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Radical changes to MPTV on the horizon

Some radical changes in local Mount Prospect TV programming are on the horizon.

Howard Kleinstein, cable production coordinator for the village, said those changes include creating a new Mount Prospect/MPTV YouTube channel, producing short informational videos, launching a monthly series of issue-oriented talk shows and a social media campaign to interest viewers in MPTV.

"Good things happen in Mount Prospect all the time, Kleinstein told the village board this week. "But the TV networks mostly ... cover the bad things that happen. Nobody else is going to tell the good stories that happen here, except MPTV."

Over the years, MPTV has not only broadcast village board meetings, but it makes original local programming, such as "Dish'n Out Mount Prospect."

Kleinstein said moving to YouTube will allow MPTV to broadcast in high definition, which cable carriers Comcast and WOW do not give to local access programmers.

YouTube is not conducive to airing village board meetings, but it is friendly to shorter, informational videos that can be advertised through Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest and Instagram, he said.

Trustees supported the upgraded production values and emphasis on social media.

"Times are changing," said Trustee John Matuszak. "People are getting information in a different format than what we (saw) in 1986."

"We have to keep up with the times," agreed Trustee Paul Hoefert. "Or we'll just be left behind. Nobody will watch."

Kleinstein said the talk show will focus on current events and won't be as labor intensive to produce as other programming.

Mayor Arlene Juracek said the success of the talk show will be personality and format driven.

"If it's two people sitting in chairs facing each other with a vase of flowers in between them, that's pretty boring," she observed.

"But if you get two people with GoPro cameras on their heads and they're walking through downtown Mount Prospect as they're talking about it, you have got something else."

Kleinstein said people are watching Mount Prospect programming on the Internet, with 4,423 live stream views and 76,776 video on-demand views in 2015.

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