B.1. Background – Previous Operating Details The CGA originally supported limited coverage of the legislature for the ten years prior to 1999. A program called “From the Capitol”, a two hour gavel to gavel snap shot of the legislative proceedings, was produced once a week. It was produced and distributed by West Hartford community television under contract to the CGA. The program was distributed on tape to each of the cable providers in the State with twenty-eight of the thirty cable providers in the State airing the tape. In 1999, the legislative leaders approved moving forward with the Connecticut Network (CT-N) proposal for a gavel to gavel government channel for Connecticut. The CGA purchased equipment and produced CT-N through a partnership with Connecticut Public Television, the Connecticut Public Affairs Network, the Community-Technical Colleges of Connecticut and the New England Cable Television Association. CT-N went “live” on the opening day of the 1999 session. The CGA’s goal of sponsoring the operation of CT-N is to provide the citizens of Connecticut with a nonpartisan, comment free view of their state government in action. CT-N is to be their eyes and ears when they cannot be present in person. CT-N is to provide live and on-demand coverage of State government proceedings. CT- N provides gavel to gavel coverage of all House and Senate Legislative Sessions, public hearings, legislative committee meetings and coverage of Executive and Judicial branch proceedings. The CGA provides either a high definition (HD) signal or a standard definition (SD) to each of the CATV and Video Franchises in the state and provides live HD web streams available on its website, YouTube, and Roku. Currently, high definition (HD) cameras are in place in the ten hearing rooms and in the chambers. CT-N produces all HD programming and generates an HD output to some cable operators and converts to an SD output to other cable operators. When each operator is ready to accept an HD feed, the down converter for that feed will be removed. CT-N operates an HD mobile production system within a standard mini-van. The CGA also operates one robotic HD camera in the State Amory Emergency Operations Center (EOC) that can be remotely controlled at each of the video consoles in the CT-N Control Room.
