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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12.A. Community Access Preservation (CAP) Act /2.A, . City of Shakopee Memorandum TO: Mayor and City Council Mark McNeill, City Administrator FROM: John Peterson, Telecommunications Coordinator SUBJECT: Community Access Preservation (CAP) Act DATE: December 29,2009 Introduction The City Council is asked to approve the attached letter to the City's Congressional delegation regarding the Community Access Preservation Act. Background The CAP Act, introduced in the u.s. House of Representatives as HR 3745, was developed in partnership with the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA); an organization to which the City belongs. Representative Tammy Baldwin (WI-02) filed the bill on October 8th. This bill was designed to provide targeted changes to the Communications Act of 1934 that would help resolve some of the issues facing community . media/PEG across the country by: . Allowing PEG fees to be used for any PEG-related purposes rather than just capital expenditures; . Requiring PEG channels to be carried in the same manner as local broadcast channels; . Requiring the FCC to study the effect state video franchise laws have had on PEG channels, and requiring operators to provide the greater of the support required under state laws, or the support historically provided for PEG; and . Making cable television-related laws and regulations applicable to alllandline video providers. Recommendation The Telecommunications Advisory Commission (TAC) directed its chair and staff to develop the attached letter to Representative Kline and Senators Klobuchar and Franken asking them to support and/or co-sponsor the CAP act. The TAC is seeking Council's approval to send the letter on behalf of the City, under the Mayor and TAC chair's signatures. Action Requested Authorize the Mayor and Telecommunications Advisory Commission Chair to send a letter to Representative Kline and Senators Klobuchar and Franken urging their support, and if possible, to co-sponsor the Community Preservation Act, HR 3745, and to work for its rapid passage. . Page 1 of 1 . Date Name Address City, State Zip Dear [REP / SENATOR]: Weare writing on behalf of the City of Shakopee to urge you to support, and if possible, co-sponsor the Community Access Preservation Act, HR 3745, and to work for its rapid passage. Public, educational and government channels are important to our community. They provide a valuable outlet for programming about our community that is available nowhere else. In Shakopee, we are fortunate to offer residents public access and government access channels operated by the City and an education access channel operated ,by the school district. Shakopee Public Access provides residents and businesses of the Shakopee cable franchise area free use of a variety of video production equipment for the sole purpose of producing or submitting . programming to be cablecast on Shakopee Public Access Cable Channel 15 . Our free video equipment is most often used by parents of children attending the local schools and participating in sports and other school activities. They highlight and recognize the achievements of our younger residents and help to build community relationships, as neighbors and friends can follow and be part of the activities of our youth. Our next level of usage comes from residents who tape local city events and submit the video for cablecast on our public access channel. The community really enjoys seeing these events on our city channel especially when they are not able to attend them in person. The City of Shakopee also operates Shakopee Government Access, Cable Channel 16, which exists to increase residents' access to local government meetings and information. Providing live cablecast and taped replay of City, County, School Board and Utility Commission meetings is a huge benefit for the members of the community that have a vested interest in their local government. Like most government entities, the current economic downturn has required us reduce our services to help keep our local budget balanced. At the start of2009, we cut back on staffing for public access equipment rental and troubleshooting. While residents can check out equipment at the local Community Center, they don't always have access to telecommunications staffto help them with problems or equipment training. Instead, they have to wait for assistance during regular business hours. That is of little help for residents who are taping something that night or if their work schedules won't allow them to come in between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Unfortunately, the City may have to look at additional cuts until the economy takes a positive turn. Having more flexibility with . how we could use PEG fees, would allow us to at the very least maintain what we currently offer or . possibly even expand the times that telecommunications staff would be available to assist members of the public. Another area the proposed legislation would address is making sure public, government and educational access channels would all be carried in the same manner as local broadcast channels meaning they would be available in the basic cable channel tier and preferably on a lower channel number. At this time, Shakopee is fortunate to have its channels offered in the basic cable tier and to have channel numbers immediately following local broadcast channels. Unfortunately, we have no guarantee that this practice will continue in the future. We would oppose the idea of moving PEG access to a higher cost tier requiring users to purchase at minimum a digital receiver. We would also oppose combining our channels into one where viewers would have to access numerous submenus to find the public, educational or government access channel they want. The problems that HR 3745 seeks to address are immediate, real and significant, and threaten the survival of PEG channels here and elsewhere. Congress has recognized the severity of the challenges facing PEG in hearings held over the last year and a half, and members have been urging the FCC to take action to protect PEG. However, while some of the issues facing PEG can be addressed by the FCC, or by the courts, we simply do not have the resources or the time to engage in protracted legal battles. We ask that you act to preserve PEG through Congressional action on . HR 3745. Sincerely, John J. Schmitt Mayor, City of Shakopee Bill Anderson Chair, Shakopee Telecommunications Advisory Commission .