Magnolia Planning Commission member Phyllis Stegen was excited to discuss the possibility of a television station for Magnolia. Magnolia West and Magnolia High Schools currently have broadcast departments and if a station is created for the city, the students will be able to operate it from their schools.

The station would be installed and offered through Comcast and the majority of the cost would depend on whether or not the school already operates with Comcast devices or if they would need to be installed.

“We are definitely in the exploratory stages. If the schools already have Comcast cables then it will be a minimal cost to us,” said Planning Commission President Barbara Gardner.

In addition, if Comcast is already available for use at the schools, Stegen is hoping the students can acquire better equipment.

Comcast was chosen because it is the most utilized cable provider in the area. As part of the proposed agreement with Comcast, there would need to be at least eight hours of programming per day.

“I thought eight hours would be easy for these kids; we already have a long list of ideas for segments,” Stegen said.

Types of programming could possibly include City Council meetings, sporting events, the Miss Magnolia Pageant, local political guest speakers, history of Magnolia or business spotlights.

Although no approvals have been made yet, the Planning Commission is interested in bringing an access channel into Magnolia.

The Planning Commission came up with the idea based on the continuous economic growth in Magnolia.

“It was recommended to us to get involved with the media. We are trying to create a positive image,” said Gardner.

After discovering whether or not the school already has access to the Comcast network the next step would be approval for the station.

“The people we met with like the idea, but others may have ideas we haven’t thought of yet,” said Gardner.

Students would be in charge of editing, anchoring and reporting and the programming itself would be split between both high schools. Teachers would be able to choose positions based on skill and grade level.

“Both schools have great broadcast departments,” said Stegen.

Stegen added that Katy is the closest city that has a cable station run by students, which has proven to be a success.

“In this area, we would be the only city that has it,” Stegen said.

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