Tucson government channel and Arizona Public Media may merge

The City of Tucson is considering merging its government television station with Arizona Public Media, according to the Arizona Daily Star. The paper says that Arizona Public Media initiated the merger talks. The arrangement would call for the city to pay Arizona Public Media $600,000 yearly to produce content similar to what the city-owned Channel 12 produces now. The content could run both on Channel 12 and on any Arizona Public Media channel. Most equipment and all employees of Channel 12 would be transferred to Arizona Public Media, and the city would pay it for services. That would create a savings of $300,000 from Channel 12's $900,000 annual budget. The Arizona Daily Star opposes the move in an editorial today (Sept. 2). It noted: "Spending money to create television broadcasts about city programs being slashed because of budget problems doesn't make sense."