Up here in the highlands of New Jersey, we at WM77 have been lucky to win two JAG “awards of excellence” in the past two years, one in the category of “Fairs, Festivals, Car Shows and Arts and Crafts,” and one for single camera coverage of our Town Council meetings. While it’s always nice to be recognized for outstanding work by your peers, for a small station like WM77 it has meant a lot more than just a pat on the back and a trophy for Town Hall.
For a small station that is run entirely by volunteers, the recognition has definitely raised our profile within the township, both with the residents and, more importantly, the town council. Up until this year, we had only received a small stipend for the station that came as part of our cable franchise agreement. The $4800 we receive annually paid for license fees for our TelVue products, with a few dollars left over for miscellaneous expenses which we spent mostly on things like cables, expendables and our JAG membership. We have operated the station for almost 10 years now with no additional contribution to our budget from the township. Winning the JAG Awards changed everything.
The first thing we did was to submit a press release to the local newspaper. We strategically included photographs of our council liaison presenting the awards to the mayor who was surprised by the presentation. The publicity generated by the media exposure got the attention of the town council who finally authorized an expenditure from General Funds to cover some badly needed switching, monitoring and communications equipment.
More importantly, we have managed to change the way residents and the town council members think about the channel. While we are constituted as the West Milford TV Commission, up until now the folks on the council seemed to think of us more like a club. Now they are taking our contribution to the town much more seriously. We have even been approached by several other organizations in town to help them publicize and/or document upcoming events. It’s taken a while, but now people think of the station, along with the local newspaper and posters in the local supermarkets, as one of those places you go when you are looking to let people know about an event.
For many years, we have been asking for a room to house our equipment and a small space to use as a studio. Suddenly we now have two locations to consider. The township has even invited us to participate in conversations with a new media consultant they have hired to improve communications with the residents. We are covering more events in town than ever before, which is challenging to our small volunteer staff. The Recreation department has even assigned a township employee to help cover some daytime events as part of his daily activities. We, in turn, have trained him on the operation of our camera equipment. This is something that was unthinkable just a few years ago.
Every story needs a moral and the moral of this one is: enter the JAG awards. Even if you don’t win an award of excellence, use the certificates you receive to generate publicity for your channel. As you can see, small channels like ours have really benefited from the recognition. Tell anyone who will listen about your accomplishments. Use the awards to engage your town council members to appreciate your work. Use the local media to tell your citizens about your success. Then parlay that publicity into more support, both financial and creative for your station. Use your success to recruit new members, promote the channel to your residents and gain the respect that we all deserve for the role we play in communicating important information to the residents of the communities we serve.
As a result of our efforts and the new respect we gained from our mayor and town council, JAG recognized West Milford with the Community Recognition Award. The award is given annually to a Municipality that has demonstrated support for strong communication between a township and its citizens. It was presented during the luncheon at our JAG Conference this year. After almost 10 years, we have finally gained the respect that we deserve for the role we play in communicating important information to the residents of the township, and all this came from winning a couple of JAG Awards. The Jersey Access Group was pleased to present the West Milford Town Council, and in particular Mayor Michele Dale and council liaisons Ada Erik and Marilyn Lichtenberg, for their continued support of their municipal channel WM77. West Milford launched its channel just 10 years ago, but since the beginning, the council, the mayor and the liaisons have supported the activities of the all-volunteer staff to keep residents informed on township activities. While WM77 is one of the smaller stations in the organization, it would not be able to continue its mission without the financial support and encouragement of the council, and for that reason we are pleased to present them our Community Recognition Award.
A bill was recently passed out of the Congressional House Energy and Commerce Committee, titled the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023 (H.R. 3557). We at JAG, along with our national partners, believe this bill would be a serious detriment to every municipality in our state and everyone needs to be aware of it and why it must be stopped.
This bill imposes new restrictions on local authorities regarding their ability to regulate a variety of state and local land use and zoning issues that pertain to the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure, including wireless and wireline deployment, as well as new limits on requirements and renewals of cable franchise agreements.
H.R. 3557 consolidated a slew of bills approved along party lines in this committee at the Communications and Technology’s April 19 hearing: “Breaking Barriers: Streamlining Permitting to Expedite Broadband Deployment”. This unexpected hearing took up more than 30 bills aimed at what was described as ‘Federal Barriers’, ‘State and Local Government Obstacles’, and ‘Pole Attachments’ (access to poles)’ to broadband infrastructure deployment.
The night before this hearing, local government member associations – the National Association of Counties (NACo), the National League of Cities (NLC), the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), wrote to Committee leadership to oppose the heavy-handed federal overreach into local land use, permitting, and franchise negotiation decisions on behalf of the nation’s counties, cities, towns and villages.
See the letter to the Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) adopted a policy resolution at their Annual Meeting opposing the bill, which will be shared to Congress and the Administration.
(Provided by Gerard Lavery Lederer of Best, Best & Krueger, Attorneys at Law)
During the proceedings, committee ranking member Frank Pallone (D NJ-6) valiantly offered an Amendment within both hearings to oppose HR 3557 and any action to approve it. He did a great job advocating for local government and PEG operations, not for just New Jersey, but the entire country.
Congressman Pallone made the following comment:
“To remove arbitrary deadlines and narrow timeframes in this bill that preempt local governments’ authority and ability to make decisions that best meet the needs and best interest. That’s why these ‘deemed granted’ provisions that Republicans are rushing through are, I think, a bad process and are troubling to me and to the local elected officials in the towns we represent.
HR 3557 would enact narrow and arbitrary timeframes to approve or deny applications and then ‘deem them granted’ if a decision hasn’t been made by that time. Now to be clear, if a local planning board or town council is reviewing a project and does not approve it by a deadline set by House Republicans, the applicant’s proposal would automatically be considered approved w/o any further input from the community.
I have serious concerns that this approach raises more Q’s than answers….. especially when it comes to liability in the case of public safety and accidents. The reality is, no matter where you go in this country, local governments have an important role to play in approving construction projects.
My Republican colleagues like to demonize local governments for not approving projects in the amount of time they would like. But, this bill does nothing to address a major concern that was raised by all the witnesses at the legislative hearing on this topic. And that is the lack of qualified personnel to process these applications, particularly in smaller towns and counties. Instead, they would wave their wand and approve these applications without further process.
Now, anyone who has served at the local level, and I have – (Long Branch, NJ city council, 1982-88) – there is a lot more to these decisions than simply yes or no. In many cases, there are negotiations between towns and counties with telecommunications providers for access to Rights of Way or other publicly owned areas. In other words, if a municipal planning board or zoning board is reviewing an application and does not issue an approval by a deadline set by House Republicans, the applicant’s proposal would automatically be considered approved w/o any further input from the community.
And, I’m most concerned that this approach raises more questions than answers, especially when it comes to liability in the case of accidents. And, my Republican colleagues like to demonize local governments who are not approving applications as quickly as they would like.
This ‘one size fits all’ mandate to approve a project in 2 months weakens a town’s ability to get the job done right while at the same time ignoring the reality of many local governments’ calendars. People who serve in town and county government are public servants who are accountable to the people who live in those communities. They are responsible for acting in their best interests, especially as it pertains to utilities and service in a county or town.
No one thinks about who’s responsible for ensuring your safety – for example, police or fire or traffic duty– for ensuring the safety of the public and the workers during construction. Or, the complexity of scheduling certain construction projects to avoid road closures or other disruption or delays that often and do occur as a result. It’s the Mayors, and councils and zoning boards who are responsible for these considerations. And, they’re ‘on the hook’ if anything goes wrong or someone gets hurt. And, perhaps, that is why we received a letter today from the Georgia Municipal Association, which represents all 537 municipalities in the bill sponsor’s home state.
They strongly oppose this bill. And, I would ask you now for unanimous consent to submit this letter for the record.
I have great respect for my friend from Georgia. He knows how much I love that state. But I’m struggling to understand how his constituents – and mine – are served well by these proposals because the ‘deemed granted’ proposals aren’t the only areas where this legislation removes critical local authority. At best, these proposals remove local leverage to negotiate the specifics of these projects that can best serve the people of these communities. At worst, they can put people at risk. Those of us who work closely with our mayors and councils – and I think that’s everyone on the dais here – we know that they are the first ones to step up when it comes to deploying communications infrastructure in their towns.
What possible advantage would come from deliberately ignoring or delaying requests to improve work that would improve services for their constituents?
So, last week, I challenged my Republican colleagues to tell their mayors that they voted for this bill the next time they went home and see what they say. When I went home this weekend and asked the mayors, I was glad not to be on the record supporting this bill. I would encourage my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to go back to the drawing board and work with some Democrats in a productive way to develop some bills that might actually get signed into law. It’s not as though Democrats are not trying to look for ways to enact permitting reform bills that do not trample on these protections.
But so far, the Republicans have said no. So, I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to preserve local authority and vote “Yes” on the amendment.”
You’ll find HR 3557 and the amendments discussed at: https://energycommerce.house.gov/events/full-committee-markup-of-19-bills-2. H.R3557 represents an unprecedented and dangerous infringement of local governments’ authority to manage public rights-of-way and land use; it strips local governments of property rights and monetary compensation in favor of cable, wireless and telecommunications providers. The bill also waives historic preservation (NHPA) and environmental (NEPA) rules. Yet in return for these gifts, the bill imposes no obligations on these companies to provide broadband to “unserved” and “underserved” Americans.
H.R. 3557 should be opposed, (From NATOA) as it:
1. Cable: Removes Ability of State and Local Franchise Authorities to Enforce Franchises
Eliminates cable franchise renewals, thereby removing the ability of state or local communities to enforce franchise obligations such as build-out, customer service, and local PEG Access channels.
Grants a cable operator the unilateral right to terminate or modify a franchise but creates no obligation to remove a cable system from rights-of-way. This would eliminate cable franchise fees but allow operators to maintain other services, ultimately affecting local municipal budgets from the annual franchise fees paid to every municipality. It would also allow operators to unilaterally eliminate provisions of contracts they deem commercially unfeasible.
2. Wireless/Telecom: Usurps State & Local Government Police Powers & Property Rights
Mandates that all wireless siting decisions be “deemed granted” if not acted upon by local governments within much shorter time periods than the federal government for similar projects government has 270 days to act, while locals must act in as few as 60 days.
Provides no public safety protections for construction of “deemed granted” facilities. Sites will be constructed without any further action by the government, without notice to the government or obligation to comply with safety laws or traffic control.
Empowers providers to install facilities where they choose regardless of local zoning, thus eliminating the ability of local government to balance providers’ and neighbors’ interests and jeopardizing the ability of local governments to impose stealth or concealment factors on installations.
Limits all local fees to a locality’s objectively reasonable costs. Unlike current FCC rules and safe harbor pricing, localities must justify their fees using a complex, burdensome rate-making formula.
Substitutes the FCC for local federal district court as a reviewing body for challenges to decisions, thus breaking promise made by Congress in 1996 that local governments would not be required to travel to Washington to defend local decisions.
Imposes new and similarly flawed timelines and “deemed granted” remedies on applications for telecommunications facilities.
The opportunity to discuss this bill was never offered to state or local governments, as it moved swiftly through this subcommittee.
JAG wants every one of our New Jersey municipalities, along with our county, state and federal legislatures to be aware of this bill. If this proceeds as it currently is written, the public will get nothing in return from it but hardships, while the telecommunications companies alone will reap all of its benefits.
