VIA FEDEX AND ELECTRONIC MAIL
Nashua Finance Committee
May 13, 2022
Page 3
television and to leveraging its resources and technology to help community producers realize
their creative visions.
During the CTAB meeting on April 1, Library Director Jennifer McCormack explained
her support for CMSG’s proposal, stating that “CMSG demonstrated a more thorough
understanding of a public access television station and a stronger commitment to community
participation in programming.” CTAB Chair Andrew Cernota indicated that CMSG “seemed to
have a better grasp as far as the underlying philosophy of public access as a public forum.” Even
members that supported BRB’s proposal acknowledged that CMSG had more experience with
public access television. Andrea Sebastyan, a public access producer who has worked with the
CMSG team, voiced her support for CMSG during the public comment period at the beginning
of the meeting. She shared some of her positive experiences, read excerpts of letters of support
from members of the public, and submitted more than 20 such letters to CTAB prior to the vote.
There were flaws in the CTAB process. While a subset of CTAB members interviewed
CMSG and BRB, not all relevant stakeholders were included. Alderman Ernest Jette indicated
that he thought he would be part of that smaller group but received no invitation to participate.
CMSG requested that the interview group view a short video provided by CMSG’s creative
director, Dan Young, who could not attend; the group indicated it would need to determine
whether such a video was admissible, but never followed up. The interview group did not meet
after interviewing the bidders or offer a recommendation to CTAB. Moreover, while the
directors of the government and education channels were consulted during RFP process, they had
no role in the CTAB vote or decision making thereafter.
CMSG did not receive direct notice that the Public Access RFP would be discussed at the
April | meeting; instead, they received informal notice from an acquaintance. The public also
received very little notice. Nashua’s website shows that the agenda for the April 1, 2022 meeting
was posted on March 29, 2022, three days before the meeting. The public did not receive a full
and fair opportunity to be heard on who manages its public access television channel—an issue
of great public interest.
At the CTAB meeting, while the Board ultimately voted to recommend BRB’s bid, the
previous motion to recommend CMSG’s bid to the City failed narrowly in a divided vote.
Additionally, concerns were also raised about the interplay between BRB’s role running a for-
profit radio station and its desired role managing the City’s public access television station. It
appears that BRB has assured CTAB members that there would be a separate entity to manage
the television station and that BRB would use its radio station to drive viewership of the TV
station. Chairman Cernota noted that while any fundraising could be done through a nonprofit
organization, BRB’s thinking about this is did not seem “particularly well fleshed out.” The
potential conflict issues between BRB’s commercial business and its hoped-for role managing
the public access station need to be further explored and developed. The close vote and the
concerns raised about the bids merit further public comment and a close analysis by the
Committee.
