Metro 21

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Metro 21
Type	Regional cable television network, government access
Country	United States
Availability	Baton Rouge
Founded	September, 1999
Founder	TCI Cable (now Cox Communications)
Slogan	"Spirit of Baton Rouge"
Owner	East Baton Rouge Parish Office of Public Information
Launch date	September, 1999
Website	www.brgov.com/metro21

Metro 21 is a local cable government access station in Baton Rouge. It is operated by the East Baton Rouge Parish Office of Public Information and broadcasts 24 hours a day. It began with a $50,000 donation from TCI Cable (now Cox Communications) in September 1999, and every year since then, Cox gives the station an operational donation.

The station is available in 150,000 households in the Baton Rouge area. According to its website, the channel provides information to the public about city services and activities including weekly council meetings and school board meetings and classes for credit from Louisiana State University. In addition, local events such as community meetings, "How to Adopt Pets", tax seminars, road work updates, police, fire and EMS information, job opportunities, commodity listings, housing and energy assistance programs by the Parish, State and Federal Government can be found on this channel. In addition, a city directory and airport flight times from the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport play intermittently on the station.

According to the station's website, the goals of Metro 21 are:

• To inform the citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish about opportunities available to them through local Government.
• To telecast events in the community that otherwise would not be seen by the public.
• To provide knowledge and understanding of local government to residents, who cannot attend regular meetings.
• To have a better informed public as the result of live tape delayed and features, such as Press Conferences, breaking news events, emergency announcements and job opportunities.
• To continue to provide entertaining and valuable information to the public with the use of the latest technology.