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Access31 to be rescued by white knight?

About 50 staff and members of Access31 were at the Station last Friday to vote on a special resolution 'that the Company be wound up voluntarily.'

It was claimed that that the takeup of digital TV has eroded our audiences and a demand for immediate payment of $107,492 has prompted this drastic proposal. Strangely, the Directors' Declaration signed by Chairman Hendy Cowan on the 9^th of November 2007, stated that 'there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Company will be able to pay its debts as and when they become due and payable.' The $107,492 is for lease of the transmitter and was part of those due and payable debts.

But at the meeting we were offered a nice surprise! A benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous, has offered to help Access31 out of its financial difficulties, provided both the State and Federal governments honour their commitments to support the transition to digital. Therefore, suggested Hendy Cowan, we suspend the winding up resolution and postpone the decisive meeting a week so that the Board could pursue this preferable outcome.

So there's the solution: Give us a digital bandwidth with the equipment to process programmes and minor annoyances like the dizzying turnover of staff and volunteers, falling cash flows, a member of the Board who has been charged by the Major Fraud Squad for $3m worth of fraudulent dealings, a commitment of $502,992 for compensation of key management personnel, just to mention the low-hanging fruit, will simply fade away.

Discussion was animated, support for Access31 general and the finger of accusation for the Station's problems was loudly pointed at the politicians. We were told that the Federal Government has paid approximately one billion dollars to the ABC, SBS, and commercial networks towards their costs of transferring to digital operation. CEO Andrew Brine said that Access31 would need $4.3m over the next five years for conversion and the national figure for all community TV stations was approximately $20m.

Ausindustry has been asked for confirmation of this.

A member queried the validity of our memberships, which end on June 30^th and was told the Board will use its power to extend memberships until the meeting on the 3^rd. There was also a brief skirmish about opening the membership records to public scrutiny, a claim that an official Notice has been served on the Board to enforce this and a denial by the Chairman that any such Notice had come to his notice. The significance of this will I hope be revealed before next Thursday.

Access31 is worth saving. Programmes like 'The Couch', 'Wake Up WA' and 'The Green Room' are interesting and relevant to us in a way that the commercial networks can never be. It has provided opportunities for training and I am one of many who have enjoyed years of volunteer work. Like every organisation it has its share of motorbike ashtrays, but also there are the gems who give 200%.

A crisis offers an opportunity for a change in direction, a new and better way of doing things. Hendy Cowan said that the Board was prepared to revise the Constitution and to bring in outside expertise to assess current management practices. Hopefully Access31's crisis will have a positive resolution next Thursday.