Broadband technology allows tribe to broadcast meetings
from Indianz.com
http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/015963.asp
On Wednesday, a special meeting of the Three Affiliated Tribes business council will be broadcast live and sent to all districts on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The broadband system is through Reservation Telephone Cooperative in Parshall. The live broadcast is the tribal council's commitment to make the tribal government more transparent. Money for the project is from the federal stimulus funds.
The regular tribal council meeting Thursday will also be broadcast as well as future meetings. Wednesday will be a run-through to identify problems and work out any "bugs" in the system, said Chairman Marcus Levings. The system is a package that includes TV and Internet. Plans are to later include Verizon cell phones.
"This is just the first phase of the broadcasting system," Levings said. The second phase will include all households on the reservation.
The tribe will have ownership of the dedicated broadband communications, negotiated and set up by Richard Mayer, chief executive officer of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara systems, and V. Judy Brugh, secretary of the tribal council.
