Public Access TV Comes to Fresno - But Only if YOU Act Now

Public Access TV Comes to Fresno - But Only if YOU Act Now
By Mike Rhodes

You and I have a rare opportunity to alter the media landscape in Fresno and Clovis. If you are tired of the options corporate America gives you on your television, it is time to stop complaining and to do something about it. In the next month or two a decision will be made that will affect local TV for decades to come.

Here is what is at stake. Fresno and Clovis city council members will decide whether or not to accept money from Comcast to fund Public, Education, and Government (PEG) access channels. The money, over $500,000 a year, is there for the asking. The funding is a part of a state franchise agreement which will be accepted by most other communities in California that have cable. But, neither Fresno or Clovis have passed the necessary ordinance to accept the funds. Time is running out.

If Fresno and Clovis elected officials are encouraged by enough residents (that would be YOU) to accept the funding, here is what will happen. A Community Media Center (CMC) will be established that will serve as the hub for producing and broadcasting locally originated programing. The CMC will have a studio, cameras, digital editing equipment, and a staff that can provide training. All of this will be provided to the community by Comcast as a part of the franchise agreement.

There will be new channels on the Comcast cable network - one for the Public access channel, one for Education, and one for Government.

The Public channel will provide programming produced by community groups and individuals. A program on the public channel could be about tenant rights produced by Central California Legal Services, or it could be a cultural presentation of Hmong dancers. An individual could produce a show about local politics, a local church could cablecast a worship service, or Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! could be broadcast on public-access TV. In short, locally produced, independent, and alternative video will have a home on the cable network.

The Education channels would be used primarily by the schools for education and distance-learning purposes. If you tune in to channel 96 you will see the beginning of the local education/government channel. Channel 96 is the forerunner to PEG. In an agreement reached a couple of years ago between Comcast, the schools, and the City of Fresno, it was agreed to set up this channel. Right now, you can see coverage of Fresno Unified School Board meetings, electronic field trips, University of California programming (UCTV), the NASA Channel, the Annenberg channel, and the entire Fresno City Council session each Tuesday. It is expected that more local education and government programming will be on this channel soon.

The Government channel will broadcast city council meetings, board of supervisors meetings, planning commission meetings, and more. The government channels will be the community’s window into what is happening in government. There will likely be permanent video cameras in government spaces, which will be turned on when public meetings are taking place. Interviews with elected officials and city-sponsored events will be available on this channel.

The Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC) was set up by a broad coalition of community, education, and government representatives to oversee the CMC and PEG access channels. Randy Reed is the chairperson of CMAC. Reed expects the City of Fresno and Clovis to recognize CMAC as the group that will oversee the PEG access channels and CMC.

CMAC will coordinate programing on the PEG channels and run the CMC, which is expected to be located at California State University - Fresno. The plan is to build the facility in the Kremen School of Education. Comcast is in the process of linking CSUF with the fiber optic connection so programing can originate from that location. The connectivity with CSUF was agreed to in the Fresno County/Comcast franchise agreement.

The community was updated on the current situation at the October 18, 2007 CMAC annual meeting. Reed explained that the reason cable providers like Comcast enter into a franchise agreement is because they are using public right of ways. In order to deliver their services “they need to deliver that content over cables that are laid in the ground and on aerial polls on property that belongs to you and me.” In order to use these public right of ways, the cable provider enters a contract that provides the public with, among other things, funding for PEG access channels and a CMC.

Traditionally, franchise agreements were negotiated between cable providers and local government entities like the City of Fresno and the City of Clovis, but last year the State of California passed legislation which changed all that. After January 1, 2008 all new agreements will be standardized and fall under the state franchise. Under the state franchise agreement all local government entities are given 5% of the cable company’s gross revenues and can take 1% for PEG access & running a CMC . Reed said “Cities used to be able to negotiate for more compensation and a broader array of compensation items, but the state law now says you can only negotiate for these things.”

