Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center: newswire/114430

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Champaign Votes Yes by 5 to 3 to Pursue a New Community TV Station	Current rating: 0
by Citizen Reporter (No verified email address)	10 May 2006
Champaign Council voted 5-3 in favor or supporting the pursuit of a community operated, public access Community TV Station in the next franchise agreement. That franchise process begins with Insight Communications this year and would likely run for 15-20 years. The vote was expected to fail, but over 50 supporters of public access packed council chambers and this appeared to sway the outcome. In addition, presenters from the C-U Telecommunications Commission and Public Access Study group urged council members not to vote public access down before the franchise negotiation process gets started. A majority of council members appeared to support the concept of the Community TV station, but differed over how to fund it. This report provides details of the meeting as well as transcript-like notes from public input and each councilmember's statements.
11 Champaign residents spoke in support of establishing and funding a Community TV station. In addition, local public access experts such as Dr. Robert McChesney, one of the nation's top experts in Media Policy, Dr. Will Patterson, of African-American Studies and the Youth media Workshop, Jack Brighton Assistant Director of Programming at WILL, Will Hawkins who teaches media production to youth at the Urban League, and library scholars Al Kagan and Leigh Estabrook urged support. Although both Urbana and Champaign councils have now voted to support pursuit of a Community TV Station, that does not mean it will happen. A majority of Champaign council members appear opposed to collecting a fee from Insight to support the station. They are concerned this fee, which would be about $2-6 per subscriber per year, might be passed on to the customer. There are other ways to fund the Community TV station that could be pursued. Both Champaign and Urbana have voted to jointly hire a seasoned consultant to help them with the franchise and to work out issues like how a new station would be funded. In addition, federal legislation threatens to constrain local authority to establish fair franchise agreements with local cable providers. A franchise is a "rent" collected from a company in return for use of public rights of way to bring a service to subscribing households. It is also a way for a local authority to make sure a company like Insight, operating as a virtual monopoly, serves the public interest. Cable companies would like to get rid of the franchising process and are pushing federal legislation to that end. Read more: www. What follows is close to a transcript of the meeting last night. --------------------------------- CU Telecommunications Commission Report --------------------------------- - We voted unanimously to recommend that you support the creation of a stand alone Community TV station in the next franchise. - Staff recommends that you don't, but we feel you should not take that bargaining chip off the table before you have even hired a consultant to help you. --------------------------------- CITY STAFF REPORT --------------------------------- Concerns about an independent access channel: 1) Cost - both start up and ongoing 2) Legislative Uncertainty 3) Control/Accountability of an Independent Channel --------------------------------- PUBLIC INPUT --------------------------------- Dennis Roberts - Urbana City Council member, served on Public Access Study Committee - UPTV now has 181 members - overwhelming recent growth - current public access facilities are grossly inadequate for a city of this size and vitality. - people need to feel comfortable coming to the center, not affiliated with govt. - Tuscon, AZ - 2 story + basement warehouse fully staffed. Equipment to check out. - why would you not want to have a public access facility funded through the franchise Dave Monk - Champaign Resident - I use the UPTV facility - it is wonderful. Randall Cotton - Champaign resident - Benefits of public access - seeing live broadcasts of games, community events, townhall meetings with our reps, debates leading up to elections. Can call these up with Video on Demand. - Can help non-profits who can't afford commercial advertising. - Can help people be more involved in their community - Commercial media doesn't allow space for local voices - This requires a funded PA station with call in studio. - Profit margins of cable companies are typically 40% Bob McChesney - UIUC Professor and Media Expert - Research the affect of media on local communities and Do journalism for 25 years and head of Free Press on issues such as this - we are leading the lobbying effort on COPE bill - Can't predict the legislation - probably won't get through this session - the longer it goes the better things will be for municipalities - "Cities have had their underpants taken from them by cable companies in franchising" - Cities have much better leverage then you think - you can't ask for too much - they can pay for what they want - other cities are winning. - Cities with same market size as us have great community TV stations. - Extraordinary opportunity to inexpensively create something other communities love to have. It is a tremendous civic resource. - Community TV can bring localism back to our community. - It is "reckless" not to take advantage of it. Leigh Estabrook - UIUC Library Dept Dean, Champaign resident - PA channel will not take away parking, will not compete with businesses. It will create a "virtual community plaza" Angela Clark - UI of African American Cultural Program, Champaign resident - we have partnered with UPTV to bring our programs to the community - what stands in the way of us doing more is limited resources. - many who can't attend community events, can do so through the TV Will Patterson - Youth Media Workshop - work with young people to create responsible media. - there has to be balance to the commercial programming. - Working on documentary of Douglas Center Drum Corps with middle school boys - sense of pride of what they do - boys know they