I have had the chance over these last few weeks to speak to a lot of our JAG Members and the one thing I keep hearing is how busy they are, especially this time of year. The first thing I say is… I know exactly what you mean. The second thing I always say is, I’m glad. I am glad to be busy and I am glad you are. That means we are all out there covering the things that need to be brought to attention in our communities and making a big difference. So, with that in mind, I am going to give you a few excerpts from past articles and links to them for you to read the entire article. I believe the things I have mentioned and talked about cannot be stressed enough. So enjoy being busy, enjoy the summer and when you get a chance, however brief as it may be, relax and wind down!
All Things JAG need your participation: (February 2023 Article) Monthly General Members Meetings
Meetings are a continued benefit of being a JAG member. In January we held our second hybrid meeting (in-person and Zoom). The meeting was hosted by Piscataway TV and included a special vendor presentation and lunch by DeSisti Lighting. It was once again great to gather together, eat lunch, conduct the business of JAG and hear and see a vendor presentation. Those who could not make it in person were still able to participate via zoom, and had full access to the presentation by Paul from DeSisti Lighting and were able to ask questions and participate fully. The only thing the online participants missed out on was a free lunch! Our upcoming meeting in February will be a 100% Virtual. Please look out for the upcoming invitation along with a special presentation by JAG Organizational Member Cablecast during out next meeting. We will once again be hybrid in March as Bloomfield will host the in-person meeting and vendor presentation by Telvue. I urge you to participate in the upcoming membership meetings as we also discuss, present and vote on matters to help keep the organization running. We always meet on the last Wednesday of each month, taking both July and August off in the summer. I look forward as always to seeing all our members at our meetings. (Click Here For February 2023 Article)
We are all guilty of this, I know that I am. So, what am I referring to? Just about any product or software you have in your place. You would be surprised on how much they have to offer and how we don’t use them to their full potential. What are some examples of this? How can I find solutions? I will give you a couple examples, but take inventory on all your hardware and software, research all they have to offer, then train yourself to use these products to their full potential. For our purpose I am going to talk about broadcast systems, and multi-camera productions. Each one of these are important to station productions, operations, and overall appearance. (Click Here For April 2023 Article)
So then, what is the problem? As with any successful organization, at some point members start to slowly withdraw from participating in committees and even in regular meetings. They are under the impression that the organization is providing everything they need, is running smoothly and falsely feel their participation is not needed. That is a big problem for an organization and is currently one for JAG.
So how is that a problem when JAG is already doing everything we need already? Let’s break it down (still no math, I promise). As members start to slowly withdraw from participation it creates a void. This void is felt by the board and committees that regularly meet to support the organization. As current board and committee members retire, relocate, or take a break after many years of service, without other members stepping up to fill their spots, the void continues to grow. If this void grows too great, then the organization starts to get stagnate and to lose touch with members and their needs. (Click Here For October 2022 Article)
What would be on your list this year for your station? I hope you picked up some ideas from the many vendors who attended our in-person trade show back in May or from the many vendor presentations at our monthly meetings. There is no wrong answer in this situation. Each station operates differently from others across the state and vary greatly. But each has the same core principle, to inform the community which they serve. When you make your wish list, keep in mind your community, their needs and how as a station you can serve them. The goal is always to enhance what we are currently doing.
It’s no secret that I am a tech head! I love new and exciting things that come along that can help our industry and make our lives easier. I love to play around with these items, demo them, beta test and give valuable feedback on how they would fit in with my station operations and serve my community. With that in mind, I am going to share with you some items that are on my wish list for this holiday season based on what I am doing at stations I am involved with. Perhaps these will give you some ideas, help you to review your stations needs and give you direction for the future. (Click Here For December 2022 Article)
Every Great Video we produce has to have a story. My name is Caz. Bielen, Chief Creative Officer of Premiere Media and CazTV. I immigrated to the US when I was 8 years old. I never had a TV in Poland. My first TV was a black and white set, where I learned English watching Magilla Gorilla, The Adventures of Superman, Little Rascals and I Love Lucy reruns There were also the annual viewings of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Wizard of Oz. I did not know it was in color till I was in my late teens. But I loved the stories and the lighting, the effect that made these characters come to life.
After High School I attended Rutgers University in the early 1980’s. I was a part of the starting Knight Time Television, the first Student run TV Channel that also took advantage of Public Access that allowed it to also be seen on Cable TV in nearby homes. We were Cable before Cable was Cool!
After an internship at Cross Country Cable in Somerville, NJ and working there as a freelancer while still at school, I received two ACE Nominations. “Fun Stop”, a Kids Show and a special on “Pediatric Cardiology”. After that I got a full time job at Cross Country Cable, where I remember watching the launch of CNN. I was Producer and Public Access Coordinator, enabling the public to produce their own shows. This is where I met Debbie and Doug Gist, Lou Brogno, Dick Craig and others. Later, the Company became TKR Cable based in Warren, NJ. I was Producer-Director-Editor Internship coordinator and started local commercial production. You may have seen the “REPS” little people ads that ran for about 20 years. I worked with Michael D’Amato and Dave Garb, as well as Lee Beckerman with whom I reconnected with after more than three decades at the 2023 JAG Conference and Awards. It’s poetic that the story of my professional career and joining JAG has brought me back to where I started with people I worked with, and others I helped start on their television path.
Later, I worked at C-TEC Cable, where I produced and hosted Daytime Emmy Awards Specials, and the Pay-Per-View Report. As Media Services Manager at RCN Corporation, I got to be at the start of the Internet Revolution, before that was cool. After the dot com Boom and Bust, I started Premiere Media and CazTV, producing commercials, infomercials and working with Public Schools and Municipalities. I enjoyed creating content that educates, entertains and inspires viewers worldwide, and won 3 Telly Awards for Public Service Videos.
I wish to thank Steve Keiser, Producer of the “On the Loose” TV series. He told me a few years ago to join the Jersey Access Group and continues to be a good friend.
George Fairfield has been so helpful to me in getting to know JAG. I attended the annual Conference and was amazed at the talent and presenters that was there. I made connections and obtained knowledge from providers and facilitators on best practices.
I currently produce “Cazual Conversations” a Video and Audio Podcast, where we talk to people that are important to our world. Contact me if you want to be my guest and share your story. It’s available on various web platforms and via Telvue Connect in New Jersey and on the Media Exchange Nationwide. The program provides me, as an Independent Producer, a more local connection in New Jersey. I wish to thank the Jersey Access Group for the awards I received. I will be providing more programs for the Media Exchange, such as “Studio at the Hill”, a family-friendly program, and “Mr. AutoAds”, on which I show local NJ commercials from the past. To see more of my story, go to https://www.youtube.com/caztv.
by Jesse Lerman, President & CEO, TelVue Corporation
It was great to see everyone at this year’s annual JAG conference in Edison, which felt like a “coming home” of sorts, refocusing the lens back on the core New Jersey station operators and members, the real heart and soul of JAG and where TelVue got its start in community media nearly 20 years ago! The new layout, with vendor exhibit booths inside the large group ballroom, afforded better opportunities to mingle with customers and showcase products during breaks, yet also remain an important presence during the larger panel presentations. It created a very inclusive environment for vendors and customers alike, a welcome return and grateful exit from the social distancing and virtual trade show era.
Kicking off the JAG Conference with the TelVue Users Group and Breakfast
TelVue is always proud to be a Diamond sponsor for JAG, and this year, we presented key updates on a range of products and services including: live, dual language, ultra affordable closed captioning, caption transcript search to make your government meetings fully searchable, automatic social media streaming directly from our new HyperCaster AIO+ line of playout & automation servers, integrated video editing & community bulletin board, time-saving automation rules, and new, built-in analytics & reports for your web, OTT, and mobile viewership.
I enjoyed collaborating with Joe Fernandes, Assistant Manager, Woodbridge Television, and Bob Duthaler on the panel session Is A Cable Channel All You Need? Joe shared successes and tips and tricks about how to expand your reach and audience with social media and social streaming, and I shared additional ways to grow your viewership online, including launching your own branded mobile and OTT apps. All great ways to deliver your programming in full HD, as well as gain insight into your viewers and reach through streaming analytics and reports. It was very cool to hear so many success stories from the audience, including Old Bridge TV, who shared how well-received their mobile and OTT apps are in the community.
I was delighted to chair a new panel on social media engagement in relation to local government with Jean-guy R. Lauture, Sr. IT Director, Bloomfield Township, and Cyd Katz, Founder/CEO of New Jersey Isn’t Boring. It was clearly a “reel” interesting topic, and top of mind for everyone based on the packed crowd, collaborative discussions, and the fact that it ran overtime. Cyd brought so many practical tips on how to leverage short videos to increase engagement, and Jean-guy shared best practices on how to navigate, work within local government, and avoid issues & pitfalls with social media.
Demos and Discussions at the TelVue Booth
The JAG awards honored two long time TelVue clients – Lee Beckerman on his retirement and literally sailing off into the sunset, and Stephanie Gibbons, both of whom have been incredible driving forces behind JAG. Congrats to Lee and Stephanie, and to all of the JAG award nominees and winners! It is no mystery how talented and dedicated the JAG stations and producers are, but what remains a mystery is how does Simon Mandel do that final magic trick?!?!
Honored to receive Certificate of Award for supporting JAG’s new Internet TV channel
The annual JAG conference also affords a unique opportunity for our engineering and product development staff to have face-to-face customer contact as well, and to get direct feedback from important end users. We appreciated the great turn-out and participation at our morning User Group. TelVue remains dedicated to our valued NJ clients by listening and responding to their needs, and we are thrilled to be a part of the robust JAG station and member community. We were honored to be presented during the lunch banquet with a Certificate of Award acknowledging our support of JAG’s new Internet TV channel. JAG is always innovating, and always on the forefront!
by Mike Lynch, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Director, NATOA
Thank you, Jersey Access Group, for inviting me to participate in the 2023 Conference! On behalf of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), I’ve got to tell you….I had a blast! You’re a dynamic organization with great leadership from folks like Bob Duthaler, Stephanie Gibbons, Dave Garb, Don Smith and, of course, Rich Desimone. To Rich: Thanks for your years of collaboration and teamwork as both NATOA and JAG moved forward in the ever-changing world of cable & broadband.
Thank you to Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler for guiding our conversation with Mike Wassenaar, CEO of the Alliance for Community Media, Robert Boyle, CEO of Planet Networks and Marilyn Davis, Senior Director of Government Affairs for Altice, as we discussed all things related to broadband funding. And, thank you to Valarry Bullard, Director of the newly created Broadband Office in the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) for participating.
I don’t know if folks remember, but Mayor Wahler has a longstanding connection with NATOA going back to 2014, when NATOA conferred our most valued honor, the Jane E. Lawton Commemorative Award on Mayor Wahler for all his good work in New Jersey advocating for local PEG, cable and broadband issues. Named in memory of the Honorable Jane E. Lawton, a past president of NATOA and former Special Assistant to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Carl Albert, for her career-long efforts to promote community interests in communications, the Award recognizes the work of individuals who stand out for their communities on PEG and broadband advocacy. Thank you, Mayor Wahler for your continued good work.
The Jersey Access Group has a great & strong history of activism on PEG, cable and broadband issues and we’re so appreciative of the long-standing partnership with NATOA.
You know, the day before your Conference, the House Energy & Commerce’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee held a Markup Hearing that was tough to watch and listen to as an advocate for local government on telecom matters and PEG operations, given the rigid party line conduct and anti-localism flavor of attacks. The markup hearing of 19 bills ultimately morphed into a single bill, H.R. 3557, the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023. H.R. 3557 passed along party lines and aimed to harm local governments’ public rights-of-way authority and risks the future of cable franchising and PEG operations.
