PEG Access Survey

July 4, 2001

ABSTRACT
Convincing elected officials and community leaders of the benefits of Public, Educational, and Government Access Television is a challenging task. This survey attempts to capture, in anecdotal form, the benefits and costs to the community of PEG Access Television.

NOTES:
1. Each bullet represents a separate answer to the survey question.
2. The survey is lightly edited to improve formatting and to correct an occasional grammatical error.

Combination: Government and Education. Government covers the county and the largest city 50/50. Education reflects info from the local city and county public school systems. Government occupies 80% airtime, Education 20%. The TV channel operation is a joint agreement venture between the city and county governments, equally sharing in expenses to operate the channel. All administrative paperwork is processed through the city's environment (by prior agreement since the cable franchise agreement is with the city). The city accounting office invoices the county for monthly expenses.
The government/education access channel is a special fund project that receives franchise monies from the local cable providers. Those monies are designated for purchasing new equipment and/or facilities for the channel operation. The city and county provide monies through their respective annual budgets for operational expenses, salaries, benefits, contractual costs, etc.

Organizational structure is as follows: A three person committee oversees all channel operations. One representative from the city (Public Relations Officer), one from the county (Government/Community Affairs Officer) and one Station Manager hired to run the channel operation. The SM is a fulltime employee through the city organization (through prior agreement). The city/county reps have final say on content that is run on the channel. They work with the Station Manager and receive the SM's input and suggestions and take action as they deed appropriate. The SM is responsible for the look, structure, timing, creation, organization and airing of all content and is overall responsible for the final images placed on air. The 3-person team works together to ensure the highest possible quality of image and information is maintained.
Government
P & G with share facility & technical support to E
WCAT, a private non-profit 501C3 runs two of the town's three channels, Public & Government.... The High School independently runs their own channel.
We operate P, E & G along with an institutional fiber network. We are a nonprofit organization overseen by a volunteer, community board of directors.
P,G,&E 501(c)(3) corporation
"G" only, funded through the city's general fund and managed by city staff.
The City of Ellensburg, via agreement with Central Washington University to operate and manage the original community access channel. Under the recently negotiated franchise with the local cable provider, additional channels were allocated for city/county, schools, and university use. There are now four PEG channels available. Other than the original channel created ten years ago the new channels have nothing on them. There is some discussion beginning as to what each entity will do with their channel and who will manage it.
"G" only
Bloomfield Community Television operates two PEG access centers: (a) our own community access channel, in operation since 1986. One channel, no government meetings, lots of community events and studio programs -- almost 500 per year, and (b) recent contractual arrangement with four neighboring communities (and their cable board). Two channels -- one municipal meetings and municipal sponsored events, and the other a public access channel that is primarily our own programs mentioned above in A.
P and G and LO (Local Origination - staff produced). We are housed under one roof. P and LO run on the same channel 15. G is on channel 26 and we contract with the City to run and operate and produce programming for the G channel. We have a Full-time equivalent staff of 9.5. We also run another P and G channel for a nearby community and a P channel for a third community.
Public Access by a non profit 501 (c) 3 corporation
Full PEG, managed by cable company
We have all three P, E, & G. We actually have 5 access channels here in Wheaton. One for public access, one for government access, two for education, and one Interactive Bulletin Board channel. We are a department of the city of Wheaton. All the access channels are headed up by the City's Media Manager who directly oversees the P & G portions of the cable department. The access channel (Wheaton Community Television or WCTV) is run by a Public Access Coordinator who has a staff of 5 part-time employees. They also oversee the Interactive Channel. The government channel (The City of Wheaton Channel or CWC) has two employees, the Municipal Producer and an Assistant Municipal Producer. We also have a part-time Public Relations Coordinator. The two educational channels are run by two local schools, Wheaton College and College of DuPage.
WCTY/Channel 16 and Government TV2 provide government access television programming to Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana. Operates as a part of the Cable Communications Agency, reports to the Cable Franchise Board.
Pasadena Community Access Corporation is a 501 (3) c non-profit corporation operated by the City of Pasadena to oversee community access in general, and to operate the Public and Government Access channels. The Educational Access Channels are operated by the school district and community college.
I work for the city and manage a government access operation. Public and
The local city government took control of the channel when the original franchise was sold from local to corporate interests. The local public school district was charged with operating the channel which has a message board and tape replay available to any non-commercial user.
Educational access are managed by a separate non-profit corporation.
We operate a PEG channel on a 5200 subscriber system serving 9 municipalities. The operation is overseen by an appointed committee. 2 appointees from each participating municipality. Presently there are 3 municipalities participating (and providing funding)

