Update on PEG in Fresno/Clovis

It has been a while since I have sent an update on the effort to bring Public, Education, and Government (PEG) access channels to Fresno. There has been significant developments on this project and we are getting close to our goal of having PEG access channels in the Fresno/Clovis area.

In fact, if you have Comcast cable, you can see that we already have two Education channels (ch 96 and 98). Channel 96 also operates as the City of Fresno Government channel where you can see City Council meetings on Tuesday. Channel 95 is the County of Fresno government channel. Channel 97 will probably be where the Public access channel is located.

Perhaps the most significant development, in the last few months, is that the money from the franchise agreement (between the cities of Fresno & Clovis and Comcast) has started to roll in. The first payment to Fresno and Clovis arrived about a month ago. We expect to receive about $600,000 a year, which will be used to operate the PEG project. Before this money is used for PEG, Fresno and Clovis need to establish a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) that will determine what entity will operate PEG. We expect the JPA to designate the Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC) as the 501 c 3 that will run PEG. For more information about CMAC, go to: http://www.cmacfresno.org

Both Clovis and Fresno are currently looking for board members to sit on the JPA. It is essential that we get knowledgeable and supportive people on the JPA board. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, you can go to:

http://www.fresno.gov/NR/rdonlyres/E82508EB-9D3B-4D4C-B588-3004FC24F083/9452/CMACAppointmentProcess.pdf
(City of Fresno application)

or

http://www.cityofclovis.com/UMAP/UserPageObjects/JPAApplication.pdf
(City of Clovis application)

There will be 3 board members from Fresno and 2 from Clovis. They seem to be having a hard time finding board members for the JPA, so if this is something you can do, please consider applying.

Once the JPA designates CMAC as the entity that will oversee PEG (which everyone expects will happen in the next month or two), they (CMAC) will begin to establish a Community Media Center (CMC), purchase needed equipment, hire staff, and get the Public access channel on cable.

CMAC is looking at several locations that will serve as Community Media Centers. All of the sites under consideration will operate through partnerships with existing organizations and serve the community by providing a location where programing can be produced. Right now, while no CMC sites have been finalized, there are three locations that look promising. There is an existing studio at the Kreman Education building at CSUF that could serve as the Public access CMC. One advantage of the Kreman location is that the studio is already built and partnering with CSUF would mean a faster start up time for the Public access channel. Also, there is staff on site that could potentially train community members in the use of the equipment. They are also connected with Comcast through high speed fiber that would allow programing to originate from that location. The negative aspect of the CSUF site is that parking is difficult and it is not centrally located.

The second site that CMAC is looking at is the Dickey Community Center on Divisidero near Blackstone. The Parks and Recreation department runs the facility and has already built a video production facility on the second floor. They have invited CMAC to partner with them to make the facility operational. The advantage at Dickey is that it is centrally located, there is good parking, and Parks and Recreation intends to attract disadvantaged youth to produce community media. The disadvantage to that location is that it is too small to serve as a primary CMC and it doesn’t currently have connectivity (through high speed fiber) with Comcast.

The third location being considered is the Fresno County Office of Education (FCOE) building in downtown Fresno (Van Ness and Fresno Street). At this time, however, that facility would only be for Government and Education production.

It is starting to look like there will probably be more than one CMC as PEG gets off the ground in Fresno/Clovis. Probably, within a couple of years though, a central CMC site will be established where everyone will work from. There may still be satellite centers that will benefit particular constituencies and allow PEG to serve people who are geographically distant. But, the concept of one central CMC has a strong appeal, because it will limit duplication of services and allow CMAC to leverage limited resources. Why build and fully supply two or three CMC’s with equipment, studios, and staff when you can have one central CMC and portable equipment available at a couple of satellite locations?

One of CMAC’s biggest challenges is how to run PEG operations on $600,000 a year, given the current interpretation of the franchise agreement is that the money can only be used for capital expenses. How do you pay for staff is you can only spend money on capital expenses, like cameras, computers, etc? That challenge is one reason why we have Educational and Government channels currently on cable but are still waiting for a Public access channel. Both E & G have staff that can produce the programs and get them on the air. Without funding to hire staff, the Public access channel is at a serious disadvantage. Fortunately, CMAC is committed to making a Public access channel a part of PEG operations in Fresno/Clovis. This will be accomplished by exploring a variety of approaches including in-kind partnerships with public and educational agencies, production service agreements, user fees, grants, memberships and community-based fundraising activities.

The County of Fresno signed an agreement with Comcast before the new state franchise agreement went into effect. At this time, the County of Fresno is not a part of the Joint Power Authority with the Cities of Fresno and Clovis, but they might join at sometime in the future. It is also possible that other communities like Selma, Reedley, and Fowler will join the JPA. There would be an advantage to these smaller communities to join CMAC so they can provide PEG in their community. The money generated from the franchise fee in Fowler, for example, might not be enough for them to establish a CMC and run PEG. But, joining together with CMAC would make it possible to produce programing and provide PEG services in a small community.

I’m hopeful that PEG equipment will be purchased by CMAC in the 4th quarter of 2008 and that a Public access channel will be on cable by the end of the year. If you want to make that happen, the best thing you could do at this time is get on the JPA and designate CMAC as the entity that will oversee PEG in Fresno and Clovis. The JPA applications are available at the link above.