Michigan Government Television (MGTV) was a public affairs

Government-access television Government-access television (GATV) is a type of specialty television channel created by government entities (generally local governments) and broadcast over cable TV systems or, in some cases, over-the-air broadcast television stations. GATV pr ...

(GATV)

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...

channel. Modeled on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

, its programming covered events and proceedings within the state government, including sessions of the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2010 ...

and the

Michigan Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, ado ...

. MGTV was operated by a non-profit corporation funded by cable subscription fees. The channel was on the air five days a week from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in 2008. Because of the limited schedule and limited channel pre-digital TV era, MGTV usually shared time with PEG,

Leased access Leased access is airtime that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandates must be provided by cable operators (such as Comcast Xfinity and Charter Spectrum) for use by independent cable programmers and producers who are not owned by the ope ...

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

channels.

History

The Michigan Cable Telecommunications Association commissioned from Public Sector Consultants a study on the feasibility of a state C-SPAN styled cable channel in 1993. The

Michigan Public Service Commission The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) is a regulatory agency which regulates public utilities in the state of Michigan, including electric power, telecommunications, and natural gas services. The MPSC's headquarters are located in Lansing, ...

and

Ameritech AT&T Teleholdings, Inc., formerly known as Ameritech Corporation (and before that American Information Technologies Corporation), is an American telecommunications company that arose out of the 1984 AT&T divestiture. Ameritech was one of the se ...

settled an overcharging lawsuit. Governor

John Engler John Mathias Engler (born October 12, 1948) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th Governor of Michigan from 1991 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he later worked for Business Roundtable, where '' The Hill'' ...

already had his plan for such a network in motion by earmarking the overcharged settlement funds for the project. A master control room was designed and placed in the Romney office building with additional control rooms and cameras for the two capitol chambers. The cable association assisted with professional advice. By March 1994, the Michigan House Oversight and Ethics Committee was holding meetings over the

plans to use $2 million in overcharged fees for the Michigan Government Television project and on February 28, 1994, Lark Samouelian started work as the appointed MGTV project manager. Engler had original plan to run the channel as a part of the executive branch, but was getting resistance. With Engler just wishing to get the channel off the ground, the Michigan Cable Telecommunications Association offered to place the channel under non-profit 501(c)3 corporation controlled by the cable companies' executives. In December 1995, the cable companies' non-profit took over the channel. Bill Trevarthen was hired as executive director in February 1996 with his start date of April 1, 1996. MGTV was launched on July 15, 1996. Programming included House and Senate committees, board meetings from within the executive branch, press conferences, speeches by policy makers and events made available by the state’s universities. In October 1996, MGTV made Michigan only the second state to air oral arguments from the state's

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. For the first year, the channel was only available three Lansing area cable providers, TCI, Media One and Horizon. Satellite uplink was provisioned from Videocom after considering Michigan Information Technology Network's Ku band uplink, which had

rain fade Rain fade refers primarily to the absorption (optics), absorption of a microwave radio frequency (RF) signal by atmospheric rain, snow, or ice, and losses which are especially prevalent at frequencies above 11 GHz. It also refers to the degradation ...

. The uplink allowed the channel to go statewide. Live coverage of the Senate began in late 1997 followed soon by the House of Representatives. For the 1998 election, the channel taped Lansing State Journal editorial board interviews with all statewide candidates and ballot issue advocates. This began a long term relationship with the newspaper. MGTV broadcast additional hours for the Senate expulsion hearing for Senator

David Jaye David Jaye (born 1958) is a former Republican Party (United States), Republican politician from Michigan. He was the first state senator in Michigan's history to be expelled from the Michigan Senate, State Senate. He represented a district in M ...

in 2001. In mid-January 2013 MGTV discontinued operations claiming lack of interest and clearance issues with providers. The non-profit turned over equipment to the

Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget The Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget, formerly Michigan Department of Management and Budget, is a principal department of the government of Michigan responsible for various support functions within the government. Histor ...

, which would use the equipment to launch on the internet as MiTV January 1, 2013, and had no cable system restrictions on availability.

Production

While coverage of the public bodies were gavel-to-gavel and unedited, similar to

, MGTV did produce some educational documentary programs. Two notable documentaries were about the Civil War flags at the Capitol and their human stories and the other on the World War II Japanese-Americans internment lawsuit focusing on the part of Michigan native and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy. The network also broadcast the oral histories and programs of the Michigan Political History Society. The channel also recorded the ''

Lansing State Journal The ''Lansing State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Lansing, Michigan, owned by Gannett. Overview The ''Lansing State Journal'' is the sole daily newspaper published in Greater Lansing. The newspaper had an average Monday through ...

''s editorial board interviews with all statewide candidates and ballot issue advocates starting in 1998. The channel also held live call-in Q&A sessions with statewide candidates.

References

{{Public affairs television channels in the United States Michigan Legislature Commercial-free television networks Television networks in the United States Legislature broadcasters in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1996 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2013 1996 establishments in Michigan Television stations in Michigan American public access television