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7/22SF Protest Against CTC Lottery
Speakout Against a Lottery that has thrown local community tv producers and programmers in San Francisco. Testify at the San Francisco Telecommunications Commission at SF City Hall.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The San Francisco Community Television Corporation has unilaterally decided to go to a "lottery" to decide where shows will be placed. This lottery has been fought by Labor Producers around the country. It eliminates regular labor programming and threatens all locally produced TV shows.
As a result of this policy is that "Labor On The Job" has been purged from it's regular 2 night a month slot and will now only be on a a Saturday night and it will no longer be able to do live shows. Our show has been replaced by an "entertainment" show produced in Richmond, CA.
They have also removed the slots of locally produced shows "Time For A Living Wage", Skating Place, Russian American TV, Electric City. It is becoming evident that the CEO Zane Blaney is targeting shows that challenge the local politicians. He has also threatened producers who testified against this policy.
We need to protect labor tv and community tv shows from this anti-labor censorship policy. The Producers and Programmers Network of SF is calling for the termination of funding of the CTC until the lottery is eliminated and there is an elected board of directors for the board. The last and only board member Local 21 Engineers and Scientists BA Bill Fiore has resigned from the board.
Please protest this policy at the SF Telecommunications Commission by speaking out at the commission. They will hold a meeting on Monday July 22 at 5:30 PM at SF City Hall Rm 400. All people are able to give testimony and it will be televised in SF.
Members Of the Labor Video Project
Community Access Threatened In San Francisco
SF Labor Council Opposes Lottery and Supports Elected Board
by Steve Zeltzer
Producer "Labor On The Job"
lvpsf [at] labornet.org
5/4/2002
The growing corporatization of the media is not restricted to only the main stream news and propaganda tv and radio channels. In a critical fight in San Francisco, the management and board of directors of the Community Television Corporation is seeking to oust regular labor programmers and others from their slots and to corporatize the operation of the station. Community access television is the most important uncensored vehicle for television in the United States. It is the ONLY way that labor and trade unionists have been able to get their point of view out on television on a regular basis.
The effort to commercialize the station at the unelected CTC board in San Francisco developed when the city transferred control of the community access station from the cable operator TCI to CEO Zane Blaney and a board that had been established to take over the running of the station.
Blaney and the majority of the board decided that they needed to "even the field" for new producers to get on the station. This despite the fact that there were open time slots on many hours of the day. Over the unanimous objection of the producers and programmers at the station, they instituted a "lottery" every 26 weeks for all producers for all time slots. They gave no priority to locally produced shows. Many of these shows that had been on the air for many years. Labor On The Job which is a production of the Labor Video Project has been produced continuously since 1983.
Time slots for labor shows are very important since most working people cannot watch the shows during the day time. Also due to the lack of advertising of community access programs, developing an audience requires many years of work. If shows are switched every 6 months, the ability to build an audience would be severely impacted.
Former labor producer Bill Fiore who is a union business agent with IFPTE Local 21 and David Miles who produces "Skating Place" were on the board and both objected to the proposed lottery. As two longtime proucers who had regular programs on the community access, they knew the difficulty of producing a show and increasing the viewership. At the same time, the management of the station and the board majority sought to silence David Miles by putting him on 60 days probation from the board for speaking out publicly against the lottery, and for opposing the direction of the board.
One of the key backers of throwing Miles off the board was CTC vice chair John Higgins. Higgins who teaches at Menlo College on the peninsula and previously worked for the US government "developing television" in Africa now, also in charge of articles for the Alliance Of Community Media convention.
In fact, the (ACM) is one of the forces nationally that is seeking to exert influence to push a "lottery" system at the over 2,000 community access stations around the country. ACM board and directors mostly represent station managers and staff who have a vested interest in having total control of the community access stations.
The effort by the CTC management to "professionalize" the station has meant the elimination of all volunteers, and this has led to a budget crisis at the new station facilities. The response of the Blaney and the board has been to close the station on Sunday and Monday. Although for over 20 years the station has never been closed to producers and programmers on the weekend this closure threatens the right of producers and programmers to do live shows on these days.
At the same time, the station is not even operating 24 hours a day since it still has programming from the CA government channel. Although community access is entitled to two channels, there has never been an organized effort to get the other channel on the air to allow additional programming slots. While programmers like David Miles have been thrown off their slots, there are empty time slots in prime time hours that go unfilled. This has created tremendous animosity and anger at the CEO Zane Blaney and the CTC board of directors.
