Biddeford is weighing the future of its public access television program. 

After longtime public access director Steve Pulos retired in March, the Cable TV Committee was reformed to make recommendations to the City Council about the future direction of the channel.

At a meeting on April 7, the council discussed three possible paths for public access TV: invest in reinvigorating the channel, shift to only broadcasting government meetings, or abandon it altogether.

The committee recommended that councilors look into supporting a reinvigoration of the channel. 

“I would urge you not to scrap it,” committee member Richard Rhames, a longtime fixture on and advocate for Biddeford’s public channel, told the council. “I think it’s an important resource that has been devalued and underfunded.” 

Cable subscribers in Biddeford don’t just use it to watch television shows, Rhames said: “It’s a way of getting gavel-to-gavel coverage of municipal meetings.” 

Councilors said they’re concerned that not enough people watch public access TV to make it worth investment. Younger people rely heavily on social media to consume news, while older people tend to turn to print media and radio. 

But public access television is useful for all generations, committee member Jill Newman said. 

“It’s not the dinosaur that people think it is,” she said. “It’s an incredibly important service for any city.”

Committee members said Public, Educational and Government access television, or PEG, can also be used to show local sporting events, school events or even segments from people who are experts in their field. 

“I would say that any good PEG station would accommodate everyone,” Newman said. 

If the city decides to move forward with reinvigorating its station, City Manager Truc Dever said, funding would be needed to upgrade equipment, hire a new director and make other improvements.

The city would have to relocate franchise fees received from Charter Communications to make those purchases. 

“This is an opportunity for us to create a whole new program of folks who go to the sports games, or do different programs, or highlight the businesses in the community,” Dever said. “But it would take a lot of effort.” 

Throughout the rest of April, the committee will continue to meet before presenting recommendations to the City Council in May. The committee will determine how much funding would be needed to keep the station running, and present a cost estimate to the council. 

Biddeford residents can tune to channel 1301 to watch the public access television network. Archived municipal meetings are available on the city’s website.