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Cable TV Access: Untapped Potential
First of Two Parts
Special to Review Magazine Metro Saginaw has another chance to promote public access television. Non-profits and churches have had access to tell their stories ever since the original cable franchise agreement with City Hall back in 1986.
But in the Charter Communications
service area, originally Cox Cable territory, the screen for
Channel 16 usually is blank.
Charter Communications has not promoted
cable access. In turn, community groups have not submitted videotapes
for promotion.
A new state law promotes access. If the
Saginaw community responds, the public could see a stream of infomercial
type advertisements that would encourage viewers to contribute more time
and money and attendance to various worthy causes.
United Way. Red Cross. Teen Challenge.
Underground Railroad. NAACP. Salvation Army. And so on. St. Stephen
Catholic. Bethel AME. St. Paul Lutheran. Zion Baptist. St. Paul
Episcopal. ColemanTemple Church of God in Christ. State Street United
Methodist. And so on.
Or how about a video from downtown's
summer Friday Night Live? The Cinco de Mayo Parade. The African Cultural
Festival. The West Side Arts Fair.
That's not the end of it. A musical or
theater group could show their stuff for free, similar in a way to
YouTube on the Internet. Public access need not be boring.
Local artists can display their talents
on
cable access as long as they don't directly solicit financial profit.
Cable television public access in
Saginaw is unfulfilled. Flip to Channel 16. By and large, you'll see the
words 'Sony DVD Player' bouncing across the empty screen; but no DVD.
Hundreds of non-profits and churches and
local artists could promote themselves on the air through public access,
even if Charter Communications wasn't helping as much as they might
like; but few have taken the initiative to do so.
Public access would provide funding for
cameras and editing technology that local churches and non-profits can
ill afford.
Funding for cable access An opportunity for improvement for the thriving and vibrant public access that advocates envisioned during the 1980s comes through Michigan Public Act 480. This is the Uniform Video Services Local Franchise Act, which took effect in January.
As a result of the new law, updated cable
franchise pacts are going to local communities for approval. Act 480
sets an April deadline, but City Attorney Tom Fancher says Saginaw has until December because of a temporary franchise
contract extension with Charter Communications that the City Council
approved last summer.
Fancher's explanation is good news
because it will give cable access advocates more time to interact with
the City Council and staff, more time to push for a better public
channel.
First things first: Local authorities
still will have virtually no control over cable prices and services.
This is yet another example of the deregulation trend that started under
President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. In fact, critics are
protesting that cable customers now will have to take complaints to the
Michigan Public Service Commission, instead of to their local elected
officials.
Local governing units will continue to
collect 5 percent of gross cable revenues. In the city of
Saginaw's case, Fancher says the sum came to about $470,000 last
year through a combination of quarterly payments.
Communities have the option to place
some or all of that cash into cable TV public access, but they aren't
required to do so. Non-profits and churches have aired scant interest,
and so the result has been inevitable. Saginaw leaders instead are using
the money to bolster police, fire and other basics.
Act 480's window comes through a factor
known among cable access advocates as PEG, which is shorthand for
Public, Education and Government. Each entity has an existing access
channel. In the city of Saginaw they are Channel 16 for public access,
Channel 3 for education access and Channel 15 for city government
access. Saginaw Township has education access on Channel 98.
Communities under the new law may assess
an added 2 percent of a cable company's gross revenues, which in the
city of Saginaw's case would come to about $185,000 per year, to
support these channels, especially Channel 16. This cash could go for
equipment and training, even for staffers who would affirmatively
recruit non-profits and churches and local activists to get involved.
City Hall would act as the conduit for the funds but a community group
could take the lead, similar to the Human Planning Commission providing
advice on the federal block grant budget.
This 2 percent PEG cable levy wouldn't be
a tax, but it would be similar because Charter Communications could pass
the cost to customers. A local elected official would be asking a
constituent with expanded basic cable service, for example, to shell out
roughly $1 per month for public access.
So should the Saginaw City Council, down
the road, vote for a PEG or not vote for a PEG?
"Some people in the public might scream
about that 2 percent, and so advocates of public access will need to
present a good reason for having a PEG provision," says Jan Howard
of Mount Pleasant, executive director of the Mid-Michigan Area Cable
and
Telecommunications Consortium.
The consortium guides cable access in
Isabella, Clare and Gratiot counties. Howard also is a board member with
the Michigan Alliance for Community Media. She was among
advocates late last year that lobbied to help block proposals that would
have cut back on access provisions.
"Public access would provide funding for
cameras and editing technology that local churches and non-profits can
ill afford," Howard says.
She has advice for dormant cable
advocates.
"Tell the public about the local animal
shelter that wants to run an adopt-a-pet show, for example, or tell the
public about the Girl Scout troop that is interested in producing a tape
on first aid," Howard says. "Sell the benefits. Emphasize that if you
have no funding, you will have no program."
Old hopes and dreams Let's flash back to the middle 1980s. Saginaw city leaders were negotiating the first cable franchise agreement with the provider at the time, Cox Communications. A committee of agency and grassroots activists formed. They wanted their share of the pie, and they were strident in their demands.
Cox proposed one shared access channel.
The advocates weren't satisfied. They wanted three - one for city
schools, one for city government, and one for public access. They wanted
a studio, equipment, and a staff person to help them out. City Council
members complied at the time, and Cox grudgingly accepted.
The Saginaw School District developed
the top-notch SETV, Saginaw Educational Television, and now
Channel 3, which has won national accolades. (Note: Review Magazine
will feature SETV in the next edition as a model for the potential of
cable access.)
