Kickstarter

MI News 26 (www.minews26.com) is a unique TV station based in Cadillac, Michigan. We're a cross between community television and broadcast news; a developing station run by a group of young entrepreneurs. Our crew has a passion for bringing a new look at local news to our community, and we all have a background in broadcast.

MI News 26 is a small TV station that started with a big vision: to launch the region's first 24/7 local cable news channel. We were able to bring that channel to the airwaves in February 2011, and we gained coverage to all of northern Michigan on Charter cable earlier this year. That means our local news broadcasts now reach nearly 200,000 viewers spread over a massive coverage area. In addition to our cable news channel, we operate two digital sub-channels (TV26 and 26 Cinema) on antenna, bringing classic and independent TV shows and movies to viewers in the Cadillac area.

We have a great on-air presence already, and our goal is to expand our coverage of your community with more unique local programming. This is where you come in. We need to raise funding will cover the cost of the additional cameras, control room equipment and edit bays necessary to expand our programming. Our goal is to build a new, HD control room and upgrade our dated mobile production van to allow for the production of live, local programming to compliment our current local news coverage. 

Traditionally, this sort of expansion would be paid for through corporate funding or advertising dollars, but as a community-oriented TV station, we wanted to get YOU involved. So, we're using Kickstarter to give everyone a chance to support and be a part of northern Michigan television... and that support won't go unrewarded. Every contributor will get something in return, ranging from recognition on our web site to your very own TV show!

Kickstarter's rules require that we meet or exceed our $5,000 goal within 30 days, or we'll receive nothing and your pledge won't be processed. If we meet our goal, it will allow us to purchase the equipment necessary to significantly expand our coverage of the news in northern Michigan, and if we exceed it, we hope to use the additional funding to send more reporters to more communities more often.

This is your chance to be a part of the biggest new addition to northern Michigan television in over 20 years, enjoy a unique look behind the scenes of how TV is made, and maybe even get on TV yourself. We appreciate your involvement in our work to cover northern Michigan's many communities!