The Subcommittee combined most of the bills that impact local governments into this single measure and was approved by a party line vote. As approved by the Subcommittee, the bill would:
Allow cable franchisees to unilaterally modify the terms/ requirements in franchise agreements
Prohibit state and local governments from revoking cable franchises
Preempt state and local zoning authority over the placement of cell phone towers and equipment
Eliminate state and local government authority to manage public rights-of-way and collect fair market compensation for their use and management
Require local government approval of modifications to existing cell phone towers
Preempt state and local zoning authority over the placement of cable equipment
A week later — and with little notice and with no opportunity for local governments to address the bill before the subcommittee — the Energy & Commerce Committee passed H.R. 3557 along party lines.
In a letter to Committee leadership, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors said:
“As the level of government closest to the people, we oppose heavy-handed federal overreach into local land use, permitting, and franchise negotiation decisions. Many of the bills the Subcommittee will consider during this hearing would preempt or undermine the property rights of local governments and local governments’ police powers to protect and preserve the safety, well-being, and aesthetics of their communities, which Congress and the Constitution have long recognized. Congress has historically recognized these rights in Sections 224, 253 and 332 of the Telecommunications Act.
These authorities are critical to conduct responsible stewardship of public property, protect public safety, and preserve the rights of residents as consumers of broadband services and neighbors to the infrastructure that makes connectivity possible. We fear the unintended consequence of some of these bills will be to impose costs on local governments, burdens on our taxpayers, interference with public safety and otherwise harm local protections that are the heart of localism without substantively improving broadband deployment.”
Congressman Frank Pallone (D NJ-6) and Committee Ranking Member valiantly offered an Amendment to oppose HR 3557 and any action to approve it. Congressman Pallone said:
“To remove arbitrary deadlines and narrow timeframes in this bill that preempt local governments’ authority and ability to make decision that best meet the needs and best interest. That’s why these ‘deemed granted’ provisions that Republicans are rushing through are, I think, a bad process and are troubling to me and to the local elected officials in the towns we represent.
HR 3557 would enact narrow and arbitrary timeframes to approve or deny applications and then ‘deem them granted’ if a decision hasn’t been made by that time. Now to be clear, if a local planning board or town council is reviewing a project and does not approve it be a deadline set by House Republicans, the applicant’s proposal would automatically be considered approved w/o any further input from the community.
I have serious concerns that this approach raises mor Q’s than answers especially when it comes to liability in the case of public safety and accidents. The reality is, no matter where you go in this country, local governments have an important role to play in approving construction projects.
My Republican colleagues like to demonize local governments for not approving projects in the amount of time they would like. But, this bill does nothing to address a major concern that was raised by all the witnesses that was raised at the legislative hearing on this topic. And that is the lack of qualified personnel to process these applications, particularly in smaller towns and counties. Instead, they would wave their wand and approve these applications without further process.
Now, anyone who has served at the local level, and I have – (Long Branch, NJ city council, 1982-88) – there is a lot more to these decisions than simply yes or no. In many cases, there are negotiations between towns and counties with telecommunications provider for access to Rights of Way or other publicly owned areas. In other words, if a municipal planning board or zoning board is reviewing an application and does not issue an approval by a deadline set by House Republicans, the applicant’s proposal would automatically be considered approved w/o any further input from the community.
And, I’m most concerned that this approach raises more questions than answers, especially when it comes to liability in the case of accidents. And, my Republican colleagues like to demonize local governments who are not approving applications as quickly as they would like.
This ‘one size fits all’ mandate to approve a project in 2 months weakens a town’s ability to get the job done right while at the same time ignoring the reality of many local governments’ calendars. People who serve in town and county government are public servants who are accountable to the people who live in those communities. They are responsible for acting in their best interests, especially as it pertains to utilities and service in a county or town.
No one thinks about who’s responsible for ensuring your safety – for example, police or fire or traffic duty– for ensuring the safety of the public and the workers during construction. Or, the complexity of scheduling certain construction projects to avoid road closures or other disruption or delays that often and do occur as a result. It’s the Mayors, and councils and zoning boards who are responsible for these considerations. And, they’re ‘on the hook’ if anything goes wrong or someone gets hurt. And, perhaps, that is why we received a letter today form the Georgia Municipal Association, which represents all 537 municipalities in the bill sponsor’s home state.
They strongly oppose this bill. And, I would ask you now for unanimous consent to submit this letter for the record.
I have great respect for my friend from Georgia. He knows how much I love that state. But I’m struggling to understand how his constituents – and mine – are served well by these proposals because the ‘deemed granted’ proposals aren’t the only areas where this legislation removes critical local authority. At best, these proposals remove local leverage to negotiate the specifics of these projects that can best serve the people of these communities. At worst, they can put people at risk. Those of us who work closely with our mayors and councils – and I think that’s everyone on the dais here – we know that they are the first ones to step up when it comes to deploying communications infrastructure in their towns.
What possible advantage would come from deliberately ignoring or delaying requests to improve work that would improve services for their constituents?
So, last week, I challenged my Republican colleagues to tell their mayors that they voted for this bill the next time they went home and see what they say. So, when I went home this weekend & I asked the mayors and I was glad not to be on the record supporting this bill. I would encourage my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and to go back to the drawing board and work with some Democrats in a productive way to develop some bills that might actually get signed into law. It’s not as though Democrats are not trying to look for ways to enacts permitting reform bills that do not trample on these protections.
But so far, the Republicans have said no. So, I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to preserve local authority and vote “Yes” on the amendment.”
Congressman Pallone did a great job advocating for local government and PEG operations. New Jersey and JAG should be very proud of your representation in Congress.
H.R. 3557 is called the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023 but it should really be called the “Great American Give-away” to cable, broadband and wireless operators. The bill suggests it will streamline permitting to increase broadband availability. Instead, it eliminates local and state rights in broadband deployment, wireless sittings and cable franchising to benefit these companies without getting anything for the public in return. There is no ‘quid pro quo’ that the cable, broadband and wireless companies will build out or serve those that need to be served.
H.R. 3557 is bad for local communities and for PEG operations. The bill has moved too quickly through the Committee and will likely soon move through the full House. There is no companion bill in the Senate.
If you can, please communicate to your Members of Congress that: Neither state nor local governments were even provided an opportunity to address these bills, now collapsed into one bill as HR 3557, at the subcommittee level.
During our annual JAG Conference last month, we held a special session that recapped the latest news from Capitol Hill and what it all means to New Jersey municipalities and PEG/Access stations.
Our panelists, myself, Mike Wassenaar, President of the ACM, Alliance for Community Media, and Mike Lynch, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Director for NATOA, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, mainly focused on one very important subject, the federal Protecting Community Television Acts.
From this forum, it became obvious that our audience was not up to speed on why this legislation needs to be acted upon and what could be the ramifications if they are not. We explained all the details about it during the session, but I would like to once again give the background on what has been going on and why support of these bills is crucial.
From NATOA: On August 2, 2019, the FCC released a Third Report and Order interpreting provisions of the federal Cable Act. This Order allows cable operators to deduct from franchise fees the fair market value of cable franchise requirements, with limited exceptions, and largely preempts states and local governments from regulating the non-cable services and equipment of franchised cable operators, including their Wi-Fi and small cells equipment. This order defines “in-kind, cable-related contributions” to include “any non-monetary contributions related to the provision of cable services provided by cable operators as a condition or requirement of a local franchise, including but not limited to free or discounted cable service to public buildings, costs in support of PEG access other than capital costs, and costs attributable to the construction of I-Nets.
From The ACM: The FCC Franchise Fee Order redefined the federal Cable Act’s 5% franchise fee cap to include the value of most non-monetary franchise obligations as franchise fees. This change allows cable companies to reduce what they pay for the use of public property and rights-of-way. These Protecting Community Television Acts (S 340/HR 907) correct this error by clarifying that franchise fees are only monetary. The Cable Act protects the rights of a local community to charge cable companies a five (5%) percent franchise fee and to meet community needs and interests, such as providing public, educational and governmental channel capacity. Contrary to industry practices that date to the 1980s, the FCC’s actions could result in reducing cable operators’ monetary compensation to towns and municipalities that wish to communicate with residents through community television.
The Identical Protecting Community Television Acts, S 340, authored by Senator Edward Markey (MA) and Tammy Baldwin (WI), and HR 907, authored by Representative Anna Eshoo (CA), were reintroduced in Congress on February 9th of this year. These acts clarify that only monetary payments, not non-monetary franchise obligations, qualify as Cable Act franchise fees and are subject to a fee cap.
Without these acts passed into law, cable operators could create fees to drain away municipal revenues and pressure municipalities to give up or reduce the staff at their PEG channels. It could come down to a choice between franchise fees or communicating with residents through community media that provide Americans with local (transparent) civic, public safety and public health content.
When the Protecting Community Television Acts, were first introduced during the 2021-2022 Congressional Session, Representatives Donald Payne (10th District) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (12th District), led the charge by co-sponsoring it at that time.
This time around, New Jersey’s U.S. Senator Corey Booker learned about our concerns from the FCC’s Order and the detriment it could cause to all of New Jersey’s municipalities. This interest was first sparked by a visit I had, along with Mike Wassenaar, to his Washington DC office this past April.
More recently, this spark was relit when Beatrice Moskowitz, Vice Chair. of the Middlesex County Democrats, working with JAG’s Managing Director, Rich Desimone, made it possible for Senator Booker’s office to take a much closer look into this act, as well as an interest in our conference. So much so, that Senator Booker sent his Press Secretary, Minjae Park, to attend our conference and find out first hand what the issues were, what the act does, and also, what JAG was all about.
I am very happy to announce to our entire JAG community that for the 2023-2024 Congressional Session, Senator Corey Booker has become the first Federal Legislator from New Jersey to co-sponsor the Protecting Community Television Act. Our hope is that we can convey the importance of supporting both of these companion acts to all of our New Jersey members of Congress, so that every community can continue to have their specific and transparent information flow to their residents for their benefit, and for the benefit of all the citizens of our great State.
By Lee Beckerman, Station Manager, Woodbridge Channels
In the mid-1980s, Woodbridge Township was contemplating starting a cable TV channel of its own. They had secured a channel on Suburban, set up a governing board and had purchased a random assortment of equipment. And then…nothing happened. At some point they decided it was time to bring on a person to manage the station and move the project forward. I was fresh out of college with a degree in video production. Doing freelance and having a hard time finding fulltime work in my field, I jumped at the opportunity. It was not my dream job, but I thought it might be an adequate place holder to build my resume, and, lacking other options, I took it. I was eventually shown to a packed projection room/closet, told it was my new office and to have at it. No further instructions were forthcoming. No one had apparently thought past the idea of having a TV station and considered what to do with it. I rightly deduced that the first part of starting a community television station involved getting all the crap out of your new office and finding a desk.
One major advantage was that no one (including me) knew what a municipal cable station was supposed to be. There was a vague feeling that it might be a good addition to a forward-thinking town and should probably include some programs. The rest was up to me. I was trained in video production but I did not know any more than they did about what a municipal TV station should be. I set out to find the answer. What follows are some insights gained along the way.
Networking
You can’t do everything by yourself. With no knowledge of what to do with my channel, I reached out to the two thriving community stations in the area, Piscataway’s PCTC and East Brunswick’s EBTV. Debbe Gist and Cindy O’Connor helped immensely in getting the station up and running and gave me ideas I could build on. They also connected me with the Alliance for Community Media. The Township allowed me to attend their conference in Tampa, Florida. All this gave me a starting point.
It was Debbe who first brought the idea of creating JAG to all of us, probably because she was one of the people all the other stations turned to for ideas. Cindy became our first President and so began one of the most valuable resources for running a local access television station. Woodbridge Television could not have come as far without JAG’s support.
