It should be easier to find and watch programs on Darien TV79, the town government’s cable TV channel, now that it’s started its own stand-alone website, DarienTV79.com, the cable station announced.
“We’ve put everything in one easy-to-access location,” said Jim Cameron, program director and co-founder of the station.
“After almost 14 years of operation, airing thousands of meetings and community events, our new Internet home offers seamless access to all our offerings.”
The new website offers:
—Key-word search of videos by committee name and date
—Access to over 2,500 meeting videos stored on Vimeo
—One-click access to the week’s most recent shows
—a link to TV79’s live feed in prime time
—a complete playlist of all meetings by committee name
—the ability to toggle between the meeting video and the meeting agenda
—timestamps for the Planning & Zoning Commission and the Board of Finance
—an easy signup for the weekly TV79 Program Guide by email
Image from TV79 Advisory Council January 2021 video
Cecil Wade, Darien TV79’s chief technology officer, designed the new website.
Designed by TV79’s Chief Technology Officer Cecil Wade, the new website was funded by the town government, Optimum subscribers and grants from The Darien Foundation.
In a meeting of the Darien TV79 Advisory Council back in January, Wade said the new website would make it easier and faster for the volunteers running the channel to get video recordings posted on the Internet. That should also make the process more reliable, he said.
Wade said it also would be easier to get live programs on YouTube and Facebook. “If we want to do live broadcasts from, say, the library or the Police Department, it will enable us to send video […] directly” to the digital equipment that sends out the cable station’s programs.
Documents that go with the meetings, including agendas, are available in links on the same Web page as the meeting videos, so viewers interested in learning more about the subjects under discussion can find them quickly, Wade said.
Image from DarienTV79.com
Here’s what the DarienTV79.com website looks like when it’s showing a program on a web page. You can click on the link to the right of the screen to get the agenda or other meeting documents, when available. You can also increase the size of the video screen.
“Right now, to find the descriptions [of what’s happening in meetings] you have to be Lewis and Clark,” said the Advisory Board’s chairman. “Vimeo’s not built for that. It’s built for entertainment.”
Darien TV79 is the Town’s government television station, already accessible on Optimum Channel 79, Vimeo, Facebook and YouTube. The station is funded by the town, grants from the Area Nine Cable Council and The Darien Foundation.