This week on the Illinois Channel: Graham Richard discusses broadband's impact on the economy of a community

Published: July 13, 2011
Related to: Southern eTeam

This week on the Illinois Channel:

From Southern Illinois University in Carbondale we hear from Graham Richard, the former Mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, who embraced broadband communications as a way to improve city services and attract more businesses to his community. Mr. Richard spoke to a broadband conference at SIU about the ability of broadband communications to improve the business climate for a community.

In January 2000, the University of Illinois at Springfield began a comprehensive study to determine the challenges and solutions in establishing a statewide public affairs television network.

The study was funded by The Joyce Foundation and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and ended in December 2002.

In January 2003,the Illinois Channel began operations as an independent, nonprofit organization.

Public Affairs programming on the Illinois Channel includes:

• unedited coverage of legislative committee hearings
• unedited coverage of the executive and judicial branches of state government
• press conferences
• public policy events taking place across Illinois