By By ANNA M. LEE Managing Editor
At its April 28 meeting, the Brewton City Council agreed to begin moving the operating location of Channel Six from the Alabama Technology Network to the Brewton Municipal Complex.
According to Brewton City Clerk John Angel, Alabama Technology Network -- who has up until now operated the local community government access channel -- decided to not continue its operation due to funding cuts. Instead it will donate the $46,000 equipment to the City and Channel Six will be operated from city hall.
The next step in the process to relocate the station, Angel said, will be to shut it down in the next week so that some upgrades can be made to the equipment. After about two weeks, the equipment will be relocated to city hall and the station will begin operation from there.
In the meantime, the City expects Mediacom to run cable to city hall to support the station's direct feed around the end of May.
Operation of Channel Six from city hall may be as simple as changing video tapes and updating announcements by computer, but the City will probably hire someone part time to help with filming events like city council meetings and athletic events.
Once the channel is relocated, Angel will plan its programming.
Last year, upgrades were made to Channel Six equipment allowing the channel to run more information across the screen in a rolling stream and to be broadcast over the internet.
Last spring, the channel began broadcasting Coffee with the Mayor and Mabry, starring Brewton Mayor Ted Jennings and Mabry Cook.