Nov 2004
Baltimore Chronicle article: City Council Considers Contract Amendments for Public Access TV
Tue., Nov. 30, 2004 Filed in: public access
news
City Council Postpones Comcast Vote
Tue., Nov. 30, 2004 Filed in: public access
news
Final vote held up one week to get city guarantee of
Public Access funds
At the Monday, November 29, 2004 Baltimore City Council meeting a motion was passed to postpone voting on the 3rd and final reader of the proposed Comcast cable TV contract until the following Monday's meeting to give the city more time to meet the council's demand for a memorandum of understanding committing an additional $430,000 over 12 years for Public Access operating revenue.
Councilman Curran put forth the motion saying, "I'm going to make a motion to hold for one week so we can get etched in stone the agreement between our financial department and this body concerning the funds that's going to go to cable access. The intent is there and we just need to have the language reflect the intent of the council to make sure that cable access gets the needed funds, the additional [$430,000]. So the intent is there. We just need to have it done in a timely fashion. So I'm going to give the administration the benefit of the doubt. So I'm going to make a motion that we hold [Bill 04-]1504 for one week."
By "cable access" it is assumed he meant "public access."
The motion was seconded by council Vice President Stephanie C. Rawlings Blake (according to a 11/8/04 Sun article, Rawlings Blake has the support of the mayor and, "Under the city charter, the council appoints the vice president. But the council typically defers to the mayor, approving his choice for the post. That's because the vice president traditionally serves as the mayor's floor leader, drumming up support for his legislative agenda.")
At the Monday, November 29, 2004 Baltimore City Council meeting a motion was passed to postpone voting on the 3rd and final reader of the proposed Comcast cable TV contract until the following Monday's meeting to give the city more time to meet the council's demand for a memorandum of understanding committing an additional $430,000 over 12 years for Public Access operating revenue.
Councilman Curran put forth the motion saying, "I'm going to make a motion to hold for one week so we can get etched in stone the agreement between our financial department and this body concerning the funds that's going to go to cable access. The intent is there and we just need to have the language reflect the intent of the council to make sure that cable access gets the needed funds, the additional [$430,000]. So the intent is there. We just need to have it done in a timely fashion. So I'm going to give the administration the benefit of the doubt. So I'm going to make a motion that we hold [Bill 04-]1504 for one week."
By "cable access" it is assumed he meant "public access."
The motion was seconded by council Vice President Stephanie C. Rawlings Blake (according to a 11/8/04 Sun article, Rawlings Blake has the support of the mayor and, "Under the city charter, the council appoints the vice president. But the council typically defers to the mayor, approving his choice for the post. That's because the vice president traditionally serves as the mayor's floor leader, drumming up support for his legislative agenda.")
Baltimore Sun article: O'Malley says Comcast agreement was the best deal for the city
Wed., Nov. 17, 2004 Filed in: public access
news
Baltimore Sun article: Cable panel urged mayor not to back Comcast deal
Tue., Nov. 16, 2004 Filed in: public access
news
Fate of Public Access TV to be Decided in Six Days
Thu., Nov. 11, 2004 Filed in: public access
news
Barring an unlikely reversal at next
Wednesday's Board of Estimates meeting the final
decision now rests with the City Council where they
will vote the contract up or down at a meeting the
following day
Yesterday was a rough day for public access TV advocates in Baltimore City. The Board of Estimates voted to approve the proposed Comcast contract, with some last minute amendments slipped in, ignoring compelling testimony about serious flaws and a written request from Baltimore Grassroots Media (BGM) to postpone the decision one week so the amendments could be considered by BGM and others and so that a request by City Council President Dixon to BGM for a sample public access budget could be fulfilled and considered by the board.
Barring an unlikely reversal at next Wednesday's Board of Estimates meeting the final decision now rests with the City Council where they will vote the contract up or down at a meeting the following day, Thursday, November 18, 2004, at 12:30 PM in the council chambers.