I work for the local school district and the ability to do public relations by showing academic, sporting, and cultural events on a delayed basis is enormous. Also getting early school closing and calendar change items to the general public is quite important to us.

Public information. Since we have no local paper and little if any network coverage, our channel allows the community to learn about their local government as well as obtain community news.

We maintain the most current information of Council and committee meetings on a calendar, names and numbers of city staff and Council and upcoming events in the community, plus last minute changes due to weather or extenuating circumstances.

As far as government is concerned it is a great way to keep citizens informed on everything form taxes to changes in garbage pick-up. Public access provides a means for other people and community organizations to get messages out to our residents.

Ability to show local programs

The first access channel of ten years ago has benefited all parties. The community has gained access to the City Council meetings and this year have begun to have access to the school board as well. They have also been given "front row seating" at any community forum and some school or community presentations. We provide either live or tape delayed broadcast of many functions around the community. The university has gained a training ground for students who work alongside community producers to create these productions. The university and the City have shared the expense of operation and contribute about half of the equipment necessary so each has more than the individual would be able to provide. The university provides maintenance and operational support.

Allows the City ability to communicate directly with citizens about City Government.

BCTV has high quality productions of community events and studio programs that reflect the interests of people in our area.

Empowering the community by providing a platform that creates dialogue. Many local nonprofits use our channel to promote their service and events. Many local residents and community organizations use the channel to share their message with their community. Having our own channel has been important to us so we may build a brand in the community and really focus on our mission, and be able to build that focus into our channel. Trying to share the channel would create confusion in the community and not provide us with an opportunity to "focus" our programming and services in the specific direction of our mission. People know they tune into our channel for local programming and they are not confused with a mix of programming. Imagine the Discovery Channel trying to share with the History Channel.. what a nightmare.

Positive community relations conducive to long-term relationship.

We were formed to help TCI with their public access and then the city turned it over to us. We were formed solely to operate community media.

For the government channel, it's having a place to air their council meetings to keep residents informed. For public access, it's having a way to get our message out. Of course that message usually comes from the producer, not the staff. I guess you could say we have a built in way to promote ourselves and our own activities, but if we didn't have the channel we wouldn't have a need to promote ourselves. Really, I think it's more important to consider what the benefit to the community is rather than what the benefit to you is. Because, if people see how it benefits them and the community, they will take an interest and in turn it will benefit you.

Government access programming has expanded over the past few years. Having two dedicated channels allows one (Channel 16) to be all meetings, all the time. Government TV2 is government and community affairs programming 24-7. Two channels enables targeting of programming onto separate channels.

With our own channel we are able to schedule government programming without being in competition with other community programs. We can also be timely with live meeting coverage and flexible in adding press conferences and other news oriented programs into our schedule on short notice.

The government entities can deliver service-based information and data directly to the citizens without the editorializing of private sources such as newspaper, corporate television and independent radio. The information displayed on the channel can support each participating city/county department or agency in its marketing efforts; from parks and recreation programs to health department notices and bulletins, from utilities department updates on water use/abuse within the area to law enforcement data on local criminal activities and crime prevention tips for citizens and homeowners.

The channels are managed on behalf of the community so the benefit to us (the managing organization) is irrelevant since we exist only to make the channels available for the community. So...see next question.

There is no benefit to us having our own channel.... We operate for the benefit of the community.

