One of the biggest concerns when you lend equipment is whether the person operating the equipment knows how to handle and use it. If the person operating the equipment works for your station and the other station borrowing the equipment, it lays those concerns to rest.
Many stations use part-time staff or freelance contractors to do their camerawork and editing. Because budgets are small, not every facility can keep staff busy full time. This may conflict with workers looking for full-time work. For this reason, there is a lot of turnover in part-time workers and keeping a skilled labor team is difficult. By pooling labor, government access channels can do a better job of retaining part-time staff and building production skills. However, pooling labor requires setting similar pay scales for the same type of work for the various channels. Permanent staff should regularly recommend part-time staff to other facilities. Training can also be pooled among facilities. For example, workshops on lighting and camera skills can benefit everyone.