WCCA funding referred to Public Works subcommittee
Submitted by wccatv on September 23, 2008 - 7:39pm.
in
Worcester Magazine is reporting that the City Council has referred the City Manager's proposed 8% WCCA funding cut to the Public Works subcommittee. Update: T&G article. The relevant section:
In other business, the City Council referred to its Public Service and Transportation Committee the city manager’s plan to change in the way the city divvies up cable television revenues for the three so-called PEG channels — public access, education and government. Under the manager’s plan, WCCA-TV, the city’s public access channel, would receive a smaller percentage of the cable revenue pie in 2009. Its funding for 2010-2012 is not set in stone and will be based on identified needs and measured performance of each of the three PEG channels. Mr. Rushton said one of his major concerns is that WCCA officials did not appear to have any direct communications with the city manager regarding the new policy. He said the people running WCCA should have been more actively involved in the negotiations. Mauro DePasquale, executive director of WCCA, told the City Council that local public access television will encounter hardships with the change in the funding formula. He said the manager’s plan does not offer WCCA any financial stability because the city’s financial commitment appears uncertain. “The bigger issue we are now facing is uncertainty of the future,” Mr. DePasquale said.
- 532 reads
Worcesteria provides another view on line of all the fun
You have the link in the above story. Scott Zoback does a great job blogging these meetings. WCCA's Mike will soon, if not already, have the video clip up for all to enjoy.
WCCA's Frank did the remote shot , as we do everything, At NO cost to the city or the government channel, or to the tax payer. So you can get a real view of the event. I wonder why the gov channel can shot a committee meeting at no cost to WCCA?
This is about control over a charity that facilitates a free speech platform and it is about taking funds away from WCCA ( the people's channel) so that they can tape more committee exciting committee meetings.
Scott covers some of it here.
8:14: Item referred to Public Works subcommittee.
8:09: Mauro DePasquale from WCCA: “WCCA is going to partner with the city, no matter what.” That said, “We will be financially hurting.” And while projections are great, DePasquale points out the Verizon crews laying fiber optics around the city, speculating that Charter might have some competition — and lower revenues — down the road.
8:08: Haller says “WCCA has my full support,” and says she wants to take a close look at the contract to make sure it allows the station to continue their mission.
8:03: O’Brien’s counter: out of a $500,000 capital fund coming from Charter over the five-year contract, $300,000 will be going to WCCA. And, he reiterates, they expect a $50,000 increase from current money for WCCA in year one(status quo) and a $10,000 increase from the current level in the years following.
7:58: As Rosen points out, WCCA is taping this meeting. He thinks that the station should either get more money, or be level funded, not decreased. Reading through the report, he proclaims he doesn’t like the “pitting” of WCCA vs. government, and calls it “ironic” that the government station needs new cameras and equipment. “How ironic, so does WCCA.”
7:56: Rushton is asking that it go to subcommittee, and is expressing concerns raised by WCCA head Mauro DePasquale that there has been little communication between the station and the City Manager during the allocation decision process.
7:51: Taking the PEG cable funding item out-of-order. O’Brien says they’ve taken a “fresh look” at public, educational, and government stations, and the work they do. Right now, the 5% franchise fee paid by Charter is divided into 60% for WCCA(public)-20% for government and 20% for education.
So, what now: 60-20-20 is being maintained right now; O’Brien says Charter revenues are up, so more money will go to WCCA.
Going forward, WCCA will get 55, while the government station gets 25 and educational gets 20. O’Brien says there will still be as much as $10,000 more annually for WCCA, based on revenue projections.
The added funds to government will allow for more remote broadcasts, broadcasting from the second City Hall chamber when it opens, and added activities.
Post new comment