Cable Public Access Victory in Fresno

Cable Public Access Victory in Fresno
By Mike Rhodes

Advocates for media democracy achieved an important victory in Fresno today (Tuesday, December 6, 2005). The Board of Supervisors held a public hearing to discuss the Fresno County Contract with Comcast cable and when it was over, they agreed that the franchise agreement will include Public, Education, and Government (PEG) channels. The supervisors are also interested in including a Community Media Center (CMC) in the agreement.

A broad coalition of activists, community groups and educational organizations attended and participated in the meeting. There had been concern that the county contract would not include a public channel. In a board briefing report posted on the board of supervisors website, it appeared that one outcome of today’s meeting could be an agreement that did not include a public access channel or community media center. The report was written by John Navarrette, Fresno County director of General Services and lead negotiator for the contract.

Fresno County, which has about 13,000 cable subscribers, did not hire a consultant to help them negotiate the franchise agreement and did not hold community needs assessment meetings to determine public interest in PEG or the CMC. Instead, county staff entered into informal negotiations with Comcast and came to today’s meeting with a proposal, which according to community media activists, fell far short of what a good franchise agreement should contain.

The City of Fresno (76,000 cable subscribers) and Clovis (13,000 cable subscribers) have hired The Buske Group as consultants, to help level the playing field and negotiate the best deal possible with Comcast. While, the formal process being used by Clovis and the City of Fresno has taken longer than many expected, Bob Hendricks, Chief Information Officer for the City of Fresno said at today’s hearing that “negotiations will start in January of 2006.”

The big outcome at today’s meeting was that it was unanimously agreed to extend the current contract for 90 days and staff was directed to include a public access channel in the contract. This was exactly the outcome Fresno media democracy advocates wanted.

Board members, at times in the discussion, did not seem clear about who would run a CMC or decide what programming would go on the PEG channels. Supervisor Bob Waterston repeatedly expressed concerns about the content on the public access channel. Waterston said “What if the board of supervisors voted against the use of medical marijuana or the needle exchange program and we had other groups out there that disagreed with us...does that mean they could go on one of these channels we gave them and talk about anything they want?” Media democracy activists, in the standing room only board chambers, whispered that perhaps Supervisor Waterston was a little unclear on the concept of free speech, the First Amendment, and the purpose of a public access channel.

Numerous speakers came before the board to advocate for PEG access channels and a CMC. These speakers included Sara Hedgepeth Harris from the League of Women Voters, Richard Stone from the Fresno Center of Nonviolence, Silas Cha from the Center for New Americans, Woody Miller from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Jose Luis Baraza from the Center for Independent Living, John Welty president of CSUF, Cynthia Cooper from the Fresno Coalition for Art, Science and History, Larry Mullen from the Green Party, Pat Wolk from the Fresno Folklore Society, Cesar Culqui from Club Latinoamericano Del Valle Central, and Camile Russell from Peace Fresno.

After Mr. Navarrette gave his presentation to the board, Randy Reed, with the Fresno County Office of Education, gave a Power Point presentation which detailed community concerns and called for PEG access and a Community Media Center. The Power Point illustrated how other county’s had negotiated much better franchise agreements than the one being proposed to Fresno County.

Supervisor Susan Anderson moved that the board extend the current franchise agreement for 90 days. Supervisor Henry Perea added to Ms. Anderson’s proposal that one of the 5 proposed channels be designated as a public channel. The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion.

The coalition of groups working on this issue will be meeting in the coming weeks to follow through on the Fresno County franchise agreement and to discuss the next steps in the cities of Fresno and Clovis agreements.

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