We run it entirely without interference by the cable company.

The unity of our small community and the ability of its service organizations to get their messages across it the most important item.
Having the most current information available to the residents from the city.
Public access provides a means for other people and community organizations to get messages out to our residents.
Access channels and operations are created to provide information, education and entertainment to a community, by the community and for it's own benefit. The station carries live school committee meetings, Selectmen's meetings and Town Meetings by agreement. Our mandate is to provide the resources, training and equipment for our residents to create their own programming. Public Affairs talk shows, historical programs, cooking shows, music, school concerts and football games, etc.
Our community has the ability to communicate via TV. "G" = Coverage of local meetings, promotion of city events ond issues (water, land use, public art projects, etc.) Access to civic related information not available on commercial TV. Use of channel for training of public safety personnel while maintaining neighborhood coverage (firehouses, etc.); "E" = Meetings; showcases of student works, teacher training through TV, use of media literacy as an educational tool and access to lifelong learning programs (telecourses and other) not available commercially; "P" = Over 50% of our public access users are nonprofit organizations. Allows communication with the public, showcase of activities, etc. Channel supports independent producers, strong youth production services (training, community services, etc.); provides a forum for discussion and debate of issues, provides a mechanism to document community events and local history.
Expand civic awareness
Mutually beneficial to city staff, elected officials, and the community.
Public access is for the community and is a place where the citizens can voice their opinions and be creative in the arts.
Extremely grassroots-active/rural/well-educated countywide community of 235,000 pop. Government access, in particular, may be unrivaled in scope and depth -- county access channel, along with individual 'breakout' channels for local communities throughout the county. Allows cable-casting of programs of countywide interest or local interest, respectively. Live and extended replays. Well received by government officials (almost all initially wary and skeptical) and citizens alike.
The benefits are numerous: keeping residents informed with local and relevant information, an free outlet for residents to be able to express themselves through the media (creativity, freedom of speech), free advertising for local non-profit
organizations, focus on local issues that the bigger media outlets generally ignore, ability to cover topics not talked about elsewhere. Some stations are becoming media centers, one stop media outlets, with access to TV production, radio, and the Internet. In theory, a producer could sit down at one computer with their footage and: edit their program, add special graphics and effects, create a advertisement for the their show designed for the electronic bulletin board, for print and for a poster, and output that program to tape, to CD-ROM , and to the Internet. The possibilities are truly endless. We offer free production classes and free access to equipment. Not all stations are able to afford to offer this free, but it's wonderful if you can.
Providing access to government affairs is an important role for local government. Many do not have the time or ability to attend public meetings, but have a keen interest in knowing what is being represented by all sides. We receive frequent comments about the valuable role our operation plays in better informing the citizens of our community.
It is a free speech/free expression check & balance against the monopoly held by the cable franchise holder.
Citizens know where to look for government programs.
The Government/Education Access Channel takes its message directly into the homes of the community for them to view when as how they see fit. It can offer citizens the ability to attend a city council or county commission meeting without having to take a day off from work. It allows them the opportunity to view government or education programming, on a local basis, at their leisure and on their time table. The channel gives the citizen another opportunity to stay involved with the government and school systems that serve THEM.
Same reason -- we operate it. The cable company has little chance to cause us grief like other systems have to put up with. We call the shots and schedule programming the way WE want it.

