Missed that big debate at the Town Council meeting? Or perhaps the Planning Board hearing where a developer explained what he is going to do in your neighborhood?

Now you can watch those meetings and more – in fact, all of the town and school government meetings in Bedford – online at the Web site for the community cable television program. The town now offers video on demand service at www.bedfordtv.com, in addition to channels 16 and 22 which Comcast cable subscribers in Bedford can watch.

The service, which became available at the end of April, took about a year to plan and implement, according to Bill Jennings, the station manager.

“What we wanted to do was expand our broadcast capability so that we could provide our service through the Internet,” Jennings said.

Channel 22 carries all of the local government meetings in town. All other programming, including school athletic games, is on Channel 16. In addition to video on demand for both, the live broadcast of Channel 22 will also be available simultaneously online. That service would make those meetings accessible to a broader population, Jennings said.

BCTV is funded through franchise fees which are charged to Comcast consumers in Bedford. Its budget does not affect the tax rate, according to Jennings.

Jennings estimates that it cost about $10,000 to acquire the video on demand and live streaming. Those new capabilities were provided through Tightrope Media Systems, a vendor that Bedford community television has been using for the past four to five years.

The town has spent a total of $40,000 to $50,000 installing and upgrading Tightrope systems during that period, Jennings said. Before the town could switch over to video on demand and live streaming, Jennings said it had to get a high speed fiber optic line with a wider bandwidth. That would ensure that the community television Web site could handle multiple viewers.

The online viewing capability now means that the 16 percent of Bedford households who do not subscribe to Comcast – meaning they do not get community cable channels 16 and 22 – will now be able to follow meetings, if they are unable to attend them in person, Jennings added.

Even some of the Comcast subscribers might be more comfortable checking out a meeting from the convenience of their computer.

“Sometimes, television has to come to us,” Jennings said. To see the archived videos, visit www.bedfordtv.com.