Fresno and Clovis have been renewing their old franchise agreements on a month to month basis for several years now. The current agreements do not include PEG funding. If Fresno and Clovis do not negotiate a new franchise agreement before January 1, 2008, the state franchise will be in effect. However, the City Council’s of Fresno and Clovis must pass an ordinance in support of accepting the 1% funding for the PEG access channels. If they don’t, the cable provider will not provide the funding needed to make this happen.

Sue Buske also spoke at the CMAC annual meeting. She is the consultant for the City of Fresno and Clovis who has been working on the local franchise agreement with Comcast for several years. Sue is the president of the Buske Group and a nationally known expert on cable franchise agreements. Buske said “all across the country there are thousands of communities, who have in some cases had access channels for over 30 years, and they have had funding coming to support the community’s use of the electronic media to do the business of the community. Not just to do the business of business, but to do the business of the church or the community organizations or the library or the school or the neighborhood association or the League of Women Voters to do a candidate night debate. That is what some people started to see, long before this franchise renewal process ever started here. They saw this happening in other places, they were active with organizations and causes in their community, and they are basically saying - ‘here in Fresno, we want to have that too. Here in Clovis, we want to use the electronic media to look at ourselves, to explore our issues. Not to have someone from New York, Manhattan, LA or San Francisco telling us about us, but to have the mirror on our community.’ That is what the concept of Public, Education, and Government access channels is all about.”

Buske also talked about what Fresno and Clovis must do in order to establish PEG access channels. Buske said “in order for a city to take advantage of the rights they do have under state law. . . you have to pass a DIVCA (Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act) ordinance. This is an ordinance that simply codifies the city’s rights under the new law.” This ordinance needs to be passed before January 1, 2008 to guarantee funding for PEG access channels.

If you believe that free speech should be for everyone and not just for those who own a television station, you need to act now. Let your elected officials know that you want them to pass the DIVCA ordinance that will guarantee PEG access channels and a CMC. While you have their attention, also let them know that CMAC is the organization that should be designated to oversee the PEG access channels.

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Contact your elected officials and tell them you want Public, Education, and Government (PEG) channels. Tell them you want a Community Media Center (CMC) and tell them you want the Community Media Access Collaborative to oversee PEG & the CMC.

City of Fresno

Alan Autry
Mayor
2600 Fresno Street
Fresno, CA 93721
Phone: (559) 621-8000
Fax: (559) 621-7990
E-Mail: Mayor [at] fresno.gov

To contact any of the Council Members, please call (559) 621-8000

Blong Xiong
Acting Council President
Councilmember District 1
district1 [at] fresno.gov
FAX (559) 268-1043

Brian Calhoun
Council Member District 2
district2 [at] fresno.gov
FAX (559) 621-7892

Cynthia Sterling
Council Member District 3
district3 [at] fresno.gov


Larry Westerlund
Council Member District 4
district4 [at] fresno.gov
FAX (559) 621-7848

Mike Dages
Council Member District 5
district5 [at] fresno.gov
FAX (559) 490-5395

Jerry Duncan
Council Member District 6
jerry.duncan [at] fresno.gov
FAX (559) 621-7896

Henry T Perea
Council President
Council Member District 7
district7 [at] fresno.gov
FAX (559) 498-2541


Andy Souza
City Manager
Fresno City Hall
2600 Fresno Street
Second Floor
Fresno, CA
93721-3600
Phone: 559-621-7770
Fax: 559-621-7776

City of Clovis

Mayor Bob Whalen
Mayor Pro Tem Harry Armstrong
Council Member Lynne Ashbeck
Council Member Jose Flores
Council Member Nathan Magsig

1033 Fifth Street, Clovis, CA 93612
(559) 324-2010

Email the Mayor, city council and city manager via: http://user.govoutreach.com/clovis/

Kathy Millison, City Manager
(559) 324-2060