Is Webstreaming in Kentucky Court's Future?

Can webstreaming of appellate arguements be in Kentucky's not too distant future?

• The U.S. Supreme Court can be seen on cable.
• Indiana's highest court has live and webcasting on its site.
• All our trials are on VHS, and I have learned that the September oral arguments at the Kentucky Supreme Court are now on digital media (disc).

With programs which can convert VHS to digital mp3 or wma or others, and now with direct recording as digital, it is not a stretch of the imagination to have the Supreme Court follow Indiana and the United States Supreme Courts' lead and go DIGITAL and have public access (of course, the public presumably has access now via Open Records etc).

But without ready availability and access, then the information might as well be hidden in the back of the library under archived books no longer read.

Here's hoping.  Streaming media of these arguements would enhance the image of the legal system, educate the public, and provide a great appellate resource to lawyers in preparing an appeal and learning the workings of our appellate judges.  The only impediment is who among us want to see our faces, questions, and presentations on TV?  Not me, but I would be more than willing to learn from you.

Webstreaming media for appellate arguments is nothing new, but it is only 5 years old or so.  Some jurisdictions who permit downloading the audios and/or vidieos are:

• Federal

  • Oyez -- a web resource for the U.S. Supreme Court, with streaming audio of oral argument in significant cases.

  • Oral Argument audio archives for all cases argued in the Eighth Circuit since February 2000

• States (some are live, audio, and audio/visual)

  • Alaska

  • Colorado Court of Appeals

  • Delaware

  • Florida - Oral Arguments on the Web

  • Idaho

  • Indiana

  • Kansas Court of Appeals

  • Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court [L]

  • Mississippi Supreme Court [L]

  • Missouri

  • New Hampshire Oral Argument Recordings Online

  • New Jersey Supreme Court Webcast 

  • North Dakota

  • Ohio Supreme Court [L/A]

  • South Dakota Supreme Court [L]

  • Vermont

  • Washington

  • West Virginia

  • Wisconsin

And of course, can cable TV of local trials be soon to follow on public access or others?