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from: Missourian News

Channels would face funding issues
Bill doesn’t designate revenue for Columbia Access Television, other public channels after 2011

March 20, 2007

By EMILY RISTOW

With approval of the statewide video franchising bill by the Missouri General Assembly, Columbia Access Television and other public, educational and government channels throughout Missouri face a lack of guaranteed funding after Jan. 1, 2012.

The bill passed Thursday, which Gov. Matt Blunt has said he will sign, requires cable providers to go to the Missouri Public Service Commission for a statewide franchise deal instead of negotiating with individual cities and towns as they have done in the past. The bill facilitates the process for telephone companies to provide video services and compete with existing cable providers.

Typically, cable franchise agreements grant access to public rights of way to the cable provider in exchange for a fee paid to the city. Also, they usually guarantee a percentage of the cable company’s revenue to go toward providing public, educational and governmental channels.

Columbia has three PEG channels: the public access channel, Columbia Access Television; the educational channel, which is operated and funded by Columbia Public Schools; and the government access channel.

Unlike statewide video franchising bills passed in other states, Missouri’s version does not designate a percentage of revenue to go toward PEG channels. Instead, the bill guarantees funding for PEG channels only through 2011. After that, there are no stipulations.

City Attorney Fred Boeckmann said the bill will not reduce the franchise fees paid to the city for use of the public rights of way; meaning the city will lose no revenue. But it will have an impact on PEG funding, which has been the subject of negotiations between the city and Mediacom as they discuss a new franchise agreement.

“Public access has been a big part of what we’ve been negotiating,” Boeckmann said, explaining that approval of the state legislation means the city can expect less PEG funding in the franchise agreement than if the bill had failed.

“The bill lessened what we are likely to get,” he said.

Columbia Access Television was given a $92,000 grant for start-up costs and has been operating on a $30,000 annual operating budget from Mediacom while the contract negotiations have been taking place over the past few years.

It depends on a very active base of volunteers who often work jobs that should be paid positions, said Beth Pike, a volunteer at Columbia Access Television and a member of the Columbia Cable Task Force that reviews the city’s proposals for cable franchise agreements and advises the City Council.

Pike testified against the bill at a House hearing because of its original lack of customer service protections and PEG funding.

The Missouri Municipal League also opposed the bill, Executive Director Gary Markenson said. The organization lobbied to have customer service protections added to the bill and to extend guaranteed PEG funding from its original ending date of 2009.

“The bill is much better when it passed than when it was introduced,” Markenson said.

The legislation will have the biggest effect on densely populated urban areas served by AT&T Corp., a major proponent of the bill, Markenson said. AT&T has entered the video service industry with its U-verse service and has worked with legislators in other states to get similar bills passed.

Markenson doesn’t think the effects on Columbia will extend beyond the loss of local cable franchises and PEG funding.

“Is Century-Tel going to provide video services?” Markenson asked about Columbia’s telephone service provider. “I tend to think not.”

Pike said he thinks negotiations for Columbia’s franchise agreements with Mediacom and Charter Communications will be completed before the statewide video franchising bill takes effect.

Randy Hollis, manager of government relations for Mediacom, said that Mediacom is continuing negotiations because the bill probably will not become law until late August.

“Basically at this point we are still working within the federal framework and still continuing our negotiations with the city,” Hollis said.

A new city franchise agreement would provide funding for Cable Access Television until the end of 2011. That leaves less than five years to make a plan for future funding.

“We’re going to have to regroup to figure out how we can survive,” Pike said. “If we can survive.”