Casper, WY – City Manager, Carter Napier, said that the city must be careful about the contract and the operator because the city receives a franchise fee from Spectrum and doesn’t want to lose it.
Cartier also mentioned that the operator would need to follow the Public Broadcasting Service model of having sponsors, but not advertisers. Channel 192 would not be a true public access channel, but rather one that stays within the framework of an “Education Government” model.
Cartier also said that the city will not incur any costs if it chooses to have an operator run Channel 192.
The city would begin taking applications on Friday with a deadline in early April, then council would review the proposals, make a selection in May and award a one-year contract in July and have programming begin in July.
The request for proposal wants the operator to be a non-profit corporation.
At this point, the city would want to see that the organization has applied for non-profit status, and have that finalized by the time the contract goes into effect.