At meetings of the programming committee of the CTC, board members have argued that the station needed advertising and fund drives to raise money to fund budget shortfalls. Also in the past, Zane Blaney had argued that he was not in principle against corporate funding on community access television. His assistant Aaron Vinck, who came from Sacramento Access also had a record of pushing similar proposals and was also a key proponent of the "lottery system".
The logic of these policies would lead to the eventual corporatization of the station with the city cutting back on funding and more and more "pledge drives" that would take the place of community programming. One of the board members has also argued for the individual shows to fund raise on the station as well.
Letter Carriers TV214 and the Labor Video Project have won the support of the San Francisco Labor Council for an elected board and for a halt to the lottery and are seeking to build broader community support. Also an organization called the Producers and Programmers Network of San Francisco (PPNSF) is picketing the station during the monthly "lotteries" and is also lobbying members of the San Francisco Board Of Supervisors to force a fully elected board and for the elimination of the lottery.
At the April 2002 "lottery", one of the new "lottery" participants said she came here to kick another producer off their slot at the lottery. This open threat against another producers show is a very clear example of the process that the "lottery" is creating pitting producer against producer and allowing for the weakening of solidarity among the producers and programmers .
Part of the pressure by CTC management to dump long standing shows is also the unhappiness that politicians have over the programming. Many of the shows expose the growing corruption and attacks on working people, the homeless and the use of the city for the developers and corporate union busters. In fact CEO Blaney has made continual public attacks on a "long time show on Thursday night from 8:00 PM to 9:00PM." He just happens to be singling out "Labor On The Job".
This attack on labor producers and programmers from the community in San Francisco is obviously not just a San Francisco problem. Labor TV producer and UPPNET board member Wes Brain in Ashland, Oregon faced the same problem in their community. In order to confront these challenges we need to educate the entire labor movement about the need to defend seniority at community access stations as far as programming and begin the campaign for elected boards of a membership in order to keep community access television a resource for labor and the community.
Further Articles on the Issue
http://www.sfbg.com/36/20/news_public_access.html
http://www.sfbg.com/36/23/x_talkback.html
SF Labor Council Resolution
The San Francisco Labor Council Executive Committee on March 6, 2002 and the Council as a whole on March 11, 2002 passed the following resolution. The SF Labor Council represents over 60,000 workers in San Francisco.
Resolution In Opposition To Channel 29 Lottery and For an Elected CTC Board
Whereas, it is critical that locally produced community access shows on ATT Channel 29 be encouraged and,
Whereas, community access is the only uncensored free speech on San Francisco cable for those who have been excluded from corporate controlled media and,
Whereas, the implementation of a "lottery" of Channel 29 show slots threatens long standing San Francisco produced labor and community shows and,
Whereas, around the country community access is threatened by corporatization and policies including "advertising" that have removed labor and community shows supposedly in order to "professionals" community access and,
Whereas, the present unelected board of directors of the Community Television Corporation have ignored the unanimous opposition by San Francisco Producers and Programmers and,
Whereas, the need for a membership organization in which the board of directors is elected by the membership is critical to provide a more responsive board of directors of the Community Television Corporation,
Therefore, be it resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council opposes the change of policies by the Community Television Corporation to implement a lottery and supports locally produced shows having priority in programming slots and,
This council calls for the implementation of an elected board of directors for the Community Television Corporation and for it to become a membership organization open to all people in San Francisco and,
Therefore be it finally resolve that the San Francisco Labor Council will relay this view to the Community Television Corporation and the Board of Supervisors.
Adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council Executive Committee on March 6, 2002
Respectfully submitted,
Walter L. Johnson
Secretary Treasurer
San Francisco Labor Council
1188 Franklin St. Suite 203
San Francisco,California
94109-6852
(415)440-4809
The San Francisco Community Television Corporation has unilaterally decided to go to a "lottery" to decide where shows will be placed. This lottery has been fought by Labor Producers around the country. It eliminates regular labor programming and threatens all locally produced TV shows.
As a result of this policy is that "Labor On The Job" has been purged from it's regular 2 night a month slot and will now only be on a a Saturday night and it will no longer be able to do live shows. Our show has been replaced by an "entertainment" show produced in Richmond, CA.
They have also removed the slots of locally produced shows "Time For A Living Wage", Skating Place, Russian American TV, Electric City. It is becoming evident that the CEO Zane Blaney is targeting shows that challenge the local politicians. He has also threatened producers who testified against this policy.
