MVTV settles into new studio space

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The smell of fresh paint and modern equipment filled Martha’s Vineyard Community Television’s (MVTV) new facility off Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road this week where staff members were busy setting up.

Stephen Warriner, MVTV executive director, said the station experienced some delays with its phone, Internet, and television connections through Comcast Communications.

“It was a miscommunication,” he said. He added that the delay had nothing to do with the recent contract discussions between the station and the communications provider.

The brand-new 4,000-square-foot building is a big improvement from the station’s old space of roughly 1,350 square feet on the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School campus. The new building is just east of the high school.

“The studio, the meeting room, everything was in one space,” Mr. Warriner said. Now, the station has separate spaces for a variety of uses, including a kitchen to produce food shows.

Mr. Warriner said the new facility and property cost around $1.1 million. MVTV broke ground in August of 2012. There is only punch list items left to check off now, he said.

The building has an “industrial feel,” with high ceilings and exposed steel, along with new equipment. “We were one of the first in public access to go all computer,” Mr. Warriner said.

Comcast funds MVTV as part of the cable giant’s franchise agreement with the six island towns, renewed this past spring, that requires the cable company to provide public, education and government (PEG) access.

MVTV produces around 650 shows a year, Mr. Warriner said. These include broadcasts of selectmen’s meetings, town meetings and interview with Island personalities

Mr. Warriner said even though the building is not as close to the regional high school as it used to be, the connection between the station and the next generation will not be disrupted.

MVTV is planning a grand opening party July 1, exactly 10 years from the day the station first opened. “Everyone is invited,” he said.