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MPEG: Stay Tuned
for More

7/30/09
MPEG Access continues to grow and improve with each passing week and is still looking for new program ideas, Bernie Lynch told the Selectmen last week.
Lynch, a Planning Board member, is also the president of the nonprofit MPEG Access, the town-based public access provider that took over from Comcast in December.
Amid various audio and video issues that had plagued Comcast broadcasts due to outdated equipment, MPEG has strived to bring better quality and variety programming to the town, said Lynch.
“We do what we can. There are only a few of us. None of [our board members] get paid. But we have really great people that are highly trained,” he said.
While Comcast continues to fund the town’s public access programming – giving back roughly 4 percent of what it earns with the town – it has passed over actually operations to MPEG.
With new funding, they’ve been able to go out and purchase new equipment, including recently buying small, clip-on microphones, which were used for the first time last week.
The results in terms of viewership have been “unbelievable,” said Lynch.
“There are about 7,600 people in town with cable; 86 percent of [them] watch Channel 8,” the channel that broadcasts Selectmen’s meetings, he said.
MPEG also operates Channels 10 and 22 on Comcast, and Channels 3, 13 and 15 on RCN, Lynch said. Programs they produce include live broadcasts of Selectmen and School Committee meetings, Lynch’s “Milton Speaks” program, Brian Kelley’s “Talk of the Town” and Connie Spiros’ cooking show “Meet Me in the Kitchen.” They have also begun showing Planning Board meeting during the Temple Shalom debate, Lynch said.
The transition has generally been a successful one, although it’s not always been easy, said Don Roine, MPEG executive director, the only paid employee.
“We’re really at the ground level still, but we’re getting there,” he said.
MPEG Access, which has a multiyear contract with the Selectmen, has its central studio in a room at Pierce Middle School – formerly home to the Comcast studio.
Even as it grows and improves, Lynch said, MPEG wants residents to continue suggesting ideas for new programs to air. It has a form for new program suggestions on its Web site, www.miltonaccesstv.org.
“We want people to call us. There’s always someone there to answer the phone,” Lynch said.
For Lynch, MPEG is a family affair; his grandsons are often the ones working the cameras or doing other behind-the-scenes work. MPEG also holds training workshops the first week of every month, where they teach techniques such as camera set up, lighting, scripting and editing, he said.
For more information, call (617) 698-0814 or e-mail info@miltonaccesstv.org.

– Scott MacKeen