History
In the 1980s, Newton’s Mayor, Theodore D. Mann, traveled to cities around the US and saw that independent public access television stations were being established. He wanted to see that happen in Newton. At the time, Continental Cable held the local access facilities and channels. Mayor Mann got to work organizing community members to form NewTV’s first Board of Directors. By 1990, this Board was established and set out to find a home and employees for NewTV. Construction began at the NewTV facility in 1991 and it opened on June 7, 1992. NewTV spent its first fifteen years at its Lincoln Street location. There, it expanded from a single channel (NewTV 13) to a three-channel line-up (community, education and government). In 1994, NewTV began producing ''Newton News'', a weekly news program. In 2006, NewTV moved to its current Needham Street location. In 2013 they did a build-out to expand the facility to approximately 7000 square feet. On October 3, 2013 NewTV launched an HD channel through a partnership with RCN. NewTV was the second public access television station to be offered an HD channel in Massachusetts. NewTV now has three HD channels with RCN. The station is funded by a 5% fee paid by cable TV providers Verizon, Comcast and RCN. It also collects membership fees from participants and holds fund-raisers.Programming
NewTV operates three separate television channels, each designated for public, educational, or governmental content, since NewTV is a P.E.G. station. According to the Boston Globe, "Residents of Newton, members of Newton-based nonprofit organizations, employees of Newton businesses, and Newton municipal employees are eligible to use NewTV: to get free use of TV production equipment and facilities, cable TV channel time, and training in TV production, media literacy, and Internet access." The Community Channel features programs produced by members of the Newton community or programs sponsored by members of the Newton community. This channel provides a forum for free speech and self expression. Some programs have been distributed statewide, or even nationwide. The Education Channel features programming produced by members of the public and private school community in Newton, whether it be parents, students, school administrators or interns. Since the programming on this channel is monitored for educational content it is not aOther programming
''Newton News'' is a half-hour weekly news program focused on news happening in Newton. The program is produced by a news director and most reporting is done by interns. Many interns have gone on to professional success in broadcast journalism. The program airs on all three channels. The Original Programming department produced narrative content that was distributed throughout the nation, the most notable of which was '' The Folklorist''. This series shows on all three channels NewTV has a production services department to produce client videos. In January, 2004, and again in January, 2005, disputes arose over the airing of a news program called Mosaic: World News from the Middle East. Opponents argued that the program provides a distorted view of Arab broadcasts, a venue forReferences
Further reading
* {{cite news , last=Freund , first=Michael , date=24 February 2004 , title=Defending Israel on cable TV , newspaper=Jerusalem Post , page=4 Television stations in Massachusetts Newton, Massachusetts Mass media in Middlesex County, Massachusetts