PORT TOWNSEND – Public access television has a future on the Web in Jefferson County, says a community broadcasting leader, and one day could extend its reach west into Clallam County.

Karen Nelson, newly elected chairwoman of the Public Education and Government board, or PEG, says Port Townsend Television intends to establish Olympic Peninsula Network Media to connect the region through webcasts.

“So by the end of the year, we plan to come out of the closet with new OPEN Media,” Nelson said.

“We’re growing it for the region, a way of communicating what’s going on in the local region, then we will broadcast it regionally.”

The move comes at a time when a local television broadcasting gap has been left in the Port Angeles-Sequim market after Peninsula News Network, on cable television channel 3, discontinued operations.

PNN operated under an agreement with Port Angeles-based WAVE Broadband until it ceased operations in June, citing a lack of advertising revenues.

Longtime broadcaster Dennis Bragg, who owned and operated PNN, has since moved to Montana to work as a news director there.

From Montana, Bragg still maintains the station’s old Web site through local contacts, at peninsulanews.net.

The PEG board, PTTV Producers Guild and city and school district officials have been working toward a new beginning since longtime station manager Gary Lemons resigned last year to pursue other interests.

Recently, the PEG board unanimously approved making the station an independent nonprofit corporation.