LA36, the Los Angeles public access station, was set to go dark as of today -- but an emergency measure by the City Council has allowed the channel to stay on the air, but at reduced operations.
LA36 president/general manager Carla Carlini told us Wednesday evening:
"Movement in City Council today allows for LA36 to stay open for the next few months. However, we will not be running at full capacity because of the difficult financial situation we still face. The final City Council vote in a few months will ensure the remainder of our funding. Until then, we are cutting staff and some of our services. We do not have the budget to do any new productions.
It will not be pure repeats – we will endeavor to put on new content given to us from outside producers. But LA36 as an entity will not be producing things like High School sports anytime soon.
Quite a reminder of how cash-strapped Los Angeles is -- if it can't even spring what, in the grand scheme of things, is a tiny amount to keep LA36 running. There's no question that the No. 2 market in the country should have a vibrant public access organization.
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