Forming Partnerships

Chapter Ten: Forming Partnerships Back

Forming partnerships can maximize opportunities and resources, making this option a serious consideration for a government access channel. Rather than relying solely upon the channel's own resources, partnerships are capable of improving the quality of programming, saving in production costs, and increasing the quantity of programming.

Partnerships

The idea behind forming partnerships with other government access channels is the government access channels are not in competition with one another. We do not compete for the same audience, we do not serve the same viewing area, we do not compete for advertisers, and we do not compete for funding from a joint pool of funding. The only area of competition may be in the area of program awards, but fundamentally, there is no competition.

While the outstanding accomplishments of other government access channels are applauded, the demise of any local government access channel is grieved. We celebrate other's triumphs, but if one should fall, we are forced to take a strong reflective look at our operations.

In terms of programming few would notice if several government channels aired the same programs. There is no need for government access channels to differentiate ourselves from each other, we only need to differentiate ourselves from broadcast and other cable channels. Programming that can be aired by a multitude of government access channels provides everybody with the needed programming. In this case, the programming produced must be generic enough for all participating cities to air it. Ideally, it would be of high quality so it enhances the look of each channel. Our collective futures are entwined with one another, and this becomes more evident as cities renegotiate cable franchises and attempt to procure resources for government access.

Public access is struggling across the country and the educational access experience varies widely. Local origination efforts are increasing as cable companies strive to show us that they can do local programming better and make it a viable commercial model as well. Government access channels face the mandate of being a useful, relevant and valuable resource in the communities they serve.

Partnerships can help us survive the onslaught of competitors. There are several ways that partnerships are especially beneficial to government access channels. Shared resources is the key to government access channel partnerships. In addition, partnerships can make government access programming more fun. It is beneficial to interact with others and create good programming together. The following are some partnership ideas that have been implemented in Southern California by various SCAN members.