Audience
Access cable audiences are small. If we’re lucky, we get a few hundred to a few thousand viewers for a big event and often less than that. But the numbers are cumulative. The people who are watching the council meeting are not the same people watching your local sports; who are not the same people watching your concert coverage and your parades and business openings and school recitals etc… When added up, you can reach a large, diverse section of your population. For our mayor, announcing local sports is a passion, but for hundreds of kids in our town, and their parents, they know the name of the mayor because he is the local sports announcer.
As a side note, it is the talent that usually gets the direct feedback. The politicians and show hosts certainly knew before we did that we were building an audience. When we started, without access to metrics, this turned out to be a very important point.
Different platforms
In the beginning we had a cable TV channel, and all was good with the world. We put our programs out there and over time, word started leaking out to the powers-that-be that people were watching. (Hey, I saw you on the channel last night and you’re nuts). There were no metrics or any way to measure or define an audience. In came Princeton Server Group (now TelVue) whose file-based server systems completely revolutionized how we worked. Their streaming video service offered us a video-on-demand platform that let us push our shows out in a different way. (An interesting side note. JAG got involved with the Princeton Server group because Steve George’s son played soccer with my son in middle school and we got to talking on the sideline, which led to a tour and a meeting with the president, Jesse Lerman.)
After a while we began to use their metrics, and for the first time, to see the numbers. We next added YouTube and because of the popularity of the platform, once people realized we were there, they started looking for us instead of us seeking them out.
I’m at the tail end of the boomer generation. I’m not going to be the guy to lead the charge on alternate social media platforms. But I know a good thing when I see one. The town had started using Facebook to shout out to residents, so we set up our own page to push out our content. Younger staff began sending out tweets and doing Instagram posts as we set up and shot programs to tease the content. We also started getting conversations going on social media during events like games and concerts, including announcers interacting with fans in real time, creating buzz.
Relationships
Community Television is about…community. Getting to know your community and establishing relationships gains you access. Early on I created a relationship with our local arts center. We began by covering a few of their concerts, but as they came to know and trust us as professionals, that blossomed into several joint grants for documentaries which won many awards and ended up, along with several of our concerts, being featured on Metro-Arts in NYC to audiences of millions. That gets the name of your town out there!
When I first tried covering high school sports it was a bit of a disaster. What I failed to do was get buy-in from the athletic directors and the school administrations. (We have three high schools). It took a long time to build that trust, but it was essential to successfully covering local sports.
Relationships with municipal departments and local non-profits are also important. We’ve put out content for our police department, libraries, youth theater, historical society, and senior services to name a few. But having strong ties with public works and parks and rec is equally critical. I had a day where we were shooting our exercise show in a park. I scouted a perfect location with the Outerbridge Crossing in the background. On shoot day we arrived to set up and someone had parked a giant dumpster in the middle of my shot! However, because I had built relationships within the town, I had phone numbers of people who knew who I was and I had a truck pull out the dumpster within a half an hour.
Quality
Programming quality is essential. If an audience can’t see and hear a program, you have wasted your, and your viewers’ time. Among the first complex programs I started doing were art center concerts. I insisted that they hire a professional audio engineer. I knew I could deliver the video but if the sound wasn’t great, what was the point? Eventually they added an audio engineer to all their concert grants. Video quality is likewise important. Your audience may not know how to create great programming, but they have watched a lot of it, and they understand what it’s supposed to look like. They might forgive quality issues for something they are crazy into, but unless you have a marketing genius on board you cannot build an audience that way.
The look of your shows matter. We try to get very creative with sets and looks on a very limited budget. I designed my own sets, and we were able to find someone in the Parks Department who could build them. With my set design I strove to create sets that shared production elements, maximizing utility and minimizing space constraints. When we were doing Seniorsize, I looked at the township roller rink and realized they already had a great lighting system and I just had to add key lights to make a dynamic show with less set-up time. We also did a season at the Woodbridge Mall (another great partnership) that gave us a cool and dynamic background with minimal additional effort (at least as far as the look was concerned.)
Recently, we are doing more things with green screen. This offers huge flexibility and is great for many applications. The sets, however, especially for multicamera shoots, do have a very digital look especially at our price point. I’m sure there will be new innovations going forward.
People
You need to hire good people! OK, obvious. Finding good people is hard with our budget limitations, especially in a tight labor market. But people choose jobs for different reasons. I did not intend to stay in my job for more than a few years, but I found I liked the relative freedom, the ability to be creative and I liked building something. In addition to our regular fare of sports and concerts we have made narrative films, documentaries, short comedies with special effects and big location shoots. My staff gets some leeway to create and produce shows on their own for the station. Turned out it was a good gig. I think these are good selling points. I should mention that two out of three of my most recent hires came from JAG stations/ recommendations. When I look at new people, I always hire them as freelancers first so I can get a sense of their work ethic and how they gel with the crew.
Getting creative with staff is also essential to any small operation. Many of the events we cover are at night or on weekends so in order to have staff available we have two members who work 4 days on/4 days off from late morning into the evening. The days are 10-hours so they are available to cover evenings and weekends. We take advantage of interns to help cover larger events and, of course, freelancers for the biggest productions. This is something we had to build up to and we started with volunteers like everyone.
Bosses and Politicians
I had some early run-ins with bosses and politicians. Much of this had to do with my misunderstanding of our relationship. When I was working from the model of public access, I would often fight battles about public access issues. The truth, however, is I work for them in the municipal access model. There are exceptions.
Open meetings rules mean I never edit any public meetings and I have never been asked to or have we in 35 years. We do not allow talk about elections or candidates during election season (outside of debate coverage), and do not endorse any candidates, at any time, on the channel. That aside, the channel has a mandate to be the video face of our town and government, including its leaders, along with highlighting our events civic organizations, nonprofits, schools, citizens and everything our township has to offer.
Reputation
As a municipal department I started to notice different departments have different reputations. This stood out for me when the deputy police chief kept bringing guests by to see the station. I asked him why this was and he said, “I love coming in here because everyone’s always working, all the time.” I liked that. I try to make it a point for people to understand we take the work seriously and are willing to work hard to make it as good as we can. They don’t always understand what we’re doing but if they show up at an event and see our cameras everywhere and everyone humming like a well-oiled machine, it makes an impression. We also do not stand on our laurels but always try to innovate in small ways and push things forward. I find it is easier to ask for things if people believe you are working hard and believe you will put what you ask for to good use. The motto I’ve adopted is to under promise and over deliver.
Equipment
It is essential that you keep current with equipment to the best extent possible. Early on I communicated to my town that I was not trying to build CBS -that the equipment I was buying was appropriate for the application. But I also tried to get the best quality equipment that met our needs. I got push back when we became an early AVID adopter, or when we decided we needed to build a mobile production unit, but I was able to give them detailed and expansive reasons why I wanted them and what I was planning to do with them and how they would benefit the town. When they got tired of listening, they let me have what I need if I would just go away. Well not really. I had some protracted arguments about some of this, but I did have my facts. As I stated before, your audience watches video, they know what to expect and if you are not delivering it, they have another reason to turn away. This was obviously why we fought so hard for an HD channel. When the show looks bad, they assume it’s you and you have given them an excuse not to watch.
Cross Pollination
It’s important to have the people you partner with on shows, guests, talent, performers etc, help push out the content on their own social media accounts. This is something I wish we did more in my time and something I think the new staff will be thinking about. If you do a show with a local organization or business, make sure they get a link and put it on their website, which leads back to your social media which brings in people who may not have been aware of you. We also share our shows and posts to the mayor’s social media which has a much larger footprint than ours.
Local TV
Easy to forget sometimes but we should be the voice of our town. I always felt it was my mandate to emphasize the Township of Woodbridge as much as possible. We take in very few outside shows, mostly things from Middlesex County government and a few other exceptions, but I always try to keep a Woodbridge twist on everything. With the demise of our bulletin board Channel (We had to give it back in exchange for our HD channel) we started to make all the bulletin board notices into PSAs with voice-overs and motion and graphics to replace the old Ad Council PSA’s. Once again, if you turn on Woodbridge TV you should instantly get a dose of Woodbridge, which is what I consider the essence of Municipal Access Television.
In Conclusion
I got lucky in many ways. First, Woodbridge is a large community with a population of over 100,000. I had a few years in the beginning with little scrutiny, in which to build a foundation. When Mayor Joseph DeMarino went on trial for corruption (he was acquitted) we were able to provide the first gavel-to-gavel coverage of a trial in New Jersey. The whole township tuned in, with watch parties at many bars. This raised public awareness of the station and government officials became aware of the potential of the medium.
When new officials were elected, we were already a going concern and the new Mayor, Jim McGreevey, was anxious to use and build on it. The station continued to grow under Mayor Pelzman. But Woodbridge Township Television really blossomed under Mayor McCormac and this current administration who have supported and encouraged us in so many ways. My staff, new station manager Gina Forbes, assistant manager, Joe Fernandes, Emil Brandafi, Samantha Roth, Erin Zirpolo, new producer Valentino Lamotta and Bruno Martins from the Woodbridge Township School District as well as my longtime boss, John Hagerty, have all helped build and support the station. All the great people at JAG including Bob Duthaler and Rich Desimone have had a great impact. I understand my experience may not be your experience and we all have different models and mandates. What we have at The Woodbridge Channels was built very slowly over a long period of time, starting with one person in a basement closet thinking big.
We are only 2 weeks away from the JAG Conference! The conference committee has been working hard to bring an informative, networking, and fun conference to the members and supporters of JAG. Tell all your members to mark down May 18thand we will see you there. For details and to register visit our website www.jagconference.com
Conference Schedule
8:00 am – 8:50 am- TelVue User Group Breakfast – Ultra-affordable All-in-One Playout, Integrated Streaming, Editing, and CBB, Live Caption Translation, New Viewer Analytics, and more!
9:00 am – 11:30 pm- Exhibitors Meet and Greet Visit the Exhibitors supporting JAG
MyCaseBuilder, NJ Film Commission, US Broadcast Distribution
9:00 am – 9:50 am- Varto User Group Breakfast – TriCaster & NDI User Group: NAB Highlights & Interactive Forum
10:00 am – 11:15 am-Workshop: News from Capitol Hill and Around the Country, and What It Means to New Jersey PEG Stations
11:30 am – 1:20 pm- Keynote Lunch Sponsored by Planet Networks
Presentation: Community Recognition Award
The Jersey Access Group is pleased to present the West Milford Town Council, and in particular Mayor Michele Dale and Council liaisons Ada Erik and Marilyn Lichtenberg for their continued support of their municipal channel WM77.
Presentation: Vendor Appreciation Award– Launch- JAG Streaming Channel: Rushworks streaming equipment and TelVue streaming service.
The Jersey Access Group recognizes the support of Rushworks for their donation of the Streamster a hardware/software combination for managing and streaming JAG’s own Internet TV channel.
The Jersey Access Group recognizes the support of TelVue in providing the streaming service that makes it possible for the JAG Internet TV channel to be seen on a number of different social media platforms.
Discussion: Where’s The Money? — From Washington to Trenton, Accessing Broadband Money from the American Infrastructure Bill Over a year ago the federal government approved 65 billion dollars to improve broadband deployment. That money flows from the Federal Government to the states for distribution. Where are we now? How can municipalities have access to funds? What are broadband and cable companies doing to help deployment of broadband? Our panel will talk about this and other issues, plus answer your questions. Panelists: Robert Boyle, CEO Planet Networks, Marilyn Davis, Senior Director of Government Affairs, Altice, Mike Wassenaar, President & CEO, Alliance for Community Media and Mike Lynch, Legislative Director, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, (NATOA)
1:30 pm – 2:15 pm- Workshop: Is A PEG Cable Channel All You Need?
