Michael Max Knobbe (pictured with laptop, bottom left), the head of Bronxnet, the northern borough's public access network, likes to say, "Bronx strong."
As in, "How are you doing today Mr. Knobbe?"
"Bronx strong," he will invariably reply.
Last night, at a hearing held by Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. at Borough Hall, Knobbe and nearly 100 Bronxnet personalities and supporter implored Cablevision to help keep the public access "Bronx strong" by it with more funding, enhanced technology and additional stations for more programming.
Cablevision's franchise status is up for review in New York City and the city's Franchise Review Board is holding hearings in each borough. Each borough president has a seat on the review board.
Aside from Diaz's questioning of a Cablevision executive at the beginning of the hearing, however, the rest of it was dominated by praise for Bronxnet by the network's personalities and supporters.
Bronxnet has a contract with Cablevision and the borough's other cable provider, Verizon. That contract is going to be renegotiated soon and Bronxnet is angling for a better deal. Last night, Knobbe and the rest of Bronxnet made its argument in public.
At the end of his testimony, Knobbe said Bronxnet needed more resources in order to keep the network, "Bronx strong. Siempre."
Cablevision should be held to the same high standards as the Verizon deal. Hold their feet to the fire, Bronx
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