We have no start up cost since the cable company was/is required to maintain the channel under the franchise agreement. The local school district furnishes equipment and employee time to do the message board and schedule local programming.
Public access was started with a donated $700 graphics generator an a $300 VCR to play back tapes, but it grew from there. Currently we have about $200,000 in equipment, not including a studio space which is shared with the school district. P & G are funded through franchise fees, and "access support" from the cable company. The school district funds there own teacher & media education curriculum that programs the E channel as a by-product of the curriculum.
The costs of equipment and facilities during startup were approximately 1.5 million and paid for the studios, editing rooms, portable equipment, playback facilities and remote broadcast sites. The cable company paid for all costs in exchange for the privilege of doing business in our town. It was negotiated during the initial Cable Agreement with the Town.
Start-up funds were obtained through the cable franchise process. We spent approximately $500,000 on start-up equipment. Another $400,000 was spent by the school district/City to renovate and build space.
$100,000 Station was originally set-up and run by cable company
$100,000 capital outlay to start up. Some funding from a PacBell grant, the rest from the general fund.
Our present access channel is capable of many activities including its own four-camera production truck. We have about $200,000 invested in the facility between all of the involved parties. Our present scheme for providing material on the new PEG channels will consist of a high quality character generator which will cost between $8000 and $12,000. This is so the material can be presented in an attractive and viewable manner. We would add the ability to rebroadcast previously taped materials which would entail a commercial quality SVHS VCR at about $600 with editing coming from the present access channel system.
$350,000 - capital grant from franchisee at the time
We began in 1982 and we were originally owned by the cable operator and run by the cable operator so they set up the infrastructure. They put 2% of FF revenue into the operation and had a staff of about 8. This included LO and P. In 1989, we went nonprofit. The cable operator gave the City a $750,000 grant to be used for the nonprofit. The grant stays in the City's portfolio and we earn the interest (about $42,000 a year at today's rates). The City agreed in 1989 to give us 70% of the FF revenue they would get from the cable operator. This money would run P, LO and G. This set-up remains today. The cable operator also agreed to a yearly payment of $90,000. Today that number is $125,000 yearly. In 1996 when the City renegotiated the Franchise agreement, the City gave us a one-time $300,000 equipment grant (derived from moneys received from cable operator for noncompliance). In 1989, cable operator also agreed to sell ALL production equipment to nonprofit for $100 once it was full amortized.
We received start up equipment funding from TCI and from the city. We receive 80K per year from pass through funds from the cable subsribers in the city. The balance of money is raised through small fees.
None of 5% franchise fees go to PEG, which has made funding problematical. To date, lion's of share funding and infrastructure has been through cable company. $200,000 in equipment and one full-time public access manager. Seeking cooperative funding from county. Individual cities and agencies contract for services separately.
In 1986, when the franchise agreement was established, $200,000 was set for capital start-up costs, plus a studio, porta-pak equipment, a van, and staff (2FT, 4PT) was included. For the 15 year life of the agreement, annual contributions have been made that have totaled $750,000.
Started in 1984, equipment was donated by local cable operators. Cable Franchise fees have subsequently funded capital acquisitions and operating costs. 1996 franchise renewals included a "capital equipment grant" clause, generating funds of $260K yearly for 5 years.
The channels were fired up in the early '80's with a hardware grant of about $750,000 paid over 15 years by the company awarded the cable franchise. In addition they paid a 5% of residential subscriptions franchise fee for the operations budget.
We have been in operation for over 15 years and have made a number of changes over that period of time and have updated equipment. Each situation is unique and should be based on the needs of that community. We have a 5 camera robotic-controlled set up in our council chambers a non-linear editing suite, an analog suite, beta cam field units and are moving toward digital field cameras. We also have a small studio where we can accommodate up to four people for interview and talk show formats. Our funding for capital and operating costs comes from our franchise fees.
$225K - original startup monies from cable company per franchise agreement. Of that, $70K went toward initial organizational structuring and setup of the channel operation; the remainder went toward new equipment purchases and set design construction. An additional $125K will be received 6 years into the 10 year franchise agreement; it will be used only for new equipment or replacement/updating of current equipment. After the initial startup, no franchise monies were used to cover annual budgetary expenses. The channel began with an annual budget of $64K. Four years later, the budget for the upcoming year will be around $95K. Normal increases in salaries, service costs, and the expansion of one part time position to a full time position reflect the budgetary growth. As the channel contemplates the airing of city/county public meetings for live and cablecast distribution, the budget will grow significantly to cover that venture. The channel is does not solicit monies or conduct fundraisers. It is funded in whole by the city/county budgets and the franchise agreement payments from the cable company.
Six years ago, we got started with about $30-40,000. It got us some pretty basic stuff that we've added to over the years. We got 2 single-chip studio cameras, an SVHS camcorder, video and audio switcher, monitors,
microphones, SVHS tape decks, a cuts-only edit system, and a bulletin board system. I wouldn't want to go back and try it again for that price. I single-handedly unpacked and installed every piece of equipment we have to date. I did plenty of "home brew" solutions to save money. I'd hate to guess the number of hours I've spent doing this over the past 6 years. To get something decent, I'd budget anywhere from $75,000 to $200,000 for equipment alone - depending on your needs. Then there's the building
to consider.