will be seen by the community - one boy said "That means I get to be a leader" Colleen Cook - videographer, Champaign resident - I get more requests than I can handle to teach videography - Cultural development of our community - Videographers were highlighted in the Boneyard Arts Fest. Al Kagan - Librarian - On UPTV, it was hard to get Democracy Now on UPTV - that shows one of the problems with combining it with the government channel. - What we have now, is not professional. - We need an alternative place for free speech b/c we have go few places in the age of corporate media - I am seeing the Urbana library take advantage of UPTV - I would like to see more of this - including programming from Champaign library - This is the same as a downtown plaza - a vibrant public place Will Hawkins - Urban League, Technical Coordinator, Champaign Resident - Internet Radio Academy - after school program to teach kids about technology - Our youth produce 3 shows for UPTV - constraints in resources so we have not got them on yet so we stream over the web. - There are LOTS of people who want to create to public TV, but we don't have the resources to provide for them. Dave Powers - Videographer, Champaign Resident - Why sell community short before we even start negotiating. - I train video for free. UPTV doesn't have the resources to help with editing - more money is needed. Jack Brighton - Asst Director of Broadcasting at WILL, Champaign Resident - I produce lots of video and train lots of students. - I see the creative energy unleashed when the barriers to access to removed. - Media is about showing each other about each others lives - "sharing our culture" - Go into the negotiations with a vision of mind. - We should be setting a standard - setting a vision. Robert Manaster - Champaign resident - Consider the interest generated from people receiving this programming. - Help create more of a cohesiveness in our community. - More open, public space outside and on the airwaves are needed. Durl Kruse - serves on Telecom Commission - think of the value we put in our public libraries and all the money we put in them - they are our literary community treasures. - How much time do our residents spent watching TV instead of reading books? TV is a major, preferred medium? - If TV is so popular, why is there no PUBLIC TV supported by the city? - The challenge is up to you - This is an opportunity to create a new community treasure. --------------------------------- COUNCIL COMMENTS: --------------------------------- Kathy Ennen - Councilmember - YES - It is not often I disagree with staff - the reports are detailed and provide me with the info I need - We are being very short sighted on this. - I can't make decisions based on what may or may not happen in Washington DC - they won't move on this in an election year anyway. - Even if something does happen, we can recover - The public access report was detailed and appropriate - We should pursue another channel and operate it by an independent board - this protects the cities from the naysayers - We live in a democracy - free speech is important - we need to hear all sides and it is hard to find diverse voices out there - We need to be visionary and think about what we want - If we are going to be a vibrant community - we need to take some risks - and this - public access - is fairly risk free - Let's not close the door on a 10-15 year agreement before even getting to the table - Insight is a monopoly - they are not going to walk away from the table - we can push them on this. - Our other priorities are not going to be pushed out by this - Public access gives fire and police another channel - Health education will benefit Tom Bruno - Councilmember - YES - petition in support is great - but if you ask people whether they want to raise their cable franchise fee from 3-5%, you would have gotten lots of signatures as well - cable franchise fee is being paid by customers - this is not FREE for the community - I am troubled by funding this by increasing the tax - we should engage the services of an aggressive negotiator - Let's try for the additional cable channel and keep a 3% franchise fee Ken Pirok - Councilmember - NO - We can already have debates, boil orders, etc on our current channels - What we are talking about is community-created programming. - This is not FREE - this is a very expensive proposition. - I have heard from very few CHAMPAIGN cable subscribers who want to pay for this or would watch it. Marci Dodds - NO - Can we have a cable channel without a media center? - I support a cable channel but NOT a media center. - No accountability - non profit with a board of directors with money collected by the government. It is not like a library which are - WEFT is accountable to its listeners - The buck doesn't stop anywhere. - Will vote NO. Gina Jackson - NO - Troubling the cost will be passed on to subscribers. - Want to see the 2% to help our current channel, but can't support additional taxes. Giraldo Rosales - YES - Can we up the ante by bringing in a challenger like Comcast? --> They don't have the infrastructure to provide like Insight who own the cable in the ground --> Perhaps technology will bring more competition - through the phone companies - We just had a 6% increase in cable subscription costs - and there is no limit to it. LaDue - YES (didn't say anything) Mayor Schweighart - YES - I have changed my mind. We should not remove a bargaining chip before negotiating. VOTE TOTAL: 5 YES 3 NO
See also: http://www.ucimc.org/feature/display/114310/index.php http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display/114355/index.php
Related stories on this site: Point-by-point response to Champaign City Staff recommendation against cable-company funding of Public Access Cable TV Democratizing Communications
This work is in the public domain.

Comments

Re: Champaign Votes Yes by 5 to 3 to Pursue a New Community TV Station
by Mark A. Morenz marketype (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified)	Current rating: 0 11 May 2006
Congratulations to everyone involved! :-{)] Mark M. p.s. I think the link to the COPE legislation discussion got cut off (just before the beginning of the 'transcipt'.