June 17th, 2026
Speaker Mariano, Chair Michlewitz, Chair Fiola
Massachusetts House of Representatives
Dear Speaker Ronald Mariano, Chair Aaron Michlewitz, and Chair Carole Fiola,
I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Liz Walber, and I’m the Director of Athol Orange Community Television, proudly serving Athol, Orange, and North Quabbin residents by providing critical access to town information, local news, and discourse.
I’m writing today to urge you to move H.91 “An Act to modernize funding for community media programming” into the Governor’s economic development strategy, currently in the House as H.5386.
Each year, my colleagues and I across the Commonwealth see declining revenue and cable subscribers. In Athol and Orange alone, revenue has dropped 21.72% since 2018. Meanwhile, our live stream and Video-On-Demand viewership is surging and requests for coverage continue to increase. Despite this shift, there is no funding mechanism for internet streaming like there is for cable. In fact, there has been no federal update since 1984.
AOTV live broadcasts and streams Select Board, School Committee, town meetings, candidate forums and other municipal meetings for the towns of Athol and Orange. This past year, AOTV’s coverage followed the development and passage of a new charter, keeping Orange citizens informed about this fundamental change to their local government.
In 2026, AOTV was the broadcast partner for the 23rd year for North Quabbin Food-A-Thon, a 12-hour fundraiser for six area food pantries. AOTV has broadcast the River Rat Race, a legendary canoe race from Athol to Orange on the Miller’s River, since the station was incorporated 31 years ago. Beyond cable broadcast, AOTV streams via the Cablecast app online, on Smart TVs and mobile. This service has quickly become vital to our thousands of live viewers. AOTV is integral to public awareness and civic engagement, and cultural creation and production in these communities.
It’s important to keep our communities informed — especially in these difficult economic times –when people are concerned about their wallets and need local government proceedings to be easily accessible. This bill would supplement our losses over the years in the same way as the cable funding formula. Time is of the essence; this bill needs to pass if we want to keep our communities informed, retain our employees, and enrich our community.
Respectfully submitted,
Liz Walber, Director, Athol Orange Community Television (AOTV)