PEG

Bunnie speaks up righteously for PEG

Scroll her blog and look for " YES, I Mean You "

My comment:
I am sure there are some who are very sincere about media reform, and perhaps we in the Public Access community need to be more proactive in asserting our voice in this movement. However, if the "Media Reform Movement" does not take a much stronger stance in support of Public Access, and to recognize it as a corner stone of electronic democratic media then they will continue to look hypocritical and self serving. In this electronic media age, after radio, PEG has evolved to be one of the first democratic, participatory, community media ,"reform" movements in the country.

Thanks to the Rob McCausland of the ACM for forwarding this to us.
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET HEARING ENTITLED, "PUBLIC EDUCATION, AND GOVERNMENTAL (PEG) SERVICES IN THE DIGITAL TV AGE"

link

Note: Congressmen/women discuss how PEG access is now providing important local coverage that NO ONE else is providing.

C-SPAN COPYRIGHT POLICY

C-SPAN holds the exclusive copyright in the video of all the public affairs programming it produces.

Although C-SPAN is the only news media organization that regularly televises the legislative proceedings of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, it does not hold a copyright in that video coverage. That government-produced video is in the public domain which means that it belongs to the American people and may be used without restrictions of any kind.

As part of its mission to make the activities of the federal government more broadly available, C-SPAN has established a copyright policy that allows the public to use C-SPAN's video coverage of federal government events for their own purposes. Those who want to use C-SPAN copyrighted video will be able to do so without concern about further copyright restrictions as long as they adhere to the following policy:

# C-SPAN permits non-commercial use of its video coverage of federal government-sponsored events so long as C-SPAN is identified during the use as the source of the video.

# Keeping a "C-SPAN" logo on the screen during the use is sufficient to identify C-SPAN as the source.

# This generally unrestrictive policy regarding non-commercial use does not apply to (i) original programs created by C-SPAN, (ii) video coverage of privately sponsored events, and (iii) video coverage of other events not sponsored by the federal government.

# C-SPAN does not permit unlicensed commercial use of any of its video programming regardless of whether the use cites C-SPAN as the source of the video. Commercial uses of C-SPAN video may be permitted under an individually negotiated license for which a license fee may be due. [See Licensing and Permissions Requests]

# Nothing in this copyright policy is intended to affect any person's right to make a "fair use" of C-SPAN video programming.

This coming Tuesday two city councilors are asking the city manager to consider a short term franchise with Charter. We understand and appreciate the frustrations many have with Charter. However, the city may be making a mistake of shooting itself in the foot in this situation. If telecom companies are successful in eliminating municipal franchise authority by lobbying Fed and stte legislators, the city will loose all current franchise benefits (including WCCA and ch 11 and 12, as soon as the franchise term expires. I strongly suggest some sort of "most favored nation clause" or other legal protection to ensure Charter, or whoever the video over cable/broadband provider, will comply to meet the city's franchise needs. Franchise term is better to long and in deep. A short term franchise agreement may be the worst thing this city can do for it's communities. It may be the last chance to continue benefits of a franchise license.

On another remote but related note. The following blog sheds interesting light on PEG channels. This is something our city manager, his lawyers and the council should read and consider what is in the balance if the city fails to do the right thing:
Learning to love PEG

I would like to share my comments which I recently submitted in an online discussion about Telecom space.

Public Access centers are much more than the content that comes through them. Telecom space is what it is. Telecom space is space that is controlled by and to serve the interest of the telecom industry.

In my city WCCA TV, our Public Access Center, serves one interest and that is the interest of the people our communities throughout our city.

It is the public access center, particularly the non-profit facilitated access centers that have been the first to really experiment and played a lead role in the development of IP TV and video content driven websites. PEG offers more than packet files of video however. In a Public Access Centers, such as ours, you will find thousands of content producers participating in a community contributing to cable presentations, up and down loading video content, creating community interactive websites, sharing information, conducting workshops and classes, youth media groups, forming outreach partnerships, providing connections for those in need including valuable outreach for millions of non-profits around the nation and so much more. Our Public Access Center, like many others, give back millions of dollars of media, public service to benefit our citizens local economy every year.
The truth is, Public Access centers have been the first to introduce, provide experiential learning opportunities, and promote video applications via the Internet. Furthermore, Public Access centers have introduced and continue to offer, on a daily basis, hands on training, access to media production tools, computers, and personal consulting and assistance to meet the electronic needs of their communities. The result has been a increase of content up and down loading, as well as an increase of interactive media. This deserves to be celebrated as democratic and free speech media/television at its best. Not the static television paradigm that commercial media tends to produce.
It may be true that some examples of cable companies and local governments are seen as stonewalling, or cordoning off public access video presentations. People aren’t aware of the programming because many cable operators refuse to include PEG channels on their program guides. Political whim, ignorance and corruption, and or the failure of local government often play a role in diminishing the capacity of a public access center. Cable companies and government entities rarely, if ever, prioritize public access programming. Most non-profit public access centers however, at the center of their mission, place the public/community voices (content) as a first priority and in addition, work hard to promote it make the public aware of it. Non-profit Public access centers also give control to content producers to post videos online, present their shows on cable. In addition most public access centers provide professional staff assistance to train, and to ensure content producers can reach their vision. Our access center also is the paramount beacon, in our city, to advocate for community voices and free speech electronic platforms. In our city 91% of those surveyed find our public access channel important.
Interest in local content exists because of our public access PEG channels. I suggest that what needs to be done is to increase legislative mandates to further support Public Access channels and to ensure non-profit facilitated centers are encouraged to continue to move forward to carry their missions on all modes of transmission be it fiber, broadband, wireless, satellite, and whatever will next be invented. Perhaps mandates should also be enacted to assure every city and town must carry a fully functional public access center. The one problem we face, at least locally, at the moment, is a city that may fail to include public access on its new telecommunication infrastructure. This challenges us to find ways to reach beyond the limitations of one cable operator. However, in spite of the lack of city or government in this area we do manage to be seen around the world through our stream or download offerings. It is not without difficulty. I imagine that if we, as a funded public access center are financially challenged to maintain such service how would poorer individuals participate at all in a PEG .20 venue without totally free equipment, connection and access? There are many great public access centers. Check out what WCCA TV has been doing to celebrate and enfranchise citizens, engage and share stories, culture and heritage, through locally produced content. I invite you to visit http://www.wccatv.com . Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your support.
Mauro DePasquale, WCCA TV 13, “The People’s Channel”

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