No costs other than cleaning the VCR's which the school district does as part of its standard budget.
General budget
Operating budget of $150,000 funded entirely by franchise fees, "access support," donations, and miscellaneous revenue.
As most Massachusetts communities, the Town receives 5% of the cable company's gross operating revenues. This year wsa 206,000. 100% of that money is returned to provide revenues to fund the access operations. That % shows up on residents cable bills as a "Franchise Fee"
Costs for PE&G run approximately $600,000 per year. That includes extensive training opportunities, management (24/7) of four on-air channels, government production services, specialized youth services, community even coverage. We have a staff of 14. The I-Net runs an additional $100,000. Services are paid for largely by franchise fee portion. Additionally, we have grants that fund
small projects and the I-Net is paid for separately by the using institutions.
2001-2002 budget $112,000 Franchise fees, donations tape sales, sponsors, classes and fund raisers.
$180,000 from the general fund plus "EG" fees from cable franchises. Five percent franchise fee goes into the general fund.
Funds are raised by taxing the cable subscribers through the FCC's permitted franchise management fee that can be charged by the city. There are no outside funding sources used.
$250,000/yr. We receive a % of the total franchise fees collected by the City Annual operating costs approx. $600,000. Most of that from cable operator. Some from contract agreement described in #1. A small amount from charges for services (dubbing, etc.)
FY 01/02 budget = $820,000 for 5 channels (3 P and 2 g's).
Our annual budget is 121K
Estimate $85,000 year for staff ($30,000); production ($55,000)
The total PEG operating budget is $500,000. Public access makes up $200,000 of that. Our budget is part of the city's budget.
Annual budget is now $525K, funded solely by cable franchise fees. NOT supported by tax revenues.
The combined costs for the P and G channels are about $500,000 per annum paid from the franchise fees, until last year, when the city decided to make it a budget line item.
Our operating costs are paid for by our franchise fees. Our 2001 budget for production is roughly $300,000.

