AGENDA #5a
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: The Peoples Channel 2004 Annual Report
DATE: June 15, 2005
The purpose of this memorandum is to present summary information from The Peoples Channel’s Annual Report 2004. The Annual Report is included as Attachment 1.
The Peoples Channel has submitted its Annual Report to the Town of Chapel Hill for 2004. The Peoples Channel is a non-profit corporation organized by area citizens to provide community access television in Chapel Hill. The Peoples Channel is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation.
The Peoples Channel receives funding from several sources, primarily public access fees collected by Time Warner from cable customers under the Franchise Agreement. The cable television franchise approved by the Council and accepted by Time Warner in July 1996 allows the Town to have cable customers billed a public access fee.
On November 22, 2004, the Council approved an increase in the monthly subscriber public access fee from 72 cents to 74 cents, based on inflation. Under the Performance Agreement with The Peoples Channel, the Town pays The Peoples Channel these public access fees, which are collected by Time Warner in customer bills. The Channel received approximately $113,017 in public access fees from the Town in 2003-04.
The Peoples Channel’s Audited Financial Statements for the 2003-04 Fiscal Year are included as Attachment 2. An effort is being made to transition the report to a fiscal year from a calendar year. For this reason, The Peoples Channel has offered information for January 2004 to December 2004, as well as from July 2004 to June 2005. Subsequent reports will be submitted in January instead of June.
We believe that The Peoples Channel Annual Report 2004 meets the requirements of the performance agreement with the Town. We recommend that the Council receive the attached Annual Report.