Writing

Allowing PEG Access Channels to Work By B. R. Forbes Originally published in the Alliance for Community Media journal Community Media Review, Volume 20, Number 1, 1997. This piece was in response to the article "Making PEG Access Channels Work," by Daniel Brenner, in the same issue. As usual, Dan Brenner of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) and I agree on some points, and disagree on some other points. I offer four points of disagreement. First, we basically disagree as to what local cable operators are buying with their local franchise fees. Mr. Brenner suggests that "operators and subscribers are naturally frustrated when they have to pay for underutilized PEG channels occupying space on a system that could be used to provide programming services available by satellite..." Let's be quite clear: operators are not paying for PEG access. They are paying the rent for the use of public property through which they string their cables. The property managers are the local elected officials and the landlords are the citizens of the community. The landlords, through their property managers, decide how to spend the collected rent money: an estimated 10 to 15 percent of the communities in America have chosen some form of PEG access service. Eliminating PEG access in a community would not necessarily decrease cable operators' franchise fees, but it would definitely open up a channel or two that would make the operator more money. Which brings me to my second point of disagreement. We both agree on the importance of making every channel count on cable television — or any other telecommunications network. And we agree that many access channels remain underutilized. However, we disagree on the solution. Mr. Brenner suggests that in a competitive marketplace the solution is to devote access channels to "popular new programming now available in the satellite marketplace." This would naturally allow cable operators to compete better with direct broadcasting satellite (DBS) television on their own turf. However, I propose that a more effective approach would be to carve out a truly competitive niche by offering unique local services, namely PEG access. The reason that the overwhelming number of access channels are underutilized is that they are underfunded and undercapitalized. For example, according to Alliance research, the median annual operating budget of PEG access organizations is about $125,000. (This is based on research conducted in 1993, with a base of 393 organizations reporting an annual budget.) On the other hand, PEG access organizations provide their communities with a median of about 520 hours of original local programming per year. (This is based on the same research with 425 organizations reporting hours of local programming produced.) Even the NCTA can appreciate the cost effectiveness of a median cost of $240 per hour of original programming! The solution to the problem of underutilization is increased funding from local municipalities. This is where we have our work cut out for us. First, we need to convince telecommunications companies that local programming is a competitive edge: they should not aggressively work against the very communities they seek to serve. Second, we need to educate local municipal representatives and officials: encourage them to negotiate franchise agreements that adequately support PEG access operational and capital needs. Only through sufficient political and financial support can we confidently answer the questions that arise about "making access channels carry their own in the video marketplace." And speaking of that video marketplace, I offer my third point of disagreement. Mr. Brenner is totally accurate when he says that "competing technologies like wireless cable (MMDS) and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) like DirecTV have no access requirements, PEG or leased." However, the impression he leaves is that cable television, too, should have no access requirements. Of course, the other obvious solution is to make the other telecommunications services provide PEG access requirements as well. And that is exactly what the Alliance for Community Media National Board of Directors has chosen as their major long-range goal. At their meeting in October 1995, the Alliance Board approved the five-year key objective "to pass, by 2001, the Telecommunications Access Act, which would guarantee every person free or low-cost access to producing and receiving multimedia information over any public network which uses public rights of way, by providing community-based organizations with the needed funding mechanisms, capacity, interoperability, technical information and accessibility. " The Alliance has taken a strong leadership position and is currently engaged in an aggressive plan to reach this objective. Draft wording of the proposed act is being hammered out by the Alliance Public Policy Committee. The national office is developing a local grassroots network through the Community Coalition Initiative, building a national coalition though the Media Democracy In Action consortium and our Partners program, researching state telecommunications law in anticipation of proposing test legislation, and working closely with key public interest allies in Washington DC. Over the past decades, dedicated access advocates across the country have proven that PEG channels can work. The current telecommunications technical and political environment cannot change that fact. Today, our challenge is to create an environment in which PEG access is allowed to work for the next millennium. And now for my fourth and final point. Mr. Brenner suggests that access requirements should be "re-examined" if they do not "add to the quality of cable service," which I would interpret as the ability of the cable operator to sell its service to subscribers. I would suggest, instead, that all the telecommunications agreements that do not fairly compensate the landlords for the use of their property and do not allow entry to that property, should be the requirements that need to be re-examined. I am also fond of the expression "lead, follow, or get out of the way." The Alliance has proven decisively over the past years that it can lead, and through the visionary Telecommunications Access Act, it amply demonstrates its continuing ability to lead. I suggest that for Mr. Brenner and the NCTA this leaves only two other choices.

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