Salford Council has agreed a contract extension with Public-i Ltd to broadcast its meetings at a cost of £87,333.
The contract includes £63,180 "for the supply of delegate microphones, licences, and voting licences" and £24,153 to broadcast the meetings for the next two years.
The stage managed Council meetings, with pre-arranged questions by Labour Party councillors fed to Labour Lead Members, have proved a massive turn-off for citizens.
When the Council first started broadcasting meetings on its website, a Freedom of Information request by the Salford Star revealed a total of only 240 viewers for three meetings, less than one hundred for each, and the most expensive show in the city (see previous article – click here).
"The system manages the live recording and web broadcasting through fixed cameras that are integrated into an agenda management system and a microphone solution" states a Council report...
...Which is a bit ironic, as in most Council meetings proceedings get paused as councillors haven't actually got the hang of switching microphones on when they are speaking.
The £87,333 cost of the new 'microphone solution' and broadcasting is coming from the revenue budget, which pays for things like Regulatory Services where staff face huge wage cuts and redundancies agreed by Salford Council yesterday (see here).
See also previous Salford Star article – Salford Council Ben Hur Budget To Screen Cuts – click here
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