meetings will be archived and available for viewing for one year. In the coming months the Town will be adding other TheTown.tv programs, the initial focus will be Committee and Board Meetings.
Contact:
Jim Teal, Chairman – Cable Advisory Committee, West Newbury visit http://thetown.tv for contact info
Aileen Horgan, Client Marketing Specialist, Granicus, Inc., 415-3573618 x1753
About Granicus:
Granicus, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive government solutions for improving transparency, public participation, and collaboration over the Web. The extensive streaming media platform helps public agencies create, manage, and distribute live and on-demand streaming media content over the Web. The technology was built to support and enhance public meeting communications, internal trainings, and public education programs—while reducing staff time and costs. Granicus manages the world’s largest government-exclusive webcasting network, streaming an average of 200,000 government webcasts, with over 600,000 hours of archived content, on a daily basis.
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The Town officially launched the new webcasting technology at the November 18th, 2009 by broadcasting its first live Selectmen’s Meeting on Verizon FiOS Channel 42, Comcast Channel 9, and web streaming with Granicus enhancing the accessibility of local programming to citizens who may not have access to Verizon FiOS or Comcast service, but do have a broadband internet connection.
"The Town of West Newbury has made open government a priority by listening to the residents and implementing a state of the art solution to support enhanced access to public meeting”, said Cable Advisory Committee Chairman Jim Teal. "We are excited to be able to offer a diverse number of options for our residents to become more informed and engaged with local government and the related issues that affect our town and our school district."
West Newbury is a new Local Cable Access startup and this effort will be largely volunteer supported. The Cable Advisory Committee, with the help of volunteers, plans to start broadcasting of the weekly Selectmen’s meetings, with the hope of more public meetings to be made available live and on-demand on the web as the volunteer base grows. These meetings can be accessed live at their regularly scheduled time on their two cable channels (Comcast 9/Verizon FiOS 42). The broadcast schedule is available both from http://www.wnewbury.org as well as the stations web site http://TheToWN.tv where users can find links to the full schedule as well as the meetings that are available through Web Streaming.
“The Town is very excited about this new technology as a way to outreach to a greater number of residents and members of the Pentucket School District.” said Glenn Kemper, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen. “We look forward to providing more ways for our voters to engage with our Public Process through TV and through enhanced Internet access.”
The new on-line service is powered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc., the premier provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions to over 500 government agencies spanning 45 states across the nation. West Newbury is proud to be the first municipality in Massachusetts to go live with this new service.
“West Newbury is a great example of the positive direction cities and towns across the United States are moving in to foster more openness in government with innovative technology. They are the first town in the State of Massachusetts to deploy this type of technology,” said Hilda Stevens, Strategic Accounts Manager of Granicus, Inc. “The more meaningful information they can put online, the more they can encourage citizen awareness and involvement.”
The Granicus solution includes streaming software to capture, manage, store and distribute online video recordings. In addition, the video player window includes the meeting agenda with direct links to access specific agenda item discussions within the archived meeting. Archived meetings will generally be available for viewing by 10 p.m. the same evening depending on the length of the meeting. Meetings will be archived and available for viewing for one year. In the coming months the Town will be adding other TheTown.tv programs, the initial focus will be Committee and Board Meetings.
Contact:
Jim Teal, Chairman – Cable Advisory Committee, West Newbury visit http://thetown.tv for contact info
Aileen Horgan, Client Marketing Specialist, Granicus, Inc., 415-3573618 x1753
About Granicus:
Granicus, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive government solutions for improving transparency, public participation, and collaboration over the Web. The extensive streaming media platform helps public agencies create, manage, and distribute live and on-demand streaming media content over the Web. The technology was built to support and enhance public meeting communications, internal trainings, and public education programs—while reducing staff time and costs. Granicus manages the world’s largest government-exclusive webcasting network, streaming an average of 200,000 government webcasts, with over 600,000 hours of archived content, on a daily basis.
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Contact
Granicus, Inc.
Aileen Horgan
415-357-3618 x1753
www.granicus.com
Aileen Horgan
415-357-3618 x1753
www.granicus.com
Contact
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