It was given to us. The most difficult challenge is that the channel we were given sits under two very powerful VHF transmitters for over the air and they tend to bleed into the signal if the cable company is not on the ball.
Convincing government to utilize the Govt. channel & telecast their meetings.
The initial franchise negotiations were difficult and long. But the City leaders held strong and were able to come out with a strong agreement. Additionally, the cable company has had to be pushed to complete connections in a timely manner, i.e., the connection form access headend to the cable headend). Overall, not a terribly difficult process due to the strong agreement and support by the City.
We have rugged topography in our city and had to setup a microwave link to reach some citizens.
Building a facility - hired professionals, went to NAB, got info from fellow TV professionals
Not getting on the air, but keeping on the air and getting funding - Low quality and content that the community is not interested in and controversial programming. Edified community and City Hall with meetings, newspaper articles and real people telling real stories.
Funding! Unlike East Coast model, many West Coast agencies tend to reserve entire 5% franchise fee for general funds, which can leave PEG orphaned. This cable company and its partners -- from nonprofit, education and private sectors -- have taken a 'build it and the funding will come' approach. Partnering production company, in particular, has been a passionate proponent of government access television and dynamic change agent.
We started up in 1986, so for us, we would have to re-word the question and deal with the problems we face during franchise agreement renewal. I would say the biggest problem we face is proving our worth and relevancy to the community. We are currently going through the renewal process right now and we put together a report that tries to show our worth to the community. I've attached it as an RTF file. If you have any problems reading it, let me know.
In terms of staff issues, I would say communication. With a largely part-time staff, it's difficult to get everybody together at one time for staff meetings, so I have to rely on memos and individual meetings with staff to get everything accomplish. In larger terms, we have had a real problem with declining usage. Several years ago, our studio was in use over 80% of its available time, but this last year, we dipped down to less than 60% usage. We have also had a drop in class enrollment, too. We are trying to encourage non-profit groups and churches to come and take classes. We are also in the process of upgrading our equipment and offer different classes to encourage people to come. Considering that for less than a couple of grand, people can go out and buy a high-quality camcorder and computer editing software, it's difficult to show why residents should use us. It's one of our great challenges. The amount of programming we get hasn't gone down much, it's just that producers are shooting and editing elsewhere and bringing the shows to us.
I was not present during start-up of our operation. Likely challenges were getting clunky donated equipment to work properly, need for human playback operator (now automated with a Leightronix Pro-16).
Politics and the territoriality of the powers that be created the biggest challenge, which was overcome by diplomacy and persistence.
Making sure programs are played back on time according to the schedule and that the technical playback quality is as good as the production quality. We are going to be assuming control of playback in January 2002 and will move to an all digital system.
The learning curve of channel staff on the operating software and hardware that ran the on-air signal. We worked long hours for over 3 months, entering data, formatting pages, creating graphic images, organizing schedules to run the data in the manner we required, gathering video data for inclusion in monthly video programs for airing. By taking the time to ensure a quality image was being created and that the software and hardware we had chosen was performing as designed, we went on the air with the quality signal that we wanted and have been able to maintain and expand that level of quality without sacrifice. If you think running a quality operation is easy, you are right! But, you must start higher than the norm and keep going. That takes time and manpower. The TV channel is an "image thing." Not everyone thinks it is necessary to have... until they are scheduled to be on, then it's very important that they "LOOK GOOD"... Looking good does not come with a $500 video camera and a character generator with white text on a blue background. But it doesn't have to cost a proverbial "arm and leg" either.
Getting the cable company to cooperate. There was an 8 year battle, complete with tons of bad press. We finally won when two of the franchise authorities stood behind our group and demanded that the nonsense stop. They went directly to corporate offices and bypassed the regional manager who was our primary problem.

Computers! Video people who are trained in video now have to deal with computers in almost every aspect of production. We are not "computer people." But computer people are not video people either.
Providing ample time for teaching, tutorials, seminars, etc. for train our residents in equipment use and legal challenges.
Keeping users of many different levels of competency and a wide variety of needs feeling supported and successful. We approach this from a social service type model which uses a mentor system. This provides a personal connection and guide. It also keeps folks honest since no one is using the media center in an anonymous way. It also helps use most efficiently manage our resources to meet diverse community needs.
Current funding, manager works almost full time fund raising.
Staying creative. By keeping staff stimulated and energetic through new and unique approaches to programming.
The biggest problem is dealing with the community producers getting them to take their role seriously and dealing with the government agencies who believe help is only a phone call away. We have a half time person managing the operation and he is not always available.
Keeping up with all the events and projects that the City is involved in that we end up covering and videotaping - careful scheduling and internal communication
Matching staff resources to programming demands.
Handling public access demands -- ensuring smooth scheduling.
Dealing with amateur talent and production volunteers, which is overcome by diplomacy and persistence.
Making sure we have enough staff to perform all the activities we need to perform, especially on meeting days when staff is involved in meeting coverage.
The problem: keeping information providers from various departments on pace about the timeliness of reporting data to the channel for airing purposes. We are not a major news station. We don't do hourly news, or daily news. We do long-form news, information and reporting... we run data for 2 weeks or more, sometimes a month or longer depending on the subject. Therefore, we need the original data early enough to give us time to get it formatted and scheduled for air. It takes time and manpower. I serve two government entities that serve a population of 150K residents. Police, Sheriff, Fire, Public Utilities, Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Health, etc. I serve both a city and county public school system with over 50 school locations, elementary/middle/high and administrations.
Solution: I setup a timetable for the delivery of data, images and information to the channel from the various departments and sources. For example: Day 1 through 14 - final product airs for a 2-week period then goes off by schedule (event happens on day 14, data off on day 15). Two weeks prior to Day 1 - information due to channel operations. Gives me 2 weeks to complete action before Day 1 air. Sometimes I don't have anything holding, other times I'm booked solid. If I receive data within the "2 week rule" it may or may not get on air depending on the work load and priority at the time. There are specific exceptions; however, the 3-person team knows that late data forces me to drop other work to make this action happen. Therefore, we work to keep the "exceptions" to a minimum.
Two problems: (a) lack of volunteers. We have not overcome the problem yet, but hope that by our school offering "Video Production" next year, it will help. Our studio relocated to the new school in November; (b) lack of funds. We really need to pay some people.

