Countywide : County Agencies Win Grants for Cable TV

A nonprofit cable television foundation has awarded grants to Orange County, the county’s public library system, the Irvine Unified School District and Saddleback Community College for community cable television programming.

The largest grant from the Foundation for Community Service Cable Television, $4,525, went to the county to develop a biweekly jobs program, which will describe entry level positions--in English and Spanish--geared toward minorities, women and the handicapped. Also, guests who hold similar positions will be featured. The program will be developed through Dimension Cable Services.

The other grants are:

$4,146 for the Irvine Unified School District to produce a student-run video magazine through Community Cablevision of Irvine. The program is intended to involve student newspapers at University, Irvine and Woodbridge high schools.

$4,000 to Saddleback Community College to produce its video magazine program, “Lifestyles,” which uses television production students. The program airs over Dimension Cable Services Channel 3 in Orange.

$1,565 for the Orange County Public Library for its 30-minute interview show called “Book Talk,” which features local authors and others involved with literature. The program is produced at the San Juan Capistrano Library in conjunction with Dimension Cable Services.

The Foundation for Community Service Cable Television is a nonprofit San Francisco-based group. The grants are intended to encourage and promote the non-commercial use of the state’s community-service channels.

Funding comes from deregulated cable companies, which are required by state law to give 50 cents per subscriber per year to support community programming. The foundation has set up special grants for nonprofit organizations and government agencies in Orange County.