Connecticut's utility regulator has denied a bid by Nutmeg Public Access Television to take over community-access cable operations in Greenwich and nine other Fairfield County towns.

The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) issued a draft decision rejecting the Farmington-based nonprofit's petition to replace the town-by-town cable access model with a regional system, Patch reported. The ruling followed months of testimony and hundreds of public comments in PURA Docket 25-09-07.

For Greenwich residents who watch Board of Selectmen, Board of Estimate and Taxation and Representative Town Meeting sessions on GCTV Channel 79, the decision means that local programming stays local.

What Nutmeg proposed

Nutmeg Public Access Television filed its petition with PURA on Sept. 9, 2025, seeking to assume operational management of community access in two cable regions. One of those, Area 9, is operated by Optimum and includes Greenwich, Darien, Easton, New Canaan, Norwalk, Redding, Stamford, Weston, Westport and Wilton, according to the Easton Courier.

Under the current system, each town handles its own meeting recordings. Those recordings are broadcast only to that town's cable subscribers on Channel 79 for government programming and Channel 78 for education, the Easton Courier reported. The channels are funded through cable subscriber fees administered by the Area Nine Cable Council, a volunteer organization that serves as a liaison between municipalities and Optimum under PURA regulations.

Nutmeg's plan would have consolidated programming from several towns onto shared channels. Opponents said viewers would have to sift through programming from as many as 10 towns to find their own meetings.

Why PURA said no

PURA found that Nutmeg's regional plan lacked sufficient operational, financial and logistical detail. The plan would have closed several local studios and replaced them with one regional facility, Patch reported.

Optimum, Cox and Charter jointly opposed the petition. They argued it came without prior notice or outreach and depended on the closure of six studios, including the Norwalk facility that serves Area 9, and the termination of many employees, according to Patch.

Jim Cameron, DarienTV program director and vice chair of the Area 9 Cable Council, called the draft ruling a victory in a news release cited by Patch.

Greenwich officials pushed back early

Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo came out against the petition in a statement posted Feb. 13. He said the proposal would reduce visibility of local board and commission meetings and cost Greenwich close to $8,000 in annual funding for local television operations.

Greenwich Selectwoman Rachel Khanna also submitted a letter to PURA urging the agency to reject the petition, the Easton Courier reported.

The League of Women Voters of Greenwich was among the organizations that filed comments opposing the proposal in February, according to the LWV Greenwich website. The group said it would continue to monitor the proceeding.

What happens next

The PURA docket page for the case now shows a status of "Closed." The LWV Greenwich site, updated Nov. 3, had said a final decision was expected late in September. Nutmeg Public Access Television has not publicly responded to the ruling in any of the available records.