One of the last-minute amendments would totally restructure the way public access would be managed. In an abrupt switch from the city's oft-stated plan to issue a request for proposals from independent groups to run public access, the amendment specifies that the mayor would appoint a 13-member board to work with his administration to form the public access entity. The Mayor already controls the Government Access channel with its $1.3 million budget. Why should he also be given control of the Public Access channel?
In another weird twist Comcast agreed in a separate document, not made available, to pay an additional $430,000 to Youth Works Summer Employment Program with the understanding that the city would direct this same amount to public access. This would bring the total training grant to $1 million to be doled out over the proposed 12 years of the contract. However, the mayor later said that he could not guarantee directing the $430,000 to public access.
We were told Comcast insisted on this shell game so as not to set a precedent where they would be seen giving too much to public access. This is ridiculous. There is already a precedent in Washington, DC where their 2002 cable contract directs 1.33% of Comcast's gross revenue, in addition to the 5% franchise fee, to the public access corporation. In Baltimore this would amount to $1.15 million per year for public access.
Comcast is acting like their agreement to give a relatively tiny amount is so wonderful, but it is not even in the contract, and it was negotiated in exchange for the city giving up four of our current 12 cable access channels to Comcast. Comcast's own estimates put the value of these four channels over the 12 years of the contract at $77 million! Why would the city give up these valuable public assets for so little?
Please write letters to newspapers, call in to radio shows and email or call your council members (http://www.baltimorecitycouncil.com/members.htm) to tell them to vote this proposed contract down because:
1. The contract does not even come close to providing adequate funding for Public Access as other cities have. DC public access had 2003 revenue of $2 million, most of it from the cable contract.
2. The proposed contract gives four of our current 12 cable access channels to Comcast, who values these channels at $77 million over the 12 years of the contract, in exchange for almost nothing!
3. The length of the contract is too long in this rapidly changing industry and according to Jeff Chester, Director of the Center for Digital Democracy, there have been calls for a "nationwide campaign to advocate for a new federal policy that ensures that communities can effectively benefit from the digital age, and that monopolies like Comcast are required to operate in a more open and democratic fashion."
4. At their October 13, 2004 meeting the Mayor's Cable Communications Advisory Commission unanimously voted to oppose the proposed contract.
5. There is no mention of a facility for Public Access. Other municipalities, for example Arlington Co. Virginia, specify this in the contract.
6. The proposed structure of the public access corporation shifts control from the public to the mayor.
7. The mayor's channel has a $1.3 million annual budget. It should not be more than the public channels budget.
8. Public Access needs more than one channel.
9. There has not been a fair opportunity for the public to comment on the amendments.
10. Comcast gets an exception where their failure to meet minority business goals cannot result in termination of the contract as it does with other contracts with the city.
Please CC any letters to the editor or emails you send to info@baltimoregrassrootsmedia.org and contact us with any ideas you have. Join us at our next meeting: Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 7 PM at Unity United Methodist Church, 1433 Edmondson Ave.
Baltimore Grassroots Media
www.baltimoregrassrootsmedia.org
Info@baltimoregrassrootsmedia.org
410-779-2184
Yesterday was a rough day for public access TV advocates in Baltimore City. The Board of Estimates voted to approve the proposed Comcast contract, with some last minute amendments slipped in, ignoring compelling testimony about serious flaws and a written request from Baltimore Grassroots Media (BGM) to postpone the decision one week so the amendments could be considered by BGM and others and so that a request by City Council President Dixon to BGM for a sample public access budget could be fulfilled and considered by the board.
Barring an unlikely reversal at next Wednesday's Board of Estimates meeting the final decision now rests with the City Council where they will vote the contract up or down at a meeting the following day, Thursday, November 18, 2004, at 12:30 PM in the council chambers.
