CA Law Places Fate of Local Public Access TV Channels in Hands of Municipalities Instead of Cable Companies

California’s Ventura County Star reports that public access television in some Ventura County, CA communities changed January 1st as cable operator Time Warner no longer provided the facilities and costly equipment that ordinary people use to create their own content on neighborhood-based public channels. The changes affected the company’s equipment in Ojai and a facility in Oxnard.

A state law written by former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 helped phone companies enter the cable TV market but also provided a strategy for cable companies to ease away from a 31-year-old tradition of providing production staff, equipment, classes and assistance in the communities where they have subscribers.

The law, known as AB 2987 or the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006, allows cable companies to sign franchise agreements with the state instead of with cities, as previously was done. It also allows cable companies to pay a fee instead of providing studios and equipment for the public.

Patricia Fregoso, regional vice president of community affairs for Time Warner’s Western region, said each city will determine its public access destiny when its franchise agreement expires. Regardless, she said, her company is “very serious about serving our communities.”

Others see it differently. “Substantial amounts of harm have been done (to public access) in the name of competition” by AB 2987, said Todd Thayer, executive director of the nonprofit Community Access Partners of San Buenaventura (CAPS). The Ventura organization was established to build a community media center to broadcast public, educational and government TV programming. CAPS offers its production facility and training for residents, community and service groups, schools and local government. The Ventura facility is available to residents, nonprofits and businesses in the city, and to nonprofits outside the city that have members in Ventura or serve Ventura.

Time Warner’s Fregoso claims AB 2987 had three purposes: (1) to provide broadband accessibility to everyone in the state of California, (2) to provide competition, and (3) to level the playing field regarding fees and taxes. Under state franchises, video providers no longer are required to offer certain capabilities, but cities can approve fees to finance public access plans. “Under their contracts, cities now will decide the demand, need, financing and support” for cable needs, including public access, Fregoso said. As far as a state franchise, “the cable operator is only required to make a (public access) channel available,” and providing the equipment to show programs locally is the responsibility of the municipality, she said.

The city of Ojai spent months researching what to do after its franchise agreement with Time Warner ended, said City Manager Jere A. Kersnar. “Time Warner is exercising its state franchise for television, which means it will no longer have a local franchise with the city of Ojai,” and its public access Channel 10 would be turned over to the city to use if it wanted to accept that responsibility. Mike Culver, public works director for Ojai, said the city is working with local residents to see how it can move forward with local programming.

“The question now is how to generate content,” Culver said. The city plans to ask that 1% be added to the franchise fee, but “the FCC says we can only use that for capital improvements, not for operations expenses such as staffing and cameras,” he said. The quickest way for residents to find out what public access, education and government programming is being offered in their area is to contact their city hall.

SS