On October 29th, NATOA held a very interesting webinar pertaining to PEG and the challenges we all will face as we strive to obtain funding for our individual operations and maximize.
Mike Lynch, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), started off by affirming that traditional funding for public access, educational and government channels is declining across the country—a fact we are all quite aware of. Transparency is difficult when there isn’t any local journalism. There are news deserts with a lack of local government reporting in many communities across the United States.
PEG services provide essential government transparency so citizens and residents can monitor and give feedback to make sure that we have effective local democracy. A side effect of this is the increase in the efficiency and responsiveness in local government.
Mike Wassenaar, President, the Alliance for Community Media (ACM), emphasized that we also have strong documentation that PEG channels benefit public safety and education. It also provides public health information that benefits communities across the United States. This was most recently demonstrated during the COVID crisis of 2020–2021. We saw documentation across the United States (in both local franchising states and states without local franchising) where community media stepped up to provide people essential information because there were no other outlets providing public health information for the benefit of residents.
Many public access organizations across the United States have been seen as platforms for local political, cultural, and religious expression that should not be undersold. It is a key feature of PEG, even though in many instances, that’s not necessarily the function of community television in that area. Think about the role of our stations in our community as we make the case for continued funding of PEG channels.
Generally, the cable subscription base has been declining about 5% per year since it peaked in 2018. The thing that’s important to note is that this was originally designed as a subsidy for our services. We never anticipated that that model would change over time as technology changes. It’s generally worked for 40 years. Now, we need to think of a new model for funding PEG stations. Broadcasters focus on larger markets. They aren’t focusing specifically on the types of communities that that PEG has been able to target and support.
Mike Bradley of Bradley Werner LLC, continued by saying that we see many of the success stories within the field happening within the exurban or suburban markets across the United States It’s because those are places that have become functional news deserts, even though there may be a broadcaster.
On top of that, there’s a shrinking news window. The amount of news information that a local broadcaster provides has grown smaller and smaller over the course of the last 40 years. So the amount of effort to actually to be able to meet the needs has been decreasing.
Some states have responded to the changing technology landscape by providing new, alternate ways to fund PEG.
Vermont included $1,000,000 to the state budget to support PEG.
Connecticut ended up creating a 5% tax on communication service providers and .25% of that would go towards funding access television.
New York proposed the Community Media Reinvestment Act. Their legislature proposed a 5% tax on satellite and streaming services, and then they proposed to distribute that in three ways.
They would give 1/5 of the money to the state general fund, then 2/5 to local governments, and then another 2/5 to support community media and so you can see this is a way of addressing the decline in franchise fees and pay fees to communities by really taxing the entities that are at least partially responsible for the decline in cable service. So it’s an interesting way of addressing that decline in revenue and it’s absolutely worth considering as we look for alternate funding options.
Massachusetts is proposing to create a peg access Facilities Revenue Advisory Board. That board will recommend an assessment rate and then assess it on gross revenues of streaming operators and that revenue would be used to support access television funding.
Minnesota has created the Equal Access to Broadband Act. It was introduced in House filing 4180. It’s a piece of legislation that’s broader than access television funding—although it included access to television funding that would allow local governments to franchise broadband.
Mike Wassenaar ended the webinar by stressing that now, more than ever, making the case for why what we’re doing is vital to life in our communities, whether it’s for expression or local business, the proper functioning of local democracy, is important! Each of us must know the best case you can make for your PEG channels. It’s extremely important for people to map out the communities of interest that care about what you do. Find the folks in your community that care about local history and culture, and event religious expression. Build relationships with those communities and begin to think about their interests being our interests. Create that list of people who would care if PEG services are not being provided.
More information on PEG funding and the opportunities that are in front of us will be coming in the months ahead. In the meantime consider jotting down your thoughts on why PEG is important to your community and the people you serve. It will help all of us to prepare for our future goals and community needs.
PEG, Franchising & Legislative Opportunities from NATOA’s Webinar
Posted: December 21, 2024 by Doug Seidel
by Dave Garb, Legislative Committee Chair
On October 29th, NATOA held a very interesting webinar pertaining to PEG and the challenges we all will face as we strive to obtain funding for our individual operations and maximize.
Mike Lynch, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), started off by affirming that traditional funding for public access, educational and government channels is declining across the country—a fact we are all quite aware of. Transparency is difficult when there isn’t any local journalism. There are news deserts with a lack of local government reporting in many communities across the United States.
PEG services provide essential government transparency so citizens and residents can monitor and give feedback to make sure that we have effective local democracy. A side effect of this is the increase in the efficiency and responsiveness in local government.
Mike Wassenaar, President, the Alliance for Community Media (ACM), emphasized that we also have strong documentation that PEG channels benefit public safety and education. It also provides public health information that benefits communities across the United States. This was most recently demonstrated during the COVID crisis of 2020–2021. We saw documentation across the United States (in both local franchising states and states without local franchising) where community media stepped up to provide people essential information because there were no other outlets providing public health information for the benefit of residents.
Many public access organizations across the United States have been seen as platforms for local political, cultural, and religious expression that should not be undersold. It is a key feature of PEG, even though in many instances, that’s not necessarily the function of community television in that area. Think about the role of our stations in our community as we make the case for continued funding of PEG channels.
Generally, the cable subscription base has been declining about 5% per year since it peaked in 2018. The thing that’s important to note is that this was originally designed as a subsidy for our services. We never anticipated that that model would change over time as technology changes. It’s generally worked for 40 years. Now, we need to think of a new model for funding PEG stations. Broadcasters focus on larger markets. They aren’t focusing specifically on the types of communities that that PEG has been able to target and support.
Mike Bradley of Bradley Werner LLC, continued by saying that we see many of the success stories within the field happening within the exurban or suburban markets across the United States It’s because those are places that have become functional news deserts, even though there may be a broadcaster.
On top of that, there’s a shrinking news window. The amount of news information that a local broadcaster provides has grown smaller and smaller over the course of the last 40 years. So the amount of effort to actually to be able to meet the needs has been decreasing.
Some states have responded to the changing technology landscape by providing new, alternate ways to fund PEG.
They would give 1/5 of the money to the state general fund, then 2/5 to local governments, and then another 2/5 to support community media and so you can see this is a way of addressing the decline in franchise fees and pay fees to communities by really taxing the entities that are at least partially responsible for the decline in cable service. So it’s an interesting way of addressing that decline in revenue and it’s absolutely worth considering as we look for alternate funding options.
Mike Wassenaar ended the webinar by stressing that now, more than ever, making the case for why what we’re doing is vital to life in our communities, whether it’s for expression or local business, the proper functioning of local democracy, is important! Each of us must know the best case you can make for your PEG channels. It’s extremely important for people to map out the communities of interest that care about what you do. Find the folks in your community that care about local history and culture, and event religious expression. Build relationships with those communities and begin to think about their interests being our interests. Create that list of people who would care if PEG services are not being provided.
More information on PEG funding and the opportunities that are in front of us will be coming in the months ahead. In the meantime consider jotting down your thoughts on why PEG is important to your community and the people you serve. It will help all of us to prepare for our future goals and community needs.
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Category: Committee Profile, Latest JAG News, Legislation/Regulation