2:30 pm – 3:15 pm- Workshop: Innovative Technology Tools – Revolutionizing the Broadcast Industry– Sponsored by Varto Technologies
3:30 pm – 4:15 pm- Workshop: DAMN…… I need a little SOMETHING. How to light properly when you have almost NOTHING! Sponsored by DeSisti
4:30 pm – 5:15 pm- Workshop: Using Video to Enhance your Municipality’s Social Media Presence – Sponsored by TelVue
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm- Cocktail Social with Exhibitors– Sponsored by DeSisti
Closing event with networking opportunities and providing time to thank the vendors that have supported the conference.
6:30 pm – 11:00 pm- JAG Banquet – sponsored by Varto Technologies
A celebration of all that JAG has accomplished to advocate, promote, and preserve the right to media production, distribution, civic engagement, and education in support of diverse community voices, through Public, Educational and Government access facilities and other forms of media.
JAG Recognition Awards: Lee Beckerman is one of the founding members of JAG from its first meeting to serving on the executive board for over 18 years. Lee was involved with the writing of JAG’s first mission statement, goals and policies and procedures. Lee served as the 2nd president of JAG and has been on the production committee from the beginning. Lee has dedicated thousands of hours in the last 30+ years, serving to the betterment of this organization and the PEG TV industry. Lee is the Station Manager of the Woodbridge Channels that is one of the first municipal stations in New Jersey.
Entertainment: Entertainment sponsored by Cologna Productions
Simon Mandel returns to JAG’s Banquet. Simon Mandal is one of the most in demand illusionists in the world today. Simon combines incredible feats of skill with hilarious interactive routines that bring the house down, and make the volunteers he brings on stage look like and feel like stars.
JAG Awards: The JAG Awards are annual awards, facilitated by the Jersey Access Group, that honor excellence in local & regional Public Education Government (PEG) programming. Categories cover a variety of programming including, among others, community events, documentaries, talk shows, sports, and entertainment. The Jersey Access Group is very proud of the programming all PEG Stations produce and is honored to host the JAG Awards each year.President’s Ovation Awards: Bob Duthaler, the President of The Jersey Access Group will present the President’s Ovation Award to a member and/or board member of JAG in acknowledgement of their unrelenting commitment to the members of the Jersey Access Group, and the operation of public, education, and government communication facilities.
News & Events
Posted: July 13, 2023 by Doug Seidel
The Unexpected Benefits of the JAG Awards
by Geoffery Belinfante, West Milford
Up here in the highlands of New Jersey, we at WM77 have been lucky to win two JAG “awards of excellence” in the past two years, one in the category of “Fairs, Festivals, Car Shows and Arts and Crafts,” and one for single camera coverage of our Town Council meetings. While it’s always nice to be recognized for outstanding work by your peers, for a small station like WM77 it has meant a lot more than just a pat on the back and a trophy for Town Hall.
For a small station that is run entirely by volunteers, the recognition has definitely raised our profile within the township, both with the residents and, more importantly, the town council. Up until this year, we had only received a small stipend for the station that came as part of our cable franchise agreement. The $4800 we receive annually paid for license fees for our TelVue products, with a few dollars left over for miscellaneous expenses which we spent mostly on things like cables, expendables and our JAG membership. We have operated the station for almost 10 years now with no additional contribution to our budget from the township. Winning the JAG Awards changed everything.
The first thing we did was to submit a press release to the local newspaper. We strategically included photographs of our council liaison presenting the awards to the mayor who was surprised by the presentation. The publicity generated by the media exposure got the attention of the town council who finally authorized an expenditure from General Funds to cover some badly needed switching, monitoring and communications equipment.
More importantly, we have managed to change the way residents and the town council members think about the channel. While we are constituted as the West Milford TV Commission, up until now the folks on the council seemed to think of us more like a club. Now they are taking our contribution to the town much more seriously. We have even been approached by several other organizations in town to help them publicize and/or document upcoming events. It’s taken a while, but now people think of the station, along with the local newspaper and posters in the local supermarkets, as one of those places you go when you are looking to let people know about an event.
For many years, we have been asking for a room to house our equipment and a small space to use as a studio. Suddenly we now have two locations to consider. The township has even invited us to participate in conversations with a new media consultant they have hired to improve communications with the residents. We are covering more events in town than ever before, which is challenging to our small volunteer staff. The Recreation department has even assigned a township employee to help cover some daytime events as part of his daily activities. We, in turn, have trained him on the operation of our camera equipment. This is something that was unthinkable just a few years ago.
Every story needs a moral and the moral of this one is: enter the JAG awards. Even if you don’t win an award of excellence, use the certificates you receive to generate publicity for your channel. As you can see, small channels like ours have really benefited from the recognition. Tell anyone who will listen about your accomplishments. Use the awards to engage your town council members to appreciate your work. Use the local media to tell your citizens about your success. Then parlay that publicity into more support, both financial and creative for your station. Use your success to recruit new members, promote the channel to your residents and gain the respect that we all deserve for the role we play in communicating important information to the residents of the communities we serve.
As a result of our efforts and the new respect we gained from our mayor and town council, JAG recognized West Milford with the Community Recognition Award. The award is given annually to a Municipality that has demonstrated support for strong communication between a township and its citizens. It was presented during the luncheon at our JAG Conference this year. After almost 10 years, we have finally gained the respect that we deserve for the role we play in communicating important information to the residents of the township, and all this came from winning a couple of JAG Awards. The Jersey Access Group was pleased to present the West Milford Town Council, and in particular Mayor Michele Dale and council liaisons Ada Erik and Marilyn Lichtenberg, for their continued support of their municipal channel WM77. West Milford launched its channel just 10 years ago, but since the beginning, the council, the mayor and the liaisons have supported the activities of the all-volunteer staff to keep residents informed on township activities. While WM77 is one of the smaller stations in the organization, it would not be able to continue its mission without the financial support and encouragement of the council, and for that reason we are pleased to present them our Community Recognition Award.
Posted: June 23, 2023 by Doug Seidel
Opposition to HR 3557: The American Broadband Deployment Act
by Dave Garb, Legislative Committee Chair
A bill was recently passed out of the Congressional House Energy and Commerce Committee, titled the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023 (H.R. 3557). We at JAG, along with our national partners, believe this bill would be a serious detriment to every municipality in our state and everyone needs to be aware of it and why it must be stopped.
This bill imposes new restrictions on local authorities regarding their ability to regulate a variety of state and local land use and zoning issues that pertain to the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure, including wireless and wireline deployment, as well as new limits on requirements and renewals of cable franchise agreements.
H.R. 3557 consolidated a slew of bills approved along party lines in this committee at the Communications and Technology’s April 19 hearing: “Breaking Barriers: Streamlining Permitting to Expedite Broadband Deployment”. This unexpected hearing took up more than 30 bills aimed at what was described as ‘Federal Barriers’, ‘State and Local Government Obstacles’, and ‘Pole Attachments’ (access to poles)’ to broadband infrastructure deployment.
The night before this hearing, local government member associations – the National Association of Counties (NACo), the National League of Cities (NLC), the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), wrote to Committee leadership to oppose the heavy-handed federal overreach into local land use, permitting, and franchise negotiation decisions on behalf of the nation’s counties, cities, towns and villages.
See the letter to the Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
(Provided by NATOA) https://www.natoa.org/news/joint-letter-on-breaking-barriers–streamlining-permitting-to-expedite-broadband-deployment-
The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) adopted a policy resolution at their Annual Meeting opposing the bill, which will be shared to Congress and the Administration.
(Provided by Gerard Lavery Lederer of Best, Best & Krueger, Attorneys at Law)
− Resolution Number 73: Resolution Opposing H.R. 3557, the American Broadband Act of 2023, sponsored by Mayor Lucy K. Vinis (Eugene, OR); Mayor Frank C. Ortis (Pembroke Pines, FL); Mayor Brian C. Wahler (Piscataway, NJ); Mayor Bruce Harrell (Seattle, WA) https://legacy.usmayors.org/resolutions/91st_Conference/proposed-review-list-full-print-committee-individual.asp?resid=a0F4N00000Sh7CsUAJ
During the proceedings, committee ranking member Frank Pallone (D NJ-6) valiantly offered an Amendment within both hearings to oppose HR 3557 and any action to approve it. He did a great job advocating for local government and PEG operations, not for just New Jersey, but the entire country.
Congressman Pallone made the following comment:
You’ll find HR 3557 and the amendments discussed at: https://energycommerce.house.gov/events/full-committee-markup-of-19-bills-2. H.R3557 represents an unprecedented and dangerous infringement of local governments’ authority to manage public rights-of-way and land use; it strips local governments of property rights and monetary compensation in favor of cable, wireless and telecommunications providers. The bill also waives historic preservation (NHPA) and environmental (NEPA) rules. Yet in return for these gifts, the bill imposes no obligations on these companies to provide broadband to “unserved” and “underserved” Americans.
H.R. 3557 should be opposed, (From NATOA) as it:
1. Cable: Removes Ability of State and Local Franchise Authorities to Enforce Franchises
2. Wireless/Telecom: Usurps State & Local Government Police Powers & Property Rights
The opportunity to discuss this bill was never offered to state or local governments, as it moved swiftly through this subcommittee.
JAG wants every one of our New Jersey municipalities, along with our county, state and federal legislatures to be aware of this bill. If this proceeds as it currently is written, the public will get nothing in return from it but hardships, while the telecommunications companies alone will reap all of its benefits.
Posted: June 20, 2023 by Doug Seidel
Building a TV Series and Finding JAG
by Caz. Bielen, Premiere Media
Every Great Video we produce has to have a story. My name is Caz. Bielen, Chief Creative Officer of Premiere Media and CazTV. I immigrated to the US when I was 8 years old. I never had a TV in Poland. My first TV was a black and white set, where I learned English watching Magilla Gorilla, The Adventures of Superman, Little Rascals and I Love Lucy reruns There were also the annual viewings of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Wizard of Oz. I did not know it was in color till I was in my late teens. But I loved the stories and the lighting, the effect that made these characters come to life.
After High School I attended Rutgers University in the early 1980’s. I was a part of the starting Knight Time Television, the first Student run TV Channel that also took advantage of Public Access that allowed it to also be seen on Cable TV in nearby homes. We were Cable before Cable was Cool!
After an internship at Cross Country Cable in Somerville, NJ and working there as a freelancer while still at school, I received two ACE Nominations. “Fun Stop”, a Kids Show and a special on “Pediatric Cardiology”. After that I got a full time job at Cross Country Cable, where I remember watching the launch of CNN. I was Producer and Public Access Coordinator, enabling the public to produce their own shows. This is where I met Debbie and Doug Gist, Lou Brogno, Dick Craig and others. Later, the Company became TKR Cable based in Warren, NJ. I was Producer-Director-Editor Internship coordinator and started local commercial production. You may have seen the “REPS” little people ads that ran for about 20 years. I worked with Michael D’Amato and Dave Garb, as well as Lee Beckerman with whom I reconnected with after more than three decades at the 2023 JAG Conference and Awards. It’s poetic that the story of my professional career and joining JAG has brought me back to where I started with people I worked with, and others I helped start on their television path.
Later, I worked at C-TEC Cable, where I produced and hosted Daytime Emmy Awards Specials, and the Pay-Per-View Report. As Media Services Manager at RCN Corporation, I got to be at the start of the Internet Revolution, before that was cool. After the dot com Boom and Bust, I started Premiere Media and CazTV, producing commercials, infomercials and working with Public Schools and Municipalities. I enjoyed creating content that educates, entertains and inspires viewers worldwide, and won 3 Telly Awards for Public Service Videos.
I wish to thank Steve Keiser, Producer of the “On the Loose” TV series. He told me a few years ago to join the Jersey Access Group and continues to be a good friend.
