York Region considers live video streaming, archiving of its council and committee meetings

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 19, 2016
By Lisa Queen

So much for trying to make it into the new fall television line up.

York Region councillors are considering live video streaming and archiving their council and committee of the whole meetings.

Don’t hold your breath waiting though, as a decision is still at least three months away as the region investigates how best to broadcast the meetings and the cost, which could be in the neighbourhood of $125,000.

While some councillors argued televising meetings would make the region more accessible to the public, no one is pretending they would draw in high ratings.

For example, Aurora averages fewer than 10 viewers for its meetings, while Georgina typically draws in five viewers, Newmarket attracts 13 on average, Markham pulls in an average of 14 and Richmond Hill gets 20 on average.

Someone really should look into what Whitchurch-Stouffville is doing right because it drew 170 viewers on its first televised meeting.

The region already audio streams its council meetings over the internet and will immediately begin audio streaming its committee of the whole meetings.

It will also make presentations available to the public online so they can follow along.