One of the last-minute amendments would totally restructure the way public access would be managed. In an abrupt switch from the city's oft-stated plan to issue a request for proposals from independent groups to run public access, the amendment specifies that the mayor would appoint a 13-member board to work with his administration to form the public access entity. The Mayor already controls the Government Access channel with its $1.3 million budget. Why should he also be given control of the Public Access channel?
In another weird twist Comcast agreed in a separate document, not made available, to pay an additional $430,000 to Youth Works Summer Employment Program with the understanding that the city would direct this same amount to public access. This would bring the total training grant to $1 million to be doled out over the proposed 12 years of the contract. However, the mayor later said that he could not guarantee directing the $430,000 to public access.
We were told Comcast insisted on this shell game so as not to set a precedent where they would be seen giving too much to public access. This is ridiculous. There is already a precedent in Washington, DC where their 2002 cable contract directs 1.33% of Comcast's gross revenue, in addition to the 5% franchise fee, to the public access corporation. In Baltimore this would amount to $1.15 million per year for public access.
Comcast is acting like their agreement to give a relatively tiny amount is so wonderful, but it is not even in the contract, and it was negotiated in exchange for the city giving up four of our current 12 cable access channels to Comcast. Comcast's own estimates put the value of these four channels over the 12 years of the contract at $77 million! Why would the city give up these valuable public assets for so little?
Please write letters to newspapers, call in to radio shows and email or call your council members (http://www.baltimorecitycouncil.com/members.htm) to tell them to vote this proposed contract down because:
1. The contract does not even come close to providing adequate funding for Public Access as other cities have. DC public access had 2003 revenue of $2 million, most of it from the cable contract.
2. The proposed contract gives four of our current 12 cable access channels to Comcast, who values these channels at $77 million over the 12 years of the contract, in exchange for almost nothing!
3. The length of the contract is too long in this rapidly changing industry and according to Jeff Chester, Director of the Center for Digital Democracy, there have been calls for a "nationwide campaign to advocate for a new federal policy that ensures that communities can effectively benefit from the digital age, and that monopolies like Comcast are required to operate in a more open and democratic fashion."
4. At their October 13, 2004 meeting the Mayor's Cable Communications Advisory Commission unanimously voted to oppose the proposed contract.
5. There is no mention of a facility for Public Access. Other municipalities, for example Arlington Co. Virginia, specify this in the contract.
6. The proposed structure of the public access corporation shifts control from the public to the mayor.
7. The mayor's channel has a $1.3 million annual budget. It should not be more than the public channels budget.
8. Public Access needs more than one channel.
9. There has not been a fair opportunity for the public to comment on the amendments.
10. Comcast gets an exception where their failure to meet minority business goals cannot result in termination of the contract as it does with other contracts with the city.
Please CC any letters to the editor or emails you send to info@baltimoregrassrootsmedia.org and contact us with any ideas you have. Join us at our next meeting: Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 7 PM at Unity United Methodist Church, 1433 Edmondson Ave.
Baltimore Grassroots Media
www.baltimoregrassrootsmedia.org
Info@baltimoregrassrootsmedia.org
410-779-2184
Amendments to Council Bill 04-1504 - Comcast Cable Franchise
Wed., Nov. 10, 2004 Filed in: public access
news
Last-second
amendments to the cable contract made just before
Board of Estimates approved contract without
oportunity for public scrutiny:
FINAL Amendments to Council Bill 04-1504 -Comcast Cable Franchise
November 10, 2004
1. On page 35 in line 6, after City's insert "statutes, ordinances and"; and on the same page in line 7, after '("WBEs")' insert "as if it were a contractor receiving funding from the City provided that enforcement of this Section shall be exclusively by way of liquidated damages and in no event shall the City seek to suspend or rescind the Franchise for any violation of this Section."
