Beacon council requests return of Channel 6 news

BEACON -- The Beacon City Council is urging Cablevision to immediately reinstate the Channel 6 evening news for local viewers.

Last month Cablevision Systems Corp. dropped NewsCenter 6's broadcast, letting 11 of the 16-member team go as part of a company-wide downsizing effort.

The Beacon resolution, passed unanimously by the city council Monday, comes on the heels of a similar resolution passed by the Dutchess County Legislature last week. Councilwoman Eleanor Thompson did not attend Monday's meeting.

''I've gotten calls from residents and got a letter from one saying how much it was a part of a need to the community,'' Beacon Mayor Clara Lou Gould said.

About 65,000 households in Dutchess, Ulster and Orange counties are served by Cablevision Systems Corp.

Gould said she would send a letter to the company to accompany a copy of the resolution the council passed.

''We're hoping they will reconsider their decision,'' she said. ''Surveys do show that's a big way people get their news,'' she said of the nightly broadcast.