AGENDA #4j
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Scheduling a Public Forum to Consider a Potential Change in Cablevision Public Access Fees Paid by Cable Television Customers
DATE: October 27, 2003
The attached resolution would schedule a public forum for November 10 on a potential change in the public access fees paid by cablevision customers.
“Public access” refers to non-commercial programming produced or submitted by citizens to be carried on the cable system.
BACKGROUND
The cable television franchise approved by the Council and accepted by Time Warner Cable in July 1996 allows the Town to have cable customers billed for a public access fee.
The Town began charging a public access fee of 65 cents under a resolution adopted by the Council on November 11, 1996, and amended that amount to:
Public access fees collected by Time Warner Cable on behalf of the Town go to The Peoples Channel to provide public access television services. The Council authorized renewal of the performance agreement with The Peoples Channel in July 2001. The Peoples Channel submitted its annual report to the Council at the June 23, 2003 meeting. A summary of the report is attached (Attachment 1), with the full report available on the Town’s web site, www.townofchapelhill.org, under “Agendas and Minutes.” We expect the next Annual Report for The Peoples Channel in the spring of 2004.
The purpose of the public access fee is to help cover wages, equipment, rent and other costs for management and operation of public access cable television services. The current 71 cents per month public access fee generated $110,341 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2003.
Each year, the Council decides whether to increase, maintain, or reduce the public access fee.
General Comments:
The franchise allows the Town to reduce, eliminate, or increase the public access fee once per year. The increase in a given year is limited to an inflation factor or 3%, whichever is less. The inflation factor is the increase in the most recent Gross National Product-Price Index (GNP-PI) published by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, for the previous 12-month fiscal period. According to the Federal Communications Commission, this figure was 1.5%.
Substantive Options:
1. Direct Time Warner to increase the fee by the amount of the inflation factor.
The franchise states that the annual adjustment will be the amount of increase in the Gross National Product Price Index (GNP-PI), subject to a limit of 3% increase per year and subject to an overall limit of $1 per month as the maximum future fee.
A 1.5% change would result in an increase in the fee from 71 cents to 72 cents per customer per month, beginning January 1, 2004, which we believe is a reasonable increase. With the increase, we estimate that revenue would be approximately $112,000, or an additional $1,600.
2. Make no change in the current fee.
3. Reduce or eliminate the public access fee.
Procedural Options:
1. Call a public forum for November 10.
2. Take no further action and leave the fee at its present level of 71 cents per month.
Manager’s Recommendation: That the Council adopt the attached resolution and refer this matter to the Manager for recommendations and call a public forum on November 10.
A RESOLUTION CALLING A PUBLIC FORUM REGARDING THE SUPPLEMENTAL PUBLIC ACCESS RATE FOR CABLE TELEVISION IN CHAPEL HILL (2003-10-27/R-6)
BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Council calls a public forum on November 10, 2003, to receive comments on whether the supplemental public access rate should be: adjusted for inflation to 72 cents per month; continued at the present rate of 71 cents per month; reduced; or eliminated.
This the 27th day of October, 2003.