Let’s be honest: cable is passé. Whether it’s Netflix producing original programming, or the increasing popularity of other streaming video services such as Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime, the signs, it seems, are there. (I haven’t paid for cable in years.) And while TV executives try to sort out this media mess, an unexpected organization appears to be on top of the streaming movement: Colorado’s state government.

With help from the media and technology nonprofit, Open Media Foundation (OMF), the Colorado legislature started streaming and archiving video of the Colorado General Assembly in 2008 on Coloradochannel.net. This year—in time for the state’s new legislative session which began on Wednesday, January 9—OMF redesigned the Colorado Channel website and upgraded the quality of the streaming video. (The Colorado Channel is funded by the General Assembly’s budget.) And the new service was put to use right away: More than 2,000 people streamed Governor John Hickenlooper’s State of the State address on Wednesday, January 10.

Who knows how this outlet will grow, but it’s nice to see Colorado invest in this type of new media. What do you think? Is streaming video of the State House and Senate valuable to Coloradans?

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