The nonprofit Connecticut Public Affairs Network announced that the Connecticut Television Network (CT-N) terminated its broadcasting at 5 p.m. on Nov 3.
CT-N went on the air in 1999 and presented commercial-free broadcasts and streaming video of the state legislature and local government meetings, along with original talk shows featuring elected officials. The state-funded CPAN, which has 33 employees, saw its financing cut from $3.2 million to $1.6 million in the budget signed this week by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. This followed the network”™s agreement earlier this year to have $400,000 taken from its budget.
Paul Giguere, CPAN”™s president, sent a letter to the Office of Legislative Management announcing the conclusion of CT-N”™s broadcasts, claiming the budget cuts made operations “simply unworkable.” He also blamed legislators for attempting to take control of the network”™s contents.
“After careful consideration and much deliberation, our organization cannot escape the conclusion that the recent actions to eliminate CPAN”™s editorial discretion combined with the drastic reduction in funding has transformed CT-N into a project no longer consistent with our organization”™s fiduciary obligations in either the financial or mission sense,” Giguere wrote.