George Fairfield has been so helpful to me in getting to know JAG. I attended the annual Conference and was amazed at the talent and presenters that was there. I made connections and obtained knowledge from providers and facilitators on best practices.
I currently produce “Cazual Conversations” a Video and Audio Podcast, where we talk to people that are important to our world. Contact me if you want to be my guest and share your story. It’s available on various web platforms and via Telvue Connect in New Jersey and on the Media Exchange Nationwide. The program provides me, as an Independent Producer, a more local connection in New Jersey. I wish to thank the Jersey Access Group for the awards I received. I will be providing more programs for the Media Exchange, such as “Studio at the Hill”, a family-friendly program, and “Mr. AutoAds”, on which I show local NJ commercials from the past. To see more of my story, go to https://www.youtube.com/caztv.
Posted: June 20, 2023 by Doug Seidel
JAG Award Winners
2023
CONGRATULATIONS!
Documentary
NEWTV, The 55th Anniversary of the Newark Rebellion 1st
APTV, Sir, I Exist: A Life of Stephen Crane 2nd
WBTV35, Meet the Artist on Main: Joe Messick 3rd
Instructional & Training
WBTV35, Charge Point Charging Station 1st
WBMATV, Bloomfield Fire Department Safety Tips 2nd
PREMEIRE, Police Records at Hillsborough New Jersey 3rd
News Magazine
APTV, The Jersey Storm: Sandy in Monmouth County 1st
PCTV, Eye on Piscataway – July 2nd
EBTV, East Brunswick Stories 3rd
Talk Show
MOTL, Growing Green – Down the Shore 1st
EBTV, Sports Talk: Fall Season in Review 2nd
WBTV35, Greenable Woodbridge: Gallery on Main 3rd
PSA
WBMATV, Fiesta Latina PSAs (English and Spanish) 1st
PREMEIRE, Hillsborough Parks & Rec. Scavenger Hunt 1st
APTV, Be Kind PSA 2022 2nd
NEWTV, Reading Under the Stars PSA 3rd
Sports Programming/Multi-Camera
CRAN, Cranford Football-Military Appreciation Night 1st
WBTV35, Football: Woodbridge vs. Colonia 2nd
PCTV, PHS Football 3rd
Public Meetings/Single Camera
WM77, West Milford Town Council Meeting 1st
C-NET, Centre County Board of Commissioners Meeting, November 29, 2022 2nd
Public Meeting/Multi-Camera
OPTV, Mayor & Council Meeting: New Police Officer 1st
SPTV, Scotch Plains Candidates Night 2022 2nd
WBMATV, Bloomfield Township Council Meeting – Hybrid 3rd
Public Ceremony/ Single Camera
APTV, Bans Off Our Bodies Rally Highlights 1st
WBMATV, Texas Shooting Vigil 2nd
APTV, Universal African Festival 2022 Highlights 3rd
Public Ceremony/Multi-Camera
NEWTV, SOTC Part 2: Newark and Proud of It 1st
SPTV, Pride in the Park 2nd
EBTV, Memorial Day Observance 2nd
C-NET, 2022 Bellefonte Area High School Graduation 3rd
Public Parade/Single Camera
OAKTV, Oakland Volunteer Fire Dept. Santa Detail 2022 1st
Public Parade/Multi-Camera
LHTV, Long Hill Memorial Day Parade 1st
SPTV, Memorial Day Service and Parade 2nd
WBMATV, Bloomfield Memorial Day Parade 3rd
Concert/Multi-Camera
LHTV, We May Be Right: Billy Joel Tribute Band 1st
SPTV, Memorial Day Concert 2022 2nd
JCETV, Kennedy Dancers Holiday Showcase 23 3rd
Community Holiday Event
APTV, AP Juneteenth Day 2022 Highlights 1st
SPTV, Scotch Plains 4th of July Celebration 2022 2nd
EBTV, East Brunswick Interfaith Thanksgiving Service 3rd
WBTV35, MLK Virtual Ceremony 3rd
Community Development Event
SPTV, Dogust 2022 1st
PCTV, Sharpe Football Camp 2nd
NEWTV, Shop with A Hero 2nd
EBTV, Around East Brunswick: Redevelopment Update 3rd
WBMATV, Mayor’s Turkey Give-a-way 2022 3rd
Community Ground Breaking/Ribbon Cutting/Dedication
NEWTV, Ironbound Community Skate Rink Ribbon Cutting 1st
APTV, Asbury Park 150th Anniversary Time Capsule 2nd
CTV36, White Diamond Celebrates 75 Years! 3rd
Community Festival/Fair Event
NEWTV, Halsey Street Festival 1st
C-NET, 2022 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts 2nd
ROSTV, Roselle Winter Wonderland 3rd
FANTV, Christmas Tree Lighting 3rd
Community Award Presentation JCETV, JCPS Teacher of the Year
Posted: June 20, 2023 by Doug Seidel
JAG 2023 Conference Recap – Engaging the Community
by Jesse Lerman, President & CEO, TelVue Corporation
It was great to see everyone at this year’s annual JAG conference in Edison, which felt like a “coming home” of sorts, refocusing the lens back on the core New Jersey station operators and members, the real heart and soul of JAG and where TelVue got its start in community media nearly 20 years ago! The new layout, with vendor exhibit booths inside the large group ballroom, afforded better opportunities to mingle with customers and showcase products during breaks, yet also remain an important presence during the larger panel presentations. It created a very inclusive environment for vendors and customers alike, a welcome return and grateful exit from the social distancing and virtual trade show era.
TelVue is always proud to be a Diamond sponsor for JAG, and this year, we presented key updates on a range of products and services including: live, dual language, ultra affordable closed captioning, caption transcript search to make your government meetings fully searchable, automatic social media streaming directly from our new HyperCaster AIO+ line of playout & automation servers, integrated video editing & community bulletin board, time-saving automation rules, and new, built-in analytics & reports for your web, OTT, and mobile viewership.
I enjoyed collaborating with Joe Fernandes, Assistant Manager, Woodbridge Television, and Bob Duthaler on the panel session Is A Cable Channel All You Need? Joe shared successes and tips and tricks about how to expand your reach and audience with social media and social streaming, and I shared additional ways to grow your viewership online, including launching your own branded mobile and OTT apps. All great ways to deliver your programming in full HD, as well as gain insight into your viewers and reach through streaming analytics and reports. It was very cool to hear so many success stories from the audience, including Old Bridge TV, who shared how well-received their mobile and OTT apps are in the community.
I was delighted to chair a new panel on social media engagement in relation to local government with Jean-guy R. Lauture, Sr. IT Director, Bloomfield Township, and Cyd Katz, Founder/CEO of New Jersey Isn’t Boring. It was clearly a “reel” interesting topic, and top of mind for everyone based on the packed crowd, collaborative discussions, and the fact that it ran overtime. Cyd brought so many practical tips on how to leverage short videos to increase engagement, and Jean-guy shared best practices on how to navigate, work within local government, and avoid issues & pitfalls with social media.
Demos and Discussions at the TelVue Booth
The JAG awards honored two long time TelVue clients – Lee Beckerman on his retirement and literally sailing off into the sunset, and Stephanie Gibbons, both of whom have been incredible driving forces behind JAG. Congrats to Lee and Stephanie, and to all of the JAG award nominees and winners! It is no mystery how talented and dedicated the JAG stations and producers are, but what remains a mystery is how does Simon Mandel do that final magic trick?!?!
The annual JAG conference also affords a unique opportunity for our engineering and product development staff to have face-to-face customer contact as well, and to get direct feedback from important end users. We appreciated the great turn-out and participation at our morning User Group. TelVue remains dedicated to our valued NJ clients by listening and responding to their needs, and we are thrilled to be a part of the robust JAG station and member community. We were honored to be presented during the lunch banquet with a Certificate of Award acknowledging our support of JAG’s new Internet TV channel. JAG is always innovating, and always on the forefront!
Posted: June 20, 2023 by Doug Seidel
NATOA Contributes to the Success of JAG Conference
by Mike Lynch, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Director, NATOA
Thank you, Jersey Access Group, for inviting me to participate in the 2023 Conference! On behalf of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), I’ve got to tell you….I had a blast! You’re a dynamic organization with great leadership from folks like Bob Duthaler, Stephanie Gibbons, Dave Garb, Don Smith and, of course, Rich Desimone. To Rich: Thanks for your years of collaboration and teamwork as both NATOA and JAG moved forward in the ever-changing world of cable & broadband.
Thank you to Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler for guiding our conversation with Mike Wassenaar, CEO of the Alliance for Community Media, Robert Boyle, CEO of Planet Networks and Marilyn Davis, Senior Director of Government Affairs for Altice, as we discussed all things related to broadband funding. And, thank you to Valarry Bullard, Director of the newly created Broadband Office in the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) for participating.
I don’t know if folks remember, but Mayor Wahler has a longstanding connection with NATOA going back to 2014, when NATOA conferred our most valued honor, the Jane E. Lawton Commemorative Award on Mayor Wahler for all his good work in New Jersey advocating for local PEG, cable and broadband issues. Named in memory of the Honorable Jane E. Lawton, a past president of NATOA and former Special Assistant to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Carl Albert, for her career-long efforts to promote community interests in communications, the Award recognizes the work of individuals who stand out for their communities on PEG and broadband advocacy. Thank you, Mayor Wahler for your continued good work.
The Jersey Access Group has a great & strong history of activism on PEG, cable and broadband issues and we’re so appreciative of the long-standing partnership with NATOA.
You know, the day before your Conference, the House Energy & Commerce’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee held a Markup Hearing that was tough to watch and listen to as an advocate for local government on telecom matters and PEG operations, given the rigid party line conduct and anti-localism flavor of attacks. The markup hearing of 19 bills ultimately morphed into a single bill, H.R. 3557, the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023. H.R. 3557 passed along party lines and aimed to harm local governments’ public rights-of-way authority and risks the future of cable franchising and PEG operations.
The Subcommittee combined most of the bills that impact local governments into this single measure and was approved by a party line vote. As approved by the Subcommittee, the bill would:
A week later — and with little notice and with no opportunity for local governments to address the bill before the subcommittee — the Energy & Commerce Committee passed H.R. 3557 along party lines.
In a letter to Committee leadership, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors said:
“As the level of government closest to the people, we oppose heavy-handed federal overreach into local land use, permitting, and franchise negotiation decisions. Many of the bills the Subcommittee will consider during this hearing would preempt or undermine the property rights of local governments and local governments’ police powers to protect and preserve the safety, well-being, and aesthetics of their communities, which Congress and the Constitution have long recognized. Congress has historically recognized these rights in Sections 224, 253 and 332 of the Telecommunications Act.
These authorities are critical to conduct responsible stewardship of public property, protect public safety, and preserve the rights of residents as consumers of broadband services and neighbors to the infrastructure that makes connectivity possible. We fear the unintended consequence of some of these bills will be to impose costs on local governments, burdens on our taxpayers, interference with public safety and otherwise harm local protections that are the heart of localism without substantively improving broadband deployment.”
(See https://www.natoa.org/news/joint-letter-on-breaking-barriers–streamlining-permitting-to-expedite-broadband-deployment- )
Congressman Frank Pallone (D NJ-6) and Committee Ranking Member valiantly offered an Amendment to oppose HR 3557 and any action to approve it. Congressman Pallone said:
“To remove arbitrary deadlines and narrow timeframes in this bill that preempt local governments’ authority and ability to make decision that best meet the needs and best interest. That’s why these ‘deemed granted’ provisions that Republicans are rushing through are, I think, a bad process and are troubling to me and to the local elected officials in the towns we represent.