City government produced the more modest
SGTV, Saginaw Government Television on Channel 15, which basically has
amounted to a scroll of community events and services. Programs such as
Dateline City Hall fell by the wayside amid staffing cuts. But at
least the City Council, unlike the Board of Education, has chosen to
telecast its meetings.
Public access? Channel 16 has offered
virtually nothing but sporadic tapes from a handful of churches,
including a source that submits videos of Minister Louis Farrakhan.
"Back in the '80s, I believe the aspect
that dissuaded a lot of groups was that you had to go through a certain
amount of training to get the equipment and produce a video," says
Ron Spess, director of the Saginaw County Youth Protection Council
and also a longtime city school board member.
"Any nonprofit could have done it, but
most decided they didn't have time," Spess says. "I would be interested
in exploring it again, because there has been such a shift in human
services and it would be good to get information to the community."
Spess suggests that various non-profits
could work together. He cited the community's Homeless Coalition as one
example, and United Way agencies as another.
"That would be more cost-effective, and
it would have more appeal to the general public," Spess said. "Instead
of just having a video on the Youth Protection Council, we could have a
video on the entire homeless situation."
Renee Johnston, Saginaw Community Foundation president and CEO, says she is
willing to explore public access but wonders whether a major impact
would result.
"I don't know if it would be widely
used and accessed," Johnston says. "People look to television for their
news and favorite programs, but more and more they go online for
information. People even read the newspaper online. In speaking with the
non-profits, their main interest is to explore and develop their web
sites, because that's where people look nowadays. Most people who want
information about the Community Foundation go directly to our web site."
John Pugh's array of worthy
causes includes the local NAACP's youth group, known as ACT-SO, which
has guided teenagers to various national awards in the arts and
sciences. The ACT-SO Jazz Ensemble has appeared at various community
events. Two prot�g�s, pianist Richard Baskin Jr. and saxophonist
Morgan McMillon recently won the $25,000 top prize at Showtime at
the Apollo in New York City.
"The cable company has made it
difficult, but if I said I'm going to go ahead and make a tape, it would
probably happen. I just haven't done it," says Pugh, a Delta College
administrator.
A gradual disconnection The Saginaw council's 1986 franchise agreement with Cox Cable was for 20 years, temporarily renewed through December 2007 with Charter Commutations.
Mike Manley, the Saginaw School
District's longtime spokesman, recalls the original arrangement with Cox
Cable. Cox gave start-up money for a studio and equipment at the
district's Media Center in the former South Elementary building on Elm
near Gratiot to provide a launching pad for Saginaw Educational
Television. In exchange, the school system provided staff resources for
citizens interested in public access.
Cox Cable gave way to Bresnan,
TCI, and now Charter Communications. Relations with the
school district gradually eroded. Manley reported in 2004 that Charter
Communications had failed for three years in a row to make a $15,000
annual payment. As a result, the school district ended support for
public access.
"The industry has changed," Manley says.
"With Cox Cable, we had local support and a local person for public
access. Everything now is more regional."
A non-profit or church group that
desires to reach public access now must produce its own tape and
transport it to Charter Communication's Bay City office, says Emma
Moore, an access advocate. She is a member of Living Waters Church
of God in Christ, one of the congregations that participate.
"We have the resources for our own
productions, but a lot of smaller churches do not," Moore says.
She protested once to the City Council
three years ago, without results.
"We should be included in the
negotiations for a new franchise agreement," Moore says. "All we're
asking for is fairness, for the public to have a platform. We don't want
to bash Charter Communications, but there should be a base for public
access in Saginaw, because it's a Saginaw service."
At the same time, she admits she has few
teammates among advocates. "There has been no initiative. It's been more
of a complacent attitude, both on Charter's part and among the public,"
Moore says.
"That's a shame, because public access
could become a learning tool and a platform for more positive
initiatives. We could have people watching public access instead of
watching all those network crime shows."
Vickie Jacobs, governmental
affairs specialist in the Charter Communications regional Flint office,
said she could not offer a direct response to the comments.
"I am simply reluctant to comment on
historical events for which I have no personal knowledge. We do not wish
to comment on the 'here & now' until we have had a chance to completely
digest the new legislation," says Jacobs, who came on board with Charter
in 2004.
"We did not ask for or support the new
state law, but the fact remains it's a state law that we have to abide
by."
Fancher says City Hall will welcome
suggestions from interested citizens.
"We did not grant to Cox Cable or
Charter Communications an exclusive franchise," Fancher notes.
"There is no legal barrier to another
cable company coming in and setting up other service. In fact, we would
be happy if they did. There is, of course, an economic disincentive. It
would probably make both cable companies into losing ventures, and so
it's a de facto economic monopoly."
Build it, We Will Come Salvation Army Major Wayne Ruston offers an example of cable television's untapped potential through public access. His family arrived for his Saginaw assignment in the summer of 2003. He has opted not to purchase cable television, and the thought of promoting his church known for charity on an access channel did not occur until Review Magazine called.
"Right now we're getting ready for a
Saint Patrick's Day fund-raiser with Habitat for Humanity," Ruston said,
referring to a Hot Wheels Races event that transpired before this
edition went to press.
"Television would be a perfect venue
for promotion. If it's available, if we know it's there, if it's free of
cost, if we know how it works, then we would be happy to use it."
If you wish to get involved in promoting cable TV public access, call Mike Thompson at 989-525-0189 or e-mail to mwtsaginaw@yahoo.com.) |
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