UPDATE: Freeholders Won't Televise Meetings; Blame Cable Companies

If you want to see what's happening at a meeting of Ocean County's freeholder board, you'll need to make the trip to the county administration building in Toms River.

The county's patchwork of cable systems is the reason why such meetings won't be airing on television any time soon, Freeholder Joseph Vicari said at Wednesday's meeting after a resident asked about the possibility of televising them.

"Berkeley Township televises their meetings, and I think it's excellent," said Bill Gumper, a Berkeley resident. "I believe it has a great effect on the public, in making information well known. I can't see any reason why you can't. If Berkeley can do it, I think Ocean County can."

Vicari said the freeholder board looked into televising their meetings about eight years ago and was unsuccessful in getting local cable companies on board.

"The cable companies would not cooperate with us," said Vicari. "Ocean County, being the second largest county in the state of New Jersey, it's difficult, if not impossible, to do."

Freeholder Deputy Director James F. Lacey also said residents who subscribe to satellite television services would be left out since there are no local access channels available.

The vast majority of Ocean County is served by Comcast. Lakewood, as well as the portion of the county's northern barrier island south of Brick is served by Cablevision Systems. Some areas of the county also have access to Verizon FiOS TV.

Vicari said even the Comcast systems alone are divided into many different franchises, further complicating the issue.

When asked about recording the meetings and posting them on the county's website in lieu of airing them on television, Vicari said many Ocean County residents are not Internet users.

"Maybe down the road, we can look into that," he said.