LATV Producer of High School Game Coverage To Part Ways With the City

It’s official. The nonprofit group behind much of Los Alamitos’ cable access programming including all Los Alamitos High School game coverage will no longer work for the city.

On Monday, the nonprofit Community & Schools Media Partnership sent a letter to the city of Los Alamitos, stating that it will no longer accept funding from the city for producing cable access programs for LATV3, also known as Los Al TV. The move follows heated City Council debates over the future of the station, which has been run by CSMP along with LATV3 Production Coordinator John Underwood.

The past year saw mounting tension between Underwood and CSMP founder Larry Strawther over the direction of the station. That tension boiled over as City Council members seemingly took sides between the two last month while debating station funding for the rest of the year.

Underwood has taken a traditional approach to cable access emphasizing video produced by community members. Strawther has emphasized sports coverage and a drive toward online distribution.

Strawther has agreed to continue to work for the station for the rest of April, said City Manager Jeff Stewart.

Because Strawther’s nonprofit was responsible for much of the programming on LATV3, it remains to be seen how much new programming the station will have until the city establishes a new organizational structure for the station.

Here is the letter Strawther sent to the city Monday:

In December 2009, the Community & Schools Media Partnership engaged in a one-year contract with the City of Los Alamitos to help “revitalize" LATV3, manage the day-to-day operations of the channel, and work with the school district to provide video production training and opportunities for students.    

In 2010, CSMP produced an all-time record amount of programming for LATV, increased non-sports programming  by over 400 per cent, and operated the station within budget for the first time in four years.  We also cut in half the costs to local groups for coverage of their events, and helped train over 100 Los Al HS ROP Video Production students, including giving 16 students hands-on paid experience in the third largest industry in Southern California. 

With city support we were also able to make many long-needed upgrades and other improvements to LATV equipment and facilities. 

On February 22, 2011, the City Manager recommended the City renew our contract with additional responsibilities.  However, in March, the City Council directed the City Manager to go a different direction.   

The CSMP Board would like to thank the City of Los Alamitos and the City Council for the opportunity and forum to have served the community over the past year through LATV.  The Board is also looking forward to pursuing other options to fulfill our mission of supporting the video production training for local students and providing quality programming to Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Seal Beach and the area served by the Los Alamitos Unified School District.

Sincerely,

The CSMP Board of Directors