Belchertown Community TV approved for $12,000 in repairs

BELCHERTOWN – Belchertown Community Television was approved for use of $12,000 for the purchase of equipment. BCTV Manager Lew Louraine spoke to the board at its meeting two weeks ago.

“As many of you know, BCTV has been limping along, but now, the brains of the operation have died,” Louraine said.

The equipment was looked at by members of the IT department, to no avail.

Selectboard member Ron Aponte said he believed the logic was to wait for the next director of BCTV to get new equipment. He wanted to know if the proposed replaced equipment would be up to par.

Louraine said he reached out to three companies and one completely walked away after looking at the current state of affairs.

“The product I prefer, the software is more intuitive and easier to learn,” he said. “Both pretty much are state of art, but the preferred product is easier to use which is better for our volunteers.”

He said the equipment is new.

The product will allow BCTV to be able to go live or stream live. No services will be lost.

Louraine said he also spoke with Frontier High School, which he said uses the preferred product and they said they are very happy with it.

The funding for the purchase is through the American Rescue Plan Act.

Selectboard member Lesa Lessard-Pearson asked if the $12,000 appropriation would be enough funding for the project, and Louraine said yes.

“If there are any miscellaneous things, my budget will pick it up,” he said.

In the meantime, residents should be aware that BCTV will only be recording shows and putting them on the town web site as they wait for the new equipment to be installed.