Local News in Brief : Review of Cable Contract

The Gardena City Council has voted to review its contract with Paragon Cable to consider the possibility of legal action against the company if it does not reopen a public access studio in Gardena and fulfill other contractual obligations.

The action was taken after complaints from members of the Gardena Public Access Producers Guild about Paragon’s plan to make a Torrance production facility the public access location for Gardena, Hawthorne, Lawndale and Torrance.

Guild President Stann Nakazono said the group’s 170 members want to continue working at the company’s Gardena facility, which was closed for renovation last December. The group is also upset because Paragon has not aired some public access programs produced months ago, he said.

In an interview, Paragon President John Bickham said the company is required to provide a facility for Gardena programming, but it does not have to be in the city. As for the council review of the contract, he said the agreement calls for a review this year anyway.

The council had asked Paragon to send a representative to its meeting last week, but the company “respectfully declined,” said City Manager Kenneth Landau. In the interview, Bickham said the council meeting was not the place to discuss the producers’ complaints.

Mayor Donald Dear said he was “most unhappy” with Paragon and instructed the city staff to arrange a meeting with top Paragon officials and council members. The council also set a public hearing for June 14 to discuss the status of the city’s contract with Paragon.