Officials with SudburyTV, a non-profit corporation that fosters production and cablecasting of public and governmental access programming for residents and organizations, appeared before the Board of Selectmen at Tuesday night's meeting at Sudbury Town Hall with a progress report.  Such reports are required annually of the organization, which was only established in 2008.

"Last year we upgraded our website significantly, provided a lot more information and gave it a more professional look," said Jeff Winston, President of Sudbury Access Corporation.  He said SudburyTV also made signficant additions and improvements to its programming.

"One of them was a cooking show for children," said Executive Director Lynn Puorro, who said three middle-school students hosted the show.  She said other new programming includes a weekly news show that recaps Sudbury town meetings, a Healthy Adventures show, a movie show that showcases films that range from little-known works to classic cinema and a local arts show that gives Sudbury artists an opportunity to talk about their creations.

"We ran production workshops that teach people how to use the equipment," said Winston.  "We're always teaching more people how to use the equipment, so they can volunteer to cover events that are going on in town."

"Your meeting is going live now on the Internet to the entire world," Winston mentioned to the selectmen as an example of services provided by the newly-enhanced website.

"I'm not sure if that's good or bad," joked Board Chair Lawrence O'Brien.

"We continue to cover any meeting we're invited to cover, and hope that in time, more committees will be comfortable with us doing that," said Winston.  He said SudburyTV is also committed to covering sports, but does not currently broadcast outdoor events live since the equipment to do so would be prohibitively expensive.

Winston said interest in SudburyTV's programming has increased in the last two or three years, as evidenced by the number of individuals who email to ask why video from a particular meeting hasn't been posted yet, or to ask that a video from six months ago be re-posted so they can watch it again.

"We just enjoy the fact that our work is being appreciated and used," said Winston.

"It's a great public resource," said Selectmen Robert Haarde.  "I'm glad to see that it's still growing and healthy."

In her portion of the meeting, Town Manager Maureen Valente complimented the police department for a recent incident in which two house break-ins were solved quickly, with suspects being caught and items being recovered.  She did not want to give specific information about the break-ins, but said the case represented "some really nice police work and a good outcome for the families" whose homes were targeted.