HR 3557 would enact narrow and arbitrary timeframes to approve or deny applications and then ‘deem them granted’ if a decision hasn’t been made by that time. Now to be clear, if a local planning board or town council is reviewing a project and does not approve it be a deadline set by House Republicans, the applicant’s proposal would automatically be considered approved w/o any further input from the community.
I have serious concerns that this approach raises mor Q’s than answers especially when it comes to liability in the case of public safety and accidents. The reality is, no matter where you go in this country, local governments have an important role to play in approving construction projects.
My Republican colleagues like to demonize local governments for not approving projects in the amount of time they would like. But, this bill does nothing to address a major concern that was raised by all the witnesses that was raised at the legislative hearing on this topic. And that is the lack of qualified personnel to process these applications, particularly in smaller towns and counties. Instead, they would wave their wand and approve these applications without further process.
Now, anyone who has served at the local level, and I have – (Long Branch, NJ city council, 1982-88) – there is a lot more to these decisions than simply yes or no. In many cases, there are negotiations between towns and counties with telecommunications provider for access to Rights of Way or other publicly owned areas. In other words, if a municipal planning board or zoning board is reviewing an application and does not issue an approval by a deadline set by House Republicans, the applicant’s proposal would automatically be considered approved w/o any further input from the community.
And, I’m most concerned that this approach raises more questions than answers, especially when it comes to liability in the case of accidents. And, my Republican colleagues like to demonize local governments who are not approving applications as quickly as they would like.
This ‘one size fits all’ mandate to approve a project in 2 months weakens a town’s ability to get the job done right while at the same time ignoring the reality of many local governments’ calendars. People who serve in town and county government are public servants who are accountable to the people who live in those communities. They are responsible for acting in their best interests, especially as it pertains to utilities and service in a county or town.
No one thinks about who’s responsible for ensuring your safety – for example, police or fire or traffic duty– for ensuring the safety of the public and the workers during construction. Or, the complexity of scheduling certain construction projects to avoid road closures or other disruption or delays that often and do occur as a result. It’s the Mayors, and councils and zoning boards who are responsible for these considerations. And, they’re ‘on the hook’ if anything goes wrong or someone gets hurt. And, perhaps, that is why we received a letter today form the Georgia Municipal Association, which represents all 537 municipalities in the bill sponsor’s home state.
They strongly oppose this bill. And, I would ask you now for unanimous consent to submit this letter for the record.
I have great respect for my friend from Georgia. He knows how much I love that state. But I’m struggling to understand how his constituents – and mine – are served well by these proposals because the ‘deemed granted’ proposals aren’t the only areas where this legislation removes critical local authority. At best, these proposals remove local leverage to negotiate the specifics of these projects that can best serve the people of these communities. At worst, they can put people at risk. Those of us who work closely with our mayors and councils – and I think that’s everyone on the dais here – we know that they are the first ones to step up when it comes to deploying communications infrastructure in their towns.
What possible advantage would come from deliberately ignoring or delaying requests to improve work that would improve services for their constituents?
So, last week, I challenged my Republican colleagues to tell their mayors that they voted for this bill the next time they went home and see what they say. So, when I went home this weekend & I asked the mayors and I was glad not to be on the record supporting this bill. I would encourage my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and to go back to the drawing board and work with some Democrats in a productive way to develop some bills that might actually get signed into law. It’s not as though Democrats are not trying to look for ways to enacts permitting reform bills that do not trample on these protections.
But so far, the Republicans have said no. So, I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to preserve local authority and vote “Yes” on the amendment.”
You’ll find HR 3557 and the amendments discussed about 2:30 pm – 4 ½ hours into the hearing: https://energycommerce.house.gov/events/full-committee-markup-of-19-bills-2
Congressman Pallone did a great job advocating for local government and PEG operations. New Jersey and JAG should be very proud of your representation in Congress.
H.R. 3557 is called the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023 but it should really be called the “Great American Give-away” to cable, broadband and wireless operators. The bill suggests it will streamline permitting to increase broadband availability. Instead, it eliminates local and state rights in broadband deployment, wireless sittings and cable franchising to benefit these companies without getting anything for the public in return. There is no ‘quid pro quo’ that the cable, broadband and wireless companies will build out or serve those that need to be served.
H.R. 3557 is bad for local communities and for PEG operations. The bill has moved too quickly through the Committee and will likely soon move through the full House. There is no companion bill in the Senate.
If you can, please communicate to your Members of Congress that: Neither state nor local governments were even provided an opportunity to address these bills, now collapsed into one bill as HR 3557, at the subcommittee level.
Best to all!
MLynch@NATOA.org
703-519-8035 x 202 (w)
617-327-8066 (c)
National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA)https://www.linkedin.com/in/local-gov-natoa
Posted: June 20, 2023 by Doug Seidel
2023 JAG Conference Legislative Session Recap & the Protecting Community Television Act
by Dave Garb, Legislative Committee Chair
During our annual JAG Conference last month, we held a special session that recapped the latest news from Capitol Hill and what it all means to New Jersey municipalities and PEG/Access stations.
Our panelists, myself, Mike Wassenaar, President of the ACM, Alliance for Community Media, and Mike Lynch, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs Director for NATOA, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, mainly focused on one very important subject, the federal Protecting Community Television Acts.
From this forum, it became obvious that our audience was not up to speed on why this legislation needs to be acted upon and what could be the ramifications if they are not. We explained all the details about it during the session, but I would like to once again give the background on what has been going on and why support of these bills is crucial.
From NATOA: On August 2, 2019, the FCC released a Third Report and Order interpreting provisions of the federal Cable Act. This Order allows cable operators to deduct from franchise fees the fair market value of cable franchise requirements, with limited exceptions, and largely preempts states and local governments from regulating the non-cable services and equipment of franchised cable operators, including their Wi-Fi and small cells equipment. This order defines “in-kind, cable-related contributions” to include “any non-monetary contributions related to the provision of cable services provided by cable operators as a condition or requirement of a local franchise, including but not limited to free or discounted cable service to public buildings, costs in support of PEG access other than capital costs, and costs attributable to the construction of I-Nets.
From The ACM: The FCC Franchise Fee Order redefined the federal Cable Act’s 5% franchise fee cap to include the value of most non-monetary franchise obligations as franchise fees. This change allows cable companies to reduce what they pay for the use of public property and rights-of-way. These Protecting Community Television Acts (S 340/HR 907) correct this error by clarifying that franchise fees are only monetary. The Cable Act protects the rights of a local community to charge cable companies a five (5%) percent franchise fee and to meet community needs and interests, such as providing public, educational and governmental channel capacity. Contrary to industry practices that date to the 1980s, the FCC’s actions could result in reducing cable operators’ monetary compensation to towns and municipalities that wish to communicate with residents through community television.
The Identical Protecting Community Television Acts, S 340, authored by Senator Edward Markey (MA) and Tammy Baldwin (WI), and HR 907, authored by Representative Anna Eshoo (CA), were reintroduced in Congress on February 9th of this year. These acts clarify that only monetary payments, not non-monetary franchise obligations, qualify as Cable Act franchise fees and are subject to a fee cap.
Without these acts passed into law, cable operators could create fees to drain away municipal revenues and pressure municipalities to give up or reduce the staff at their PEG channels. It could come down to a choice between franchise fees or communicating with residents through community media that provide Americans with local (transparent) civic, public safety and public health content.
When the Protecting Community Television Acts, were first introduced during the 2021-2022 Congressional Session, Representatives Donald Payne (10th District) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (12th District), led the charge by co-sponsoring it at that time.
This time around, New Jersey’s U.S. Senator Corey Booker learned about our concerns from the FCC’s Order and the detriment it could cause to all of New Jersey’s municipalities. This interest was first sparked by a visit I had, along with Mike Wassenaar, to his Washington DC office this past April.
More recently, this spark was relit when Beatrice Moskowitz, Vice Chair. of the Middlesex County Democrats, working with JAG’s Managing Director, Rich Desimone, made it possible for Senator Booker’s office to take a much closer look into this act, as well as an interest in our conference. So much so, that Senator Booker sent his Press Secretary, Minjae Park, to attend our conference and find out first hand what the issues were, what the act does, and also, what JAG was all about.
I am very happy to announce to our entire JAG community that for the 2023-2024 Congressional Session, Senator Corey Booker has become the first Federal Legislator from New Jersey to co-sponsor the Protecting Community Television Act. Our hope is that we can convey the importance of supporting both of these companion acts to all of our New Jersey members of Congress, so that every community can continue to have their specific and transparent information flow to their residents for their benefit, and for the benefit of all the citizens of our great State.
Posted: May 9, 2023 by Doug Seidel
Spotlight Woodbridge: Building and Managing a Municipal Access Cable Station
By Lee Beckerman, Station Manager, Woodbridge Channels
In the mid-1980s, Woodbridge Township was contemplating starting a cable TV channel of its own. They had secured a channel on Suburban, set up a governing board and had purchased a random assortment of equipment. And then…nothing happened. At some point they decided it was time to bring on a person to manage the station and move the project forward. I was fresh out of college with a degree in video production. Doing freelance and having a hard time finding fulltime work in my field, I jumped at the opportunity. It was not my dream job, but I thought it might be an adequate place holder to build my resume, and, lacking other options, I took it. I was eventually shown to a packed projection room/closet, told it was my new office and to have at it. No further instructions were forthcoming. No one had apparently thought past the idea of having a TV station and considered what to do with it. I rightly deduced that the first part of starting a community television station involved getting all the crap out of your new office and finding a desk.
One major advantage was that no one (including me) knew what a municipal cable station was supposed to be. There was a vague feeling that it might be a good addition to a forward-thinking town and should probably include some programs. The rest was up to me. I was trained in video production but I did not know any more than they did about what a municipal TV station should be. I set out to find the answer. What follows are some insights gained along the way.
Networking
You can’t do everything by yourself. With no knowledge of what to do with my channel, I reached out to the two thriving community stations in the area, Piscataway’s PCTC and East Brunswick’s EBTV. Debbe Gist and Cindy O’Connor helped immensely in getting the station up and running and gave me ideas I could build on. They also connected me with the Alliance for Community Media. The Township allowed me to attend their conference in Tampa, Florida. All this gave me a starting point.
It was Debbe who first brought the idea of creating JAG to all of us, probably because she was one of the people all the other stations turned to for ideas. Cindy became our first President and so began one of the most valuable resources for running a local access television station. Woodbridge Television could not have come as far without JAG’s support.
Audience
Access cable audiences are small. If we’re lucky, we get a few hundred to a few thousand viewers for a big event and often less than that. But the numbers are cumulative. The people who are watching the council meeting are not the same people watching your local sports; who are not the same people watching your concert coverage and your parades and business openings and school recitals etc… When added up, you can reach a large, diverse section of your population. For our mayor, announcing local sports is a passion, but for hundreds of kids in our town, and their parents, they know the name of the mayor because he is the local sports announcer.
As a side note, it is the talent that usually gets the direct feedback. The politicians and show hosts certainly knew before we did that we were building an audience. When we started, without access to metrics, this turned out to be a very important point.
Different platforms
In the beginning we had a cable TV channel, and all was good with the world. We put our programs out there and over time, word started leaking out to the powers-that-be that people were watching. (Hey, I saw you on the channel last night and you’re nuts). There were no metrics or any way to measure or define an audience. In came Princeton Server Group (now TelVue) whose file-based server systems completely revolutionized how we worked. Their streaming video service offered us a video-on-demand platform that let us push our shows out in a different way. (An interesting side note. JAG got involved with the Princeton Server group because Steve George’s son played soccer with my son in middle school and we got to talking on the sideline, which led to a tour and a meeting with the president, Jesse Lerman.)