2. On page 32 in line 33, after Capital Support for Equipment and Facilities for PEG Channels. insert "A" and on page 33 after line 7 insert the following:
"B. Upon the enactment of this Ordinance, the City agrees to select and convene a Board of Incorporators (the "Board") to work with the City to create a public access entity to be responsible for the management of public access cable television programming. This Board shall consist of thirteen members appointed by the Mayor. All members of the Board shall be City residents. It shall include at least three members of the public access broadcasting community, at least two members of the Cable Communications Advisory Commission, one representative from MOCC, one representative from the Department of Law, one representative from the Council selected by the President of the Council, and five additional members as determined by the Mayor.
The Board shall develop the structure of a tax-exempt organization under section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code (the "Corporation"). The Corporation shall be created by the City, and upon creation shall operate independently thereof. It shall generally serve as the public access entity for the citizens of Baltimore. It shall receive and disperse the public access portion of the PEG capital support provided for in this Section, as well as any grant for PEG purposes Franchisee may provide in connection with the grant of the Franchise, and such other funds (if any)made available to it from time to time by the City. The Corporation shall enter into an agreement (the "Operating Agreement") with the City in accordance with all standard City contractual requirements, including but not limited to provision for regular City audits, the use of generally accepted accounting and auditing principles, and an acceptable budgeting process prior to the receipt of funds from the City.
Subject to the conditions above, the City shall pay to the Corporation, or to any successor entity thereof, or to third parties on the behalf of the Corporation, one-third (1/3) of the monies collected as capital support for PEG purposes pursuant to this Section, if, as, and when collected by the City. These funds shall be extended only for capital costs for public access purposes. Prior to receipt of any funds for capital support, the Corporation (i) shall have entered into the Operating Agreement in accordance with this Section, and (ii) shall be and remain in good corporate standing with the State of Maryland. The Corporation shall apply all funds received from the City in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Franchise and the Operating Agreement."
FINAL Amendments to Council Bill 04-1504 -Comcast Cable Franchise
November 10, 2004
1. On page 35 in line 6, after City's insert "statutes, ordinances and"; and on the same page in line 7, after '("WBEs")' insert "as if it were a contractor receiving funding from the City provided that enforcement of this Section shall be exclusively by way of liquidated damages and in no event shall the City seek to suspend or rescind the Franchise for any violation of this Section."
2. On page 32 in line 33, after Capital Support for Equipment and Facilities for PEG Channels. insert "A" and on page 33 after line 7 insert the following:
"B. Upon the enactment of this Ordinance, the City agrees to select and convene a Board of Incorporators (the "Board") to work with the City to create a public access entity to be responsible for the management of public access cable television programming. This Board shall consist of thirteen members appointed by the Mayor. All members of the Board shall be City residents. It shall include at least three members of the public access broadcasting community, at least two members of the Cable Communications Advisory Commission, one representative from MOCC, one representative from the Department of Law, one representative from the Council selected by the President of the Council, and five additional members as determined by the Mayor.
The Board shall develop the structure of a tax-exempt organization under section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code (the "Corporation"). The Corporation shall be created by the City, and upon creation shall operate independently thereof. It shall generally serve as the public access entity for the citizens of Baltimore. It shall receive and disperse the public access portion of the PEG capital support provided for in this Section, as well as any grant for PEG purposes Franchisee may provide in connection with the grant of the Franchise, and such other funds (if any)made available to it from time to time by the City. The Corporation shall enter into an agreement (the "Operating Agreement") with the City in accordance with all standard City contractual requirements, including but not limited to provision for regular City audits, the use of generally accepted accounting and auditing principles, and an acceptable budgeting process prior to the receipt of funds from the City.
Subject to the conditions above, the City shall pay to the Corporation, or to any successor entity thereof, or to third parties on the behalf of the Corporation, one-third (1/3) of the monies collected as capital support for PEG purposes pursuant to this Section, if, as, and when collected by the City. These funds shall be extended only for capital costs for public access purposes. Prior to receipt of any funds for capital support, the Corporation (i) shall have entered into the Operating Agreement in accordance with this Section, and (ii) shall be and remain in good corporate standing with the State of Maryland. The Corporation shall apply all funds received from the City in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Franchise and the Operating Agreement."