Renewal continues Channel 12, cable TV for northwest metro

More shows available on demand. Enhanced programming information. Promotional spots on national networks.

Those are just some of the upgrades that Northwest Community Television will provide as it heads into a new year serving cable viewers in the northwest suburbs.

NWCT will continue to provide such staples as "hyper-focused" community news from Channel 12, plus live sports and municipal and public affairs programming. In addition, NWCT programs will appear in the cable TV program guide, and later in the year, professionally produced programs, including the popular "Sports Jam" segment, and cable-access shows will begin appearing in high definition.

Those features are part of a 10-year cable TV franchise renewal between Comcast and the Northwest Suburbs Cable Communications Commission. The agreement, approved last month, allows Comcast to operate for the next decade in nine suburbs — Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale.

The accord also ensures the continued operation of Northwest Community Television, because franchise fees finance NWCT's annual operating budget of about $4 million, said Mike Johnson, executive director of both the commission and NWCT. (Another Mike Johnson is an anchor and news director for Channel 12.) Each city also receives a portion of the fees to maintain or replace cameras and other equipment used to broadcast council meetings.

"We are hyper-focused on our communities and try to do it the best we can, because we feel it's a service for the subscribers," Johnson said. The coverage area includes a population of some 326,000 residents, Johnson said, citing census data.

Channel 12, which airs weekday newscasts and special local news shows on weekends, has won regional Emmys, and its news staff includes broadcast journalists who have worked across the region.

"We cover all nine cities, we cover their public meetings, we go out and cover sporting events at schools, we cover parades and events," Johnson said. "We have a public-access component where people come in and we train them to make programs in a separate studio. We have a whole department that does public affairs, city municipal programming."

Under the agreement, NWCT will get two HD channels on the cable system, Johnson said. HD broadcasts likely won't begin until the fall, after NWCT makes improvements to its facilities.

"When we do live sporting events or when people are flipping channels for Channel 12, we don't want them to see a quality difference," Johnson said. "We want them to see the same type of crisp picture they see on KARE 11 and the same level of content quality."

The cable system also will add on-demand service for some NWCT programs and viewers will find NWCT program listings on the cable system's program guide. NWCT already offers on-demand viewing of programs on its website and recently launched an app that enables users to view content on mobile devices.

The franchise agreement, Johnson said, applies to Comcast and any entity that would succeed it. Comcast is considering withdrawing from Minnesota if its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable wins federal approval. A spinoff cable company, GreatLand Connections, is a candidate to replace Comcast in that event.

Marcia Glick, city manager of Robbinsdale, said NWCT was of particular value to the city, which she said was too small to have its own communications department or even a communications staff person.

"We're able to work with [their] professional team to develop videos about things going on in our city, plus have that regionally focused news broadcast that Channel 12 puts together every day," said Glick, who watched council meetings on NWCT's website last year when she was stuck at home with a broken foot. "This is a valuable service to our citizens."