After a while we began to use their metrics, and for the first time, to see the numbers. We next added YouTube and because of the popularity of the platform, once people realized we were there, they started looking for us instead of us seeking them out.
I’m at the tail end of the boomer generation. I’m not going to be the guy to lead the charge on alternate social media platforms. But I know a good thing when I see one. The town had started using Facebook to shout out to residents, so we set up our own page to push out our content. Younger staff began sending out tweets and doing Instagram posts as we set up and shot programs to tease the content. We also started getting conversations going on social media during events like games and concerts, including announcers interacting with fans in real time, creating buzz.
Relationships
Community Television is about…community. Getting to know your community and establishing relationships gains you access. Early on I created a relationship with our local arts center. We began by covering a few of their concerts, but as they came to know and trust us as professionals, that blossomed into several joint grants for documentaries which won many awards and ended up, along with several of our concerts, being featured on Metro-Arts in NYC to audiences of millions. That gets the name of your town out there!
When I first tried covering high school sports it was a bit of a disaster. What I failed to do was get buy-in from the athletic directors and the school administrations. (We have three high schools). It took a long time to build that trust, but it was essential to successfully covering local sports.
Relationships with municipal departments and local non-profits are also important. We’ve put out content for our police department, libraries, youth theater, historical society, and senior services to name a few. But having strong ties with public works and parks and rec is equally critical. I had a day where we were shooting our exercise show in a park. I scouted a perfect location with the Outerbridge Crossing in the background. On shoot day we arrived to set up and someone had parked a giant dumpster in the middle of my shot! However, because I had built relationships within the town, I had phone numbers of people who knew who I was and I had a truck pull out the dumpster within a half an hour.
Quality
Programming quality is essential. If an audience can’t see and hear a program, you have wasted your, and your viewers’ time. Among the first complex programs I started doing were art center concerts. I insisted that they hire a professional audio engineer. I knew I could deliver the video but if the sound wasn’t great, what was the point? Eventually they added an audio engineer to all their concert grants. Video quality is likewise important. Your audience may not know how to create great programming, but they have watched a lot of it, and they understand what it’s supposed to look like. They might forgive quality issues for something they are crazy into, but unless you have a marketing genius on board you cannot build an audience that way.
The look of your shows matter. We try to get very creative with sets and looks on a very limited budget. I designed my own sets, and we were able to find someone in the Parks Department who could build them. With my set design I strove to create sets that shared production elements, maximizing utility and minimizing space constraints. When we were doing Seniorsize, I looked at the township roller rink and realized they already had a great lighting system and I just had to add key lights to make a dynamic show with less set-up time. We also did a season at the Woodbridge Mall (another great partnership) that gave us a cool and dynamic background with minimal additional effort (at least as far as the look was concerned.)
Recently, we are doing more things with green screen. This offers huge flexibility and is great for many applications. The sets, however, especially for multicamera shoots, do have a very digital look especially at our price point. I’m sure there will be new innovations going forward.
People
You need to hire good people! OK, obvious. Finding good people is hard with our budget limitations, especially in a tight labor market. But people choose jobs for different reasons. I did not intend to stay in my job for more than a few years, but I found I liked the relative freedom, the ability to be creative and I liked building something. In addition to our regular fare of sports and concerts we have made narrative films, documentaries, short comedies with special effects and big location shoots. My staff gets some leeway to create and produce shows on their own for the station. Turned out it was a good gig. I think these are good selling points. I should mention that two out of three of my most recent hires came from JAG stations/ recommendations. When I look at new people, I always hire them as freelancers first so I can get a sense of their work ethic and how they gel with the crew.
Getting creative with staff is also essential to any small operation. Many of the events we cover are at night or on weekends so in order to have staff available we have two members who work 4 days on/4 days off from late morning into the evening. The days are 10-hours so they are available to cover evenings and weekends. We take advantage of interns to help cover larger events and, of course, freelancers for the biggest productions. This is something we had to build up to and we started with volunteers like everyone.
Bosses and Politicians
I had some early run-ins with bosses and politicians. Much of this had to do with my misunderstanding of our relationship. When I was working from the model of public access, I would often fight battles about public access issues. The truth, however, is I work for them in the municipal access model. There are exceptions.
Open meetings rules mean I never edit any public meetings and I have never been asked to or have we in 35 years. We do not allow talk about elections or candidates during election season (outside of debate coverage), and do not endorse any candidates, at any time, on the channel. That aside, the channel has a mandate to be the video face of our town and government, including its leaders, along with highlighting our events civic organizations, nonprofits, schools, citizens and everything our township has to offer.
Reputation
As a municipal department I started to notice different departments have different reputations. This stood out for me when the deputy police chief kept bringing guests by to see the station. I asked him why this was and he said, “I love coming in here because everyone’s always working, all the time.” I liked that. I try to make it a point for people to understand we take the work seriously and are willing to work hard to make it as good as we can. They don’t always understand what we’re doing but if they show up at an event and see our cameras everywhere and everyone humming like a well-oiled machine, it makes an impression. We also do not stand on our laurels but always try to innovate in small ways and push things forward. I find it is easier to ask for things if people believe you are working hard and believe you will put what you ask for to good use. The motto I’ve adopted is to under promise and over deliver.
Equipment
It is essential that you keep current with equipment to the best extent possible. Early on I communicated to my town that I was not trying to build CBS -that the equipment I was buying was appropriate for the application. But I also tried to get the best quality equipment that met our needs. I got push back when we became an early AVID adopter, or when we decided we needed to build a mobile production unit, but I was able to give them detailed and expansive reasons why I wanted them and what I was planning to do with them and how they would benefit the town. When they got tired of listening, they let me have what I need if I would just go away. Well not really. I had some protracted arguments about some of this, but I did have my facts. As I stated before, your audience watches video, they know what to expect and if you are not delivering it, they have another reason to turn away. This was obviously why we fought so hard for an HD channel. When the show looks bad, they assume it’s you and you have given them an excuse not to watch.
Cross Pollination
It’s important to have the people you partner with on shows, guests, talent, performers etc, help push out the content on their own social media accounts. This is something I wish we did more in my time and something I think the new staff will be thinking about. If you do a show with a local organization or business, make sure they get a link and put it on their website, which leads back to your social media which brings in people who may not have been aware of you. We also share our shows and posts to the mayor’s social media which has a much larger footprint than ours.
Local TV
Easy to forget sometimes but we should be the voice of our town. I always felt it was my mandate to emphasize the Township of Woodbridge as much as possible. We take in very few outside shows, mostly things from Middlesex County government and a few other exceptions, but I always try to keep a Woodbridge twist on everything. With the demise of our bulletin board Channel (We had to give it back in exchange for our HD channel) we started to make all the bulletin board notices into PSAs with voice-overs and motion and graphics to replace the old Ad Council PSA’s. Once again, if you turn on Woodbridge TV you should instantly get a dose of Woodbridge, which is what I consider the essence of Municipal Access Television.
In Conclusion
I got lucky in many ways. First, Woodbridge is a large community with a population of over 100,000. I had a few years in the beginning with little scrutiny, in which to build a foundation. When Mayor Joseph DeMarino went on trial for corruption (he was acquitted) we were able to provide the first gavel-to-gavel coverage of a trial in New Jersey. The whole township tuned in, with watch parties at many bars. This raised public awareness of the station and government officials became aware of the potential of the medium.
When new officials were elected, we were already a going concern and the new Mayor, Jim McGreevey, was anxious to use and build on it. The station continued to grow under Mayor Pelzman. But Woodbridge Township Television really blossomed under Mayor McCormac and this current administration who have supported and encouraged us in so many ways. My staff, new station manager Gina Forbes, assistant manager, Joe Fernandes, Emil Brandafi, Samantha Roth, Erin Zirpolo, new producer Valentino Lamotta and Bruno Martins from the Woodbridge Township School District as well as my longtime boss, John Hagerty, have all helped build and support the station. All the great people at JAG including Bob Duthaler and Rich Desimone have had a great impact. I understand my experience may not be your experience and we all have different models and mandates. What we have at The Woodbridge Channels was built very slowly over a long period of time, starting with one person in a basement closet thinking big.
Posted: May 9, 2023 by Doug Seidel
The Conference is Waiting for You
By Don Smith, Vice Chair, Conference Committee
We are only 2 weeks away from the JAG Conference! The conference committee has been working hard to bring an informative, networking, and fun conference to the members and supporters of JAG. Tell all your members to mark down May 18th and we will see you there. For details and to register visit our website www.jagconference.com
Conference Schedule
TelVue/ Varto Technologies/ Cologna Productions/ DeSisti Lighting/ de Wolfe Music/ NewTek/ LiveU
MyCaseBuilder, NJ Film Commission, US Broadcast Distribution
Presentation: Community Recognition Award
The Jersey Access Group is pleased to present the West Milford Town Council, and in particular Mayor Michele Dale and Council liaisons Ada Erik and Marilyn Lichtenberg for their continued support of their municipal channel WM77.
Presentation: Vendor Appreciation Award– Launch- JAG Streaming Channel: Rushworks streaming equipment and TelVue streaming service.
The Jersey Access Group recognizes the support of Rushworks for their donation of the Streamster a hardware/software combination for managing and streaming JAG’s own Internet TV channel.
The Jersey Access Group recognizes the support of TelVue in providing the streaming service that makes it possible for the JAG Internet TV channel to be seen on a number of different social media platforms.
Discussion: Where’s The Money? — From Washington to Trenton, Accessing Broadband Money from the American Infrastructure Bill Over a year ago the federal government approved 65 billion dollars to improve broadband deployment. That money flows from the Federal Government to the states for distribution. Where are we now? How can municipalities have access to funds? What are broadband and cable companies doing to help deployment of broadband? Our panel will talk about this and other issues, plus answer your questions. Panelists: Robert Boyle, CEO Planet Networks, Marilyn Davis, Senior Director of Government Affairs, Altice, Mike Wassenaar, President & CEO, Alliance for Community Media and Mike Lynch, Legislative Director, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, (NATOA)
Closing event with networking opportunities and providing time to thank the vendors that have supported the conference.
A celebration of all that JAG has accomplished to advocate, promote, and preserve the right to media production, distribution, civic engagement, and education in support of diverse community voices, through Public, Educational and Government access facilities and other forms of media.
JAG Recognition Awards: Lee Beckerman is one of the founding members of JAG from its first meeting to serving on the executive board for over 18 years. Lee was involved with the writing of JAG’s first mission statement, goals and policies and procedures. Lee served as the 2nd president of JAG and has been on the production committee from the beginning. Lee has dedicated thousands of hours in the last 30+ years, serving to the betterment of this organization and the PEG TV industry. Lee is the Station Manager of the Woodbridge Channels that is one of the first municipal stations in New Jersey.
Entertainment: Entertainment sponsored by Cologna Productions
Simon Mandel returns to JAG’s Banquet. Simon Mandal is one of the most in demand illusionists in the world today. Simon combines incredible feats of skill with hilarious interactive routines that bring the house down, and make the volunteers he brings on stage look like and feel like stars.
JAG Awards: The JAG Awards are annual awards, facilitated by the Jersey Access Group, that honor excellence in local & regional Public Education Government (PEG) programming. Categories cover a variety of programming including, among others, community events, documentaries, talk shows, sports, and entertainment. The Jersey Access Group is very proud of the programming all PEG Stations produce and is honored to host the JAG Awards each year.President’s Ovation Awards: Bob Duthaler, the President of The Jersey Access Group will present the President’s Ovation Award to a member and/or board member of JAG in acknowledgement of their unrelenting commitment to the members of the Jersey Access Group, and the operation of public, education, and government communication facilities.