Almost Ready For Prime Time

They used to say that politics is show business for ugly people. Nonetheless, Andrew Romanoff, Colorado’s Speaker of the House, has announced that beginning next year, the proceedings from the floor of the state House of Representatives will be broadcast live on TV.

And hopefully the telecast won’t experience the kind of glitches that occurred during today’s announcement of the upcoming political reality show.To wit: A press release from the House majority communications announced that Romanoff would be announcing the news of the telecast at a 10:30 a.m. press conference. However, the release wasn’t actually sent until 12:04 p.m. A minute later, a second release announced that the press conference was actually scheduled for 12:15 p.m. – meaning, of course that anyone who actually wanted to cover the event had exactly 10 minutes to get to the press conference at the capitol.

At any rate, here’s the skinny on plans to air the goings-on in the House.

From the news release:

The new network will air live on TV and via web streaming throughout the legislative session from January 1 to June 1 of each year. The network will be a part of the Colorado Legislative Watch project.

Comcast has committed to donating over $1million in in-kind contributions. The City of Denver has also pledged to invest in the project.

No word from the state Senate whether they plan to follow suit with live proceedings. This year both chambers, as well as committee hearings, could be followed via an audio feed.

Cara DeGette is a senior fellow at Colorado Confidential, and a columnist and contributing editor at the Colorado Springs Independent. E-mail her at cdegette@coloradoconfidential.com

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