We receive complements from the elderly in the community for our programming showing their grand children. Also when we have to let out school early the local people are quite happy to have the information as soon as the decision is made.
Asking for public input on an upcoming annexation discussion including where to find additional information (traffic studies/utility studies) and broadcast of the town meeting date.

Every town that has started cable-casting local government meetings live has the same story: During a live meeting a City Council member or the Mayor has a question or says something that is not true (or need clarification) a viewer who knows answer rushes over to City Hall to address the issue. It has happened here several times in the 2 years City Council meetings have been telecast live.

This past weekend we carried the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life for the entire 19 hours. We are the primary source of info for many residents.... government meeting coverage, live election results, high school sports, etc.

Through use of media center resources, a camera (and operator) was present at all neighborhood meetings for a review of our City's general plan. Highlights from these meetings were shown on the "G" channel frequently. This has increased citizen awareness and involvement in this process and increased the perception that out local government is working with the community to develop the plan. Another example involves a teacher who teaches English as a second language and Spanish for native Spanish speaking students. Course assignments include presentations at the media center which are then shown on the "E" channel. This has immensely increased parental involvement in the students' education. Many of these are "at-risk" students and families who traditionally feel isolated from the schools due to language barriers. Now parents know what their students are doing and this, combined with the technical tools have proven to be very motivating to the students. Finally, our Youth production team (public access) are putting a positive light on youth activities including youth in service as volunteers. The attention is motivating to the students. Our students have won awards for their anti-teen smoking PSAs.

One program we show is local graduations and every year we receive several
letters from home bound parents of elderly relatives that are able to see a
loved one graduate.

The channel has allowed the city to keep citizens informed of major developments in fighting a developer in the area. Support has been fantastic due to the continual community outreach that the channel allows.

We've found the community government programs the most watched and most boring. If we miss or have technical problems with a city council meeting we get a lot of phone calls about it.

Regular campaigns on health and safety issues - several years ago we used the channel to help communicate re: a Hepatitis A outbreak.

Cable company (I am an independent consultant, not directly affiliated with company) has demonstrated a "best practices" approach in its commitment to PEG access for connecting community. See much bashing of cable companies (often justified, to be sure); see no examples of 'best practices' as exhibited here.

Recently the Library Board was considering a tax increase to fund expansion plans. Due to public awareness via our meeting coverage, the tax increase was shelved in favor of other funding schemes. One City-County Councilor told me our coverage saved the community many millions of dollars. We also played a key role in assisting the Mayor's staff to educate the public about the need to update the city's antiquated sewer system-- an unglamorous but important need.

We produce about 400 shows a year that benefit the community on a multitude of levels. One success story is in lowering the number of animals put to death by the local pound because of our pet adoption shows for the humane society.

I don't know that we've changed any lives, but I think we provide a quality and reliable source of information about city government to the public.

The city government was having a very difficult time collecting back taxes and fees on certain commercial and residential properties. Several years had built up and the citizens were not responding to mailings and other contact formats asking for payment. We made an announcement on the TV channel that we were going to run a list of names of persons on the books who owed monies as well as the amounts owed. We ran the announcement 2 weeks before actually running the list of names. On the day the list was scheduled to start, the finance office reported it had collected over $175K in monies owed before we even ran the list. That was 3 years ago. Today, we still run the list of names, but it is significantly shorter than its predecessor. People are paying - the proof is in the revenue column.

The school administration pretty much feels that it was our coverage of school merger meetings that was instrumental in the success of the two districts merging. They felt so strongly about it that room for our new studio space was included in the plans for the new $43 Million building from the very start.

High School Boys Basketball -- This is the Midwest we're BB crazy.
Upcoming meeting dates

City Council meetings, local police news. Without any other news source that is truly local, citizens are very interested in what is going on. Our channels are the only place out of 75 cable channels, a full spectrum of radio stations and a couple local newspapers where local issues are covered exclusively.

Public meetings (Council, Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission, school board) are well watched as folks can be involved and in touch more easily with their community. Classic Arts Network is very popular (imported program) and the descriptive TheaterVision (sponsored by the adult services division of our Library) is considered an excellent service to our seniors and folks with visual impairment. Also popular are our community event programs.

High School sports, local news, and public meetings

City council is our most popular show. Of non-meeting programming, "Teen Forum" and "Storytime" are our most popular. They target a specific audience that enjoy the subject matter.

No scientific surveys or other means of learning what people watch. Each community producer is sure that his/her own program is very popular, and seems to have anecdotal evidence to support that. When we have had to make changes to our line up and we moved some shows that we thought wouldn't be missed or noticed, we've been surprised at the number of calls we got from viewers wanting their "favorite" program back in its usual spot!

News programming and local sports. News provides current information and sports is watched because so many friends and families know people who play or families connected to people who play.

Our daily live community talk show. Popularity comes from the community's involvement.

Of the PEG components, it is the government access that has taken wing here. Not merely coverage of the staples -- Board of Supervisors, City Councils, etc. -- but, in some cities, coverage of ALL city meetings.
Usually shown live, and then regularly re-cablecast, with tapes available at county libraries at no charge. Has included federal and regional meetings that have local significance -- NRC, California Coast Commission, California Energy Commission, etc.

On the access channel, the most popular programming is almost anything having to do with kids, i.e. youth sports, plays and concerts, graduations, etc. The school board meeting is fairly well-watched and the 4th of July Parade is very popular. For government channel, the city council meetings and other commission meetings are well-watched.

We just covered the 2001 World Police and Fire Games extensively, providing the most coverage of any local media outlet. Proved to be very popular, with many. restaurants and bars tuning in. On a regular basis, City-County Council meetings are probably the most frequently viewed.

Our most popular shows have been: (a) City Council Meetings, because they relate to local power, (b) High School Football Games, because parents love to watch their kids, (c) "Livia Live", a live comedy call-in show on sexual issues; (d) "Around Midnight," a live comedy call-in show about young adult issues.

We haven't performed a survey for a few years, so I have no data to support an answer to this question. I do know our council meetings are regularly watched and get anecdotal feedback on other series shows we produce on a monthly basis.

Either our bi-weekly City Council meetings or our monthly feature news program - City Beat. People want information about how their City is being governed.

It is a combination of two formats. The Bulletin Board images that run 24/7 and the local video programs that we produce and air each month on various departments and topics. Human interest shows grab the largest block of viewers. The BB info on Parks and Recreation programs for youth, adults and seniors is a big draw. Job listings from our HR department are huge favorites. Police Probation and Bench Warrant lists really get the phones ringing as people call in on someone they might have seen. And the county Juror list is paying big dividends to the court system. They say they're getting an overwhelming response to our TV listing long before the newspaper version even hits the streets.

Our longest running show is most likely the most watched. A live, call-in senior citizens program. We've done somewhere around 300 "episodes" of this particular program. Other than that, they like parades, school concerts, high school sports and local documentaries. We have a little imported programming, but focus on local stuff.

Additional Reports:

WCTV Report