Save Cable Access TV

Long Beach Community Television Needs Your Support!

For the past 25 years, LB community television has been a valuable community
resource. Long Beach citizens could see a wide arrway of community events,art,
music, culture and political discussions on channels 65, 69 or 95. As of January
1, 2009, that voice has been silenced.

The culprit is a new state law, the Digital Infrastructure and Video
Competition Act (DIVCA) which ended the responsibility of local cable
franchises to provide production capabilities to the community. Instead, cable
companies doing business locally must pay a fee of roughly 1% of gross revenue
to the City of Long Beach to be used for PEG (public, educational, governmental)
television. These funds are estimated at $600,000.00 annually.

Under federal law, as it now is interpreted, these llcannot be used for
operations, only facilities and capital expenses.

Local community TV producers, over 70 in all, have an organization called the
Long Beach Cable Television Producers Association (LBCTPA). Anticipating the
demise of community television, they worked out a plan with City staff that
would allow, in the short term, existing community access programs to
be rebroadcast. Despite the viability of this plan, City staff ultimately
declined to move forward on the plan.

Of the three components of public access television, public, educational and
governmental, only community television has been negatively affected by the new
law. The governmental channels and those operated by educational institutions
(LBCC, LBUSD and CSULB) continue broadcasting unabated.

LBCTPA believes that the City of Long Beach needs both a short term and long
term approach to the shutdown of community television and the use of PEG funds.
The short term objective is to get community TV back on the air. The long term
is to create viable production and broadcast capabilities available to all
sectors of the community for imaginative programming and creative uses. Working
with youth to advance careers in telecommunications and production and
innovative programming and promotion of LB community assets are available as
part of the RFP requirements. To these ends, LBCTPA
recommends:

   - City staff take all steps necessary to reestablish public access
   channels on all cable franchisees operating in Long Beach in accordance with
   the plan for splitting the City signal negotiated between City staff and
   LBCTPA;

   - City staff commence forthwith an RFP process for distribution of PEG
   funds with the majority of funds directed at public television capabilities
   and requiring that all bidders including governmental, educational and
   public demonstrate satisfaction of RFP elements;

   - PEG funds through the RFP process be made available as soon as possible
   but no later than July 15, 2009.

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The General Public is invited to join http://www.myspace.com/LBCTelevision and see some LBCT programming at http://www.youtube.com/LBCaccess Updates to the public are also posted to http://www.LBweekly.com SEE YOU AT THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING Tuesday, April 21st Long Beach, CA ... Smile for the cameras and print a copy of this so you can READ IT ALOUD. If you want to make signs, have them say: SOS: Save Our Station ... Support Community Television ... Fund Community TV ... Our Voice, Our Vision ....
Community Television ... Support Public Access TV!

PLEASE READ THIS and take action.
Without Public TV, we are just watching what the government wants us to here in
The LBC! Also click on the links following Karen A.'s email and you just might
recognize your neighbor - teacher - old classmate - doctor... KaRi

Long Beach Community Television - The Not So Great Disappearing Act
- Karen Ashikah

Not Gone and Not Forgotten – Community TV Can Be Back – Better Than Ever!

Where could you once see a program about your community group in action, your
community event, our local business as well as highlights of Long Beach art and
culture? Where did citizens with concerns about public safety or City
decision-making get TV air time? These voice and visions went far beyond a 3
minute community comments in a City Council Meeting, came with pictures,
background facts and the information from experts. These programs, created by
our community members, were our free speech, at its best, that was silenced by
inaction on the part of our City, when Charter Cable stopped broadcasting after
12/31/08.

Programs once aired on Charter TV Channels 65, 69 or 95, ceased to be broadcast
on January 1, 2009. Meetings with Long Beach City Communications department and
LB Television Producers, late in 2008, did identify a workable plan to continue
broadcasts. Unfortunately it never had a hearing before the City Council to
implement it, though Council did request such a report.

That did not stop the LB TV Producer's Association, who have been meeting for
years, to develop a plan to use PEG funds, provided by the Cable networks.
These monies can only be used for the equipment and studios needed for
broadcasts to continue. This funding will returned hundreds of thousands of
dollars a year back into our local economy. The Producers have identified a
workable plan to broadcast and produce TV and multimedia programming for our
City.

This funding will be received by the City each quarter, beginning in Spring
2009, but the City Communications office proposes that none of it be used before
June 2010. So what is the holdup?

The City Manager and Staff have refused to recommend the Council even hear about
or consider an interim plan that would fulfill the requirements for use of the
funds, provide for production and broadcast, and return this important media
outlet to our community. The RFP for this use of funds will be issued, but the
delay in using the funds is supposed to be for the convenience of the City
Council. According to City Staff, loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars to
our local economy is not as important as the Council having to discuss this
issue each quarter, to approve the release of funds.

Call To Action

Contact your City Council Member and our City Communications officer to let them
know this is an unacceptable delay in approval of a plan, in response to the RFP
request, for releasing funds. Decisions about timing of release of funds must
be up to our City Council. On April 14th the City Council will get a report
from the City Communications Office at the Council Meeting, after 5pm, at City
Hall.

Please call your Councilmember and voice your support for Community
Television, with an adequate budget to support an operational studio and
broadcast equipment, released in a timely manner, with no unnecessary delay in
releasing funds . You can reach your City Council Member and City Communications
Dept. through the City Information Line at City Hall. (562) 570-6555.

Please forward to others to update them on what is going on and what help we
need!

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Also visit: www.myspace.com/LBCTelevision www.youtube.com/LBCaccess