Former TV 9 Board Members File Discrimination Complaint

Two former TV9 board members have filed complaints with the state’s Commission Against Discrimination in Boston.

Deborah Hoch and Kristen Montgomery both allege they were discriminated against by Seekonk Cable Access, on the basis of Age, Sex, Retaliation.

Hoch, in her complaint filed on August 24, noted she had been “an elected, unpaid member” of TV9’s Board of Directors since 2008.

“I believe Respondent has discriminated against me based on my age and sex by being subjected to disparate treatment,” Hoch wrote. “I also believe Respondent retaliated against me for rebuffing age-based comments when it removed me from the Board.”

Hoch stated the Board was made up of six individuals, three were men and three were women. The Board Members’ ages ranged from 50s to early 70s.

Montgomery joined the board in December 2022.

At a meeting held on August 7, a temporary Board of Directors was installed. David Saad was named President. Dressler was named Vice-President/Treasurer, and Doreen Taylor was named as Clerk.

The other board members include Peter Hoogerzeil and TV9 personality Jeffrey Starr Mararian.

On August 16, Hoch and Montgomery told the Select Board they endured harassment and threats by male board members.

Montgomery called the environment at TV9 “toxic” and “hostile.”

Hoch claimed she had been “illegally removed” from her position at TV9 at a meeting held on July 24.

Hoch said she had not been informed about the meeting and was out of town when the vote occurred.

Saad dismissed Hoch and Montgomery’s allegations, noting there was never any harassment.

A meeting will be held in December for the purpose of presenting the TV-9 membership with a new set of bylaws. The board will meet multiple times in the next few months to make recommendations. A new board will also be elected. All TV 9 subscribers are eligible to vote.


On the website, tv9seekonk.com, the station’s mission statement reads: TV9 Seekonk is a non-profit public access TV corporation governed by a 7 member board of publicly elected directors. Day to day operation is managed by the Executive Director. TV9 Seekonk is dedicated to providing a professional quality production facility for access users to freely express and share unique ideas via original programming with the Seekonk community.