FCC Vote Could Nix Funds for Access TV

Austin, TX – Action at Wednesday’s Federal Communications Commission meeting could cut funding and loosen requirements for public access television in Austin.

The FCC is scheduled to hold an Open Commission Meeting in Washington, D.C. at 9:30 am on Wednesday, Dec. 20, to discuss, in part, proposed rulemaking on video franchising (MB Docket No. 05-311).

The new rulemaking would put a 5% cap on franchise fees that Time Warner Cable, or a new entrant like AT&T or Verizon, would have to pay the City of Austin. The new rules would effectively eliminate additional payments the City now receives for operations and equipment for public, education, and government (PEG) access television.

New entrants seeking video franchises – telephone companies – would not even be required to carry PEG access channels. Austin would have only 90 days to negotiate new franchises, after which time the applicants could operate without an agreement.

Nationally, the Alliance for Community Media (ACM), representing PEG access stations, and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), representing cities, have actively opposed this proposed FCC ruling.

A principal legal argument is that only Congress, through its legislative process, has the authority to impose the type of changes that the FCC is attempting to make through its administrative rulemaking.

It is anticipated that various groups, including ACM and NATOA, will legally challenge the FCC if it moves forward with this rulemaking.

Public Access Community Television is a non-profit corporation contracted by the City of Austin since October 1, 2005, to manage public access cable channels 10, 11, and 16.

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Public Access Community Television (PACT)
1143 Northwestern Avenue
Austin, TX 78702
www.pactaustin.org

Media Contact: Stefan Wray, 478-8600, Ext. 13, stefanw AT pactaustin DOT org