SWTV goes livestream

Southwest Community Television (SWTV) announced on June 7 that its community and educational access channels in Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Edina, Hopkins, and Richfield can now be streamed online.

Comcast cable subscribers and non-subscribers can now watch SWTV’s hyperlocal live and pre-recorded community programming without a flatscreen TV.

Although not as magnetic as Taylor Swift’s Instagram posts, Eagle News Network and school district board meetings and the bad boy rocker whimsy of Richard Klatte’s “Free Access TV News” can now be seen by those on the go.

But their cable-powered flat-screens will still deliver high-definition, school district-produced programs on Channel 790, resident-crafted programs on Channel 799, and city fare on Channel 813.

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SWTV coordinates the playback of public, education and government access programming in Eden Prairie and Edina, but only the public and education programming in Minnetonka, Hopkins and Richfield.

During the nationwide dawn of cable TV in the mid-1980s, the three types of access channels were branded the “PEG” channels or stations. They still are, but times are changing.

“More PEG stations are making the transition to streaming options,” says SWTV administrator Dan Carpenter. “People have been migrating away from cable for years.” Broadband is delivering HD network news, TV series, sports, movies, walking tours through Paris, webcams of pet goldfish – everything to your phone.

Locally produced series like “Habitat Makers,” “The Eden Prairie Lions Club Show,” “West Coast Jazz” and Victory Lutheran Church services, are now streaming on the same broadband lanes. 

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Carpenter explained that the video-on-demand (VOD) app that comes with the new server, is already operating for a number of SWTV access programs seen on Ch 799 and for the Eden Prairie and Hopkins School districts on channel 798.

But all school district and public access programming within SWTV’s area (Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Edina, Hopkins, and Richfield) can be streamed via SWTV’s website and the “Cablecast” app, available on iOS and Android phones, as well as on Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

Carpenter says that once the app has been downloaded, folks should search for “SWTV” to find livestream and on-demand content. 

With SWTV’s streaming, says Carpenter, viewers won’t be bothered by YouTube’s commercial clutter. What’s also important, Carpenter added, is that traditional cable broadcasts of school meetings and public hearings can still reach viewers who do not have an internet connection. Media trend trackers and researchers note that PEG stations have historically been important to underserved communities and diversity.

The installation

The new SWTV server was installed in late March in the City of Edina’s communications department, SWTV’s base of operations. Although the installation took only a day, integrating and configuring it to Edina’s internal network, transferring video files from the old server, creating a new SWTV website, and extensive testing took another three months. From the get-go, Carpenter has served as the project’s chief lead. He coordinates the complex transition with Edina’s IT and web staff, as well as the tech and support teams at CTI (Burnsville) and Cablecast Community Media (Minneapolis).

Although Carpenter has some tweaking to do on the SWTV streaming app, which is different from SWTV’s web livestream, he expects it will be completed by the end of June. Edina’s website team will soon launch a SWTV website page with app links and instructions on how to use the tools. 

After some time off in Alaska to visit family and a cabin he built during his television news days, Carpenter will be adding TV and video production tutorials and other access programs to SWTV’s video-on-demand library. But first, perhaps, a little fishing.

Editors note: Writer Jeff Strate is an access producer at SWTV and a founding board member of Eden Prairie Local News.

• “The Future of PEG Cable Stations in a Broadband World,” Carrie Lanotte, LinkedIn, Jan. 15, 2023. This article provides a succinct but detailed account of the history of cable access television and its current challenges.

• “The People’s TV” is a Dec. 14, 2023, EPLN article on SWTV and Southwest Suburban Cable Commission.
• SWTV video-on-demand programming currently includes Edina High School’s commencement ceremony on June 4, and the annual Chamber Choir, Concert Orchestra, and Wind Ensemble Concert recorded on March 7. Click here for school district videos. The ones with the triangular pointers are video-on-demand presentations.
• Scan this QR code with your cell phone to immediately connect to SWTV’s pubic (community) channel 799.  

Correction notice: This story’s sidebar has been updated to correctly note that the commencement ceremony available for viewing on demand is that of Edina High School, not Eden Prairie High School.