Our History

The First Amendment arrived again in the Upper Valley on April 9, 1993 . It came quietly, without casualties or fanfare, in the form of Community Access Television. It is here solely for us - to debate local issues, to showcase our young athletes and musicians, to inform, to entertain, and even, in some cases, to offend. It is freedom of speech, the right to know or just plain ol' fun; all at our fingertips.

As a recognized asset of the Upper Valley, CATV/8 strives to provide viewers with a wide variety of programs and genres such as sports, politics, health, music and other local events. CATV/8 reaches Hanover, Lebanon, Canaan, Enfield and Plainfield, NH and Norwich, Hartford and Hartland, VT. But let's back up a little here to give you the history of CATV/8.

In 1991, a small group of interested citizens from Hanover decided to look into having their own cable access TV station. This required a lot of research, paperwork, fundraising and frustration. The start-up money would come from what had already been collected from franchise fees by the cable provider. To get additional money, they asked Norwich to join this venture, which then meant more paperwork from the VT Public Service Board. Once completed, CATV/8 was up and running on a "hanging by the fingernails" budget. Video training was offered and slowly word was getting out and people were becoming certified producers. Following the guidelines set by the board of directors, producers were able to create shows that they thought would be of interest to the community.

As paying towns, Hanover and Norwich received the benefits of such. This included: coverage of town and school board meetings, sporting events, school concerts, use of community bulletin board and no needed sponsorship for program broadcasting. (At that time, anyone outside of Hanover and Norwich who wasn't a certified producer and wanted to broadcast a show, needed someone from either of those towns to be their sponsor). CATV/8 tried numerous and, unsuccessful, times to bring the remaining towns into the fold. Unfortunately, failure to do so was due to the misunderstanding that these towns would be paying to support Hanover and Norwich without benefit to them. Obviously, this is not the case.

In 2000, the VT Public Service Board designated CATV/8 as the cable access station for Hartford and Hartland, giving these two towns the same benefits as Hanover and Norwich. At first we received a few phone calls from residents who were unhappy about paying the franchise fee in addition to their normal charges. However, when subscribers sign-up for a specific cable package, they receive some channel they don't necessarily want, i.e. Home Shopping Network, Odyssey or Food TV to name a few. (In the case of CATV/8, Adelphia chose to itemize the charge for our channel). Once the word was out, volunteers from Hartford and Hartland started offering to tape Select and School board meetings and some sporting events. We hope this continues and expands. In the same year, CATV added an additional channel; CATV/10.

In the fall of 1999 we began working in conjunction with the Hartford Area Career & Technology Center (HACTC) teaching all aspects of video production. Our students come from the Hanover, Hartford, Lebanon, Mascoma, Thetford and Woodstock school districts. Interest and enrollment increases each year and we have one student who won 1st prize for a short documentary at the Castleton College Videofest in 2000.

It is our hope that the remaining municipalities - Canaan, Enfield and Lebanon - will join with us in the near future.

Last, but most important, CATV/8's programming is dependent almost entirely on volunteer videographers/producers. The only videographers that receive payment are those that tape government and school board meetings of the contributing towns. The pay scale is $12.00 per hour and includes time spent for setting up and breaking down equipment.
If you would like more information about volunteering at CATV/8, please feel free to call us at (802) 295-6688.