Local content as a way to serve the community was a common theme of a panel I moderated at the 2010 Broadband Properties Summit. As expected, Cullen McCarty of Smithville Telephone and Gary Evans of HBC provided an excellent overview of how they are helping their communities by serving up content about and by the community. What made this especially interesting is HBC has gone through several generations of equipment, while local content is a relatively new venture for Smithville.

Smithville’s initial focus is to create and embed content on their web site, while HBC is a long-time veteran of programming a linear TV channel. As seen in this video, one thing these telecommunications firms have in common is that they are using local content to inform and put a smile on the faces of the people in their respective communities.