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Last modified: Friday, August 8, 2008 2:02 AM EDT
Grant will help cable TV to move
BY MICHAEL GELBWASSER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
FOXBORO - Foxboro community television's largest grant in its 25-year history - $25,000 - will help pay for the group's relocation costs.
Foxboro Cable Access anticipates choosing a site by this fall, Executive Director Michael Webber said.
Comcast plans to evict the nonprofit group from its longtime home at 85 East Belcher Road on Nov. 30, when the telecommunications giant's 10-year cable TV license expires.
Foxboro's cable advisory committee has asked for an extension. It is meeting with Comcast officials to negotiate a new license.
Comcast plans to expand into the former Foxboro Cable Access space.
The $25,000 grant from the Massachusetts Jaycees Headquarters Trust will offset the cost of building a master control room - "really the central room in an TV studio," Webber said, where video signals are sent to the network.
Supported by Foxboro Jaycees, the grant is the first success of the cable group's fundraising campaign, he said.
The group has applied for other grants, but has not pursued smaller, private donations, Webber said.
Cost estimates for the new studio are so high that "bake sales aren't going to pull in the kind of capital we're looking for," he said.
Foxboro Cable Access officials are exploring moving into an addition at Foxboro High School at 120 South St.
The project would cost an estimated $1 million, not including new or upgraded equipment. Construction would start next June at the earliest.
The school committee supports the plan.
However, Foxboro Cable Access is "still sort of looking" at sites from a list of about 30 places, Webber said.
The new master control room will be named "Jaycees Master Control." |