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from: Pioneer Press

Proposed law could add cable choices but doom local programs
Congress aims to cut cable TV bills

BY MEGGEN LINDSAY and JASON HOPPIN
Pioneer Press

Watching your kids' sports games on television and tuning in to your local city council meeting could become a practice of the past.

Twin Cities leaders warn that legislation wending through Congress guts funding for public access television and undermines local control of the most parochial of news outlets.

The House of Representatives passed a version of the bill late Thursday, and the Senate could vote on a similar provision later this month. The biggest telecommunications legislation in a decade, the proposal would open the way for telephone companies to more easily enter the subscription television market.

If it is signed into federal law, metro cable commissions say they no longer would receive enough money from cable television providers to deliver local programming and public access shows.

Underpinning the controversy is the concept of public access TV as a right, as part of the promise of cable television, particularly for disenfranchised and underrepresented populations.

"This (legislation) would do great harm to local communities and to the very concept of community," Eagan spokesman Tom Garrison said. "The impact especially would be felt in Minnesota, which has a prolific history of public-access television."

Local officials have written council resolutions and launched letter-writing campaigns to area lawmakers. Aimed at spurring competition, the legislation would create a national system of video franchises in an effort to give consumers more choices among cable TV providers.

Nontraditional cable pro-viders — such as telephone companies — are eager to crack the cable business through broadband services, and local cable franchises usually compete only with satellite cable providers such as the Dish Network.

But Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich, who heads the House telecommunications subcommittee, estimated that people could save $30 to $40 each month if given a choice of video services. Many Democrats, however, have said the measure did too little to ensure broadband services would be extended to lower-income and rural areas.

Opponents of the proposal are unhappy because national franchises could void the local cable contracts through which public, educational and government programming is produced, according to community cable organizations. Under those contracts, local commissions negotiate who gets cable, funding for public programming and how a cable fiber network is deployed.

Local cable commissions also worry about what they have labeled the "cherry-picking" factor, by which cable operators could compete to serve wealthy neighborhoods and skip over poorer areas.

"My prediction is that the bills are so bad for many Twin Cities operations that the operations will just cease in many of those communities," said Mike Wassenaar, executive director of the St. Paul Neighborhood Network.

SERVING NICHE AUDIENCES

Beyond government meetings and public safety announcements, local community channels also broadcast religious and political shows and community events such as graduations, proms and parades. They also produce programs for underrepresented segments of the population. Minneapolis, for instance, broadcasts seven weekly shows in the Somali language. Pramod Mathur, of Eagan, has broadcast a South Asian show, Chai City, as a hobby for five years on three public-access stations. Mathur and his wife produce 13 episodes each year as an Indian news magazine, featuring local chefs, artists and performers.

They have followed the federal debate with apprehension. "We've been able to do this show because there was this outlet and opportunity," he said. "We couldn't do this on a network.

"(These channels) provide an opportunity for the underserved. To me, it's not about entertainment as much as it is about democracy." Broadcasts like the Mathurses' are typically funded through fees negotiated with a cable operator. In St. Paul, for instance, the city gets 5 percent of Comcast's gross cable TV revenues and roughly $1 million in additional so-called PEG (public, educational and governmental) fees and other benefits.

It's those PEG dollars that will be radically cut in the metro area, where local cable commissions had negotiated favorable agreements with the cable companies. For some other cities across the country, the new funding formula would be a boon, however.

Wassenaar predicted an annual drop in St. Paul from $1 million to $361,000 and said the impact could reverberate even more in the suburbs, where cable revenue is not as high.

The Burnsville Eagan Telecommunications Commission said it's looking at losing a third of its funding, from $648,000 to $423,000.

The North Suburban Access Corp. — which represents 10 member cities, including Roseville, Mounds View and Shoreview — is facing a revenue loss of 80 percent, or nearly $1 million annually.

The nonprofit organization's volunteer coordinator, Lori Pulkrabek, said there are about 350 people in the north suburbs producing their own shows or helping on another.

"The cuts being discussed would dramatically change who we are and what we are able to do. We are the local, local outlet."

LOCAL CONTROL

For those involved in community programming, the concern revolves around local control.

Under the current bills, the Federal Communications Commission would administer national franchises, which means local commissions could lose the ability to negotiate their contract agreements. Community cable producers believe customer complaints would be taken out of local hands.

"Currently if there's an issue, people just come to our group to get whatever resolved. Whereas, under the proposal now, citizens would have to go before the FCC, which is just ridiculous," Pulkrabek said.

House Committee on Energy and Commerce spokesman Terry Lane said complaints would still be handled through local authorities, however.

Although St. Paul's franchise agreement with Comcast runs through 2013, observers believe the contract would be void once competition is introduced to the St. Paul market if the legislation became law.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Tex., wrote the House version of the bill. The Senate will consider similar legislation sponsored by Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Lane defended the bill, saying that having to negotiate individual service contracts across the nation is a barrier to competition.

"The issue was the actual negotiations themselves," Lane said. "We think there's as many as 34,000 franchises across the country, and that's an enormous negotiating task" for the cable companies. Wassenaar dismisses that criticism, saying the ability to sit down with a cable provider benefits communities.

So why is the government doing it?

"The first thing that we're talking about on this is cheaper cable TV," Lane said. "That is essentially what the motivator is, the carrot."

Meggen Lindsay can be reached at mlindsay@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5260.

Jason Hoppin can be reached at jhoppin@pioneerpress.com or 651-292-1892.

what might be at stake

Here's a sampling of local cable access shows in the Twin Cities that could lose funding if legislation passes:

"Totally Scrabble Tuesdays": Minneapolis Television Network, Channel 17, 11 p.m. Tuesdays. Viewers call in to play against Hamil Griffin-Cassidy in his weekly game of Scrabble.

"Inside Insight": Ramsey/Washington Counties Suburban Cable Commission, Channel 15, 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Bob Zick hosts a controversial public affairs program that often takes aim at Maplewood City Hall.

"Viva and Jerry's Country Music Videos": Minneapolis Television Network, Channel 17, 9 p.m. Wednesdays and Channel 6 metrowide, 11 p.m. Saturdays. Viva and Jerry Pearson's long-running variety show features hand puppets, country music tunes and camcorder interviews.

"The Corn Lady Show": Suburban Community Channels, Channel 19. In production now, no reruns on air. The corny broadcast is devoted to Minnesota's favorite yellow crop.

"Sports Rapp": St. Paul Neighborhood Network, Channel 19, 10 a.m., 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. Monday through Friday; 11 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Host Kwame McDonald talks sports every week, often with guests.

Definitions

Video franchise: A cable company's agreement to provide cable services to a fixed geographic area, such as St. Paul.

Public access TV: A channel or group of channels available only to those living in the fixed geographic area of a video franchise.

Community cable commissions: Groups funded through PEG fees that produce and air the shows on local access TV.