We need to protect labor tv and community tv shows from this anti-labor censorship policy. The Producers and Programmers Network of SF is calling for the termination of funding of the CTC until the lottery is eliminated and there is an elected board of directors for the board. The last and only board member Local 21 Engineers and Scientists BA Bill Fiore has resigned from the board.
Please protest this policy at the SF Telecommunications Commission by speaking out at the commission. They will hold a meeting on Monday July 22 at 5:30 PM at SF City Hall Rm 400. All people are able to give testimony and it will be televised in SF.
Members Of the Labor Video Project
Community Access Threatened In San Francisco
SF Labor Council Opposes Lottery and Supports Elected Board
by Steve Zeltzer
Producer "Labor On The Job"
lvpsf [at] labornet.org
5/4/2002
The growing corporatization of the media is not restricted to only the main stream news and propaganda tv and radio channels. In a critical fight in San Francisco, the management and board of directors of the Community Television Corporation is seeking to oust regular labor programmers and others from their slots and to corporatize the operation of the station. Community access television is the most important uncensored vehicle for television in the United States. It is the ONLY way that labor and trade unionists have been able to get their point of view out on television on a regular basis.
The effort to commercialize the station at the unelected CTC board in San Francisco developed when the city transferred control of the community access station from the cable operator TCI to CEO Zane Blaney and a board that had been established to take over the running of the station.
Blaney and the majority of the board decided that they needed to "even the field" for new producers to get on the station. This despite the fact that there were open time slots on many hours of the day. Over the unanimous objection of the producers and programmers at the station, they instituted a "lottery" every 26 weeks for all producers for all time slots. They gave no priority to locally produced shows. Many of these shows that had been on the air for many years. Labor On The Job which is a production of the Labor Video Project has been produced continuously since 1983.
Time slots for labor shows are very important since most working people cannot watch the shows during the day time. Also due to the lack of advertising of community access programs, developing an audience requires many years of work. If shows are switched every 6 months, the ability to build an audience would be severely impacted.
Former labor producer Bill Fiore who is a union business agent with IFPTE Local 21 and David Miles who produces "Skating Place" were on the board and both objected to the proposed lottery. As two longtime proucers who had regular programs on the community access, they knew the difficulty of producing a show and increasing the viewership. At the same time, the management of the station and the board majority sought to silence David Miles by putting him on 60 days probation from the board for speaking out publicly against the lottery, and for opposing the direction of the board.
One of the key backers of throwing Miles off the board was CTC vice chair John Higgins. Higgins who teaches at Menlo College on the peninsula and previously worked for the US government "developing television" in Africa now, also in charge of articles for the Alliance Of Community Media convention.
In fact, the (ACM) is one of the forces nationally that is seeking to exert influence to push a "lottery" system at the over 2,000 community access stations around the country. ACM board and directors mostly represent station managers and staff who have a vested interest in having total control of the community access stations.
The effort by the CTC management to "professionalize" the station has meant the elimination of all volunteers, and this has led to a budget crisis at the new station facilities. The response of the Blaney and the board has been to close the station on Sunday and Monday. Although for over 20 years the station has never been closed to producers and programmers on the weekend this closure threatens the right of producers and programmers to do live shows on these days.
At the same time, the station is not even operating 24 hours a day since it still has programming from the CA government channel. Although community access is entitled to two channels, there has never been an organized effort to get the other channel on the air to allow additional programming slots. While programmers like David Miles have been thrown off their slots, there are empty time slots in prime time hours that go unfilled. This has created tremendous animosity and anger at the CEO Zane Blaney and the CTC board of directors.
At meetings of the programming committee of the CTC, board members have argued that the station needed advertising and fund drives to raise money to fund budget shortfalls. Also in the past, Zane Blaney had argued that he was not in principle against corporate funding on community access television. His assistant Aaron Vinck, who came from Sacramento Access also had a record of pushing similar proposals and was also a key proponent of the "lottery system".
The logic of these policies would lead to the eventual corporatization of the station with the city cutting back on funding and more and more "pledge drives" that would take the place of community programming. One of the board members has also argued for the individual shows to fund raise on the station as well.
Letter Carriers TV214 and the Labor Video Project have won the support of the San Francisco Labor Council for an elected board and for a halt to the lottery and are seeking to build broader community support. Also an organization called the Producers and Programmers Network of San Francisco (PPNSF) is picketing the station during the monthly "lotteries" and is also lobbying members of the San Francisco Board Of Supervisors to force a fully elected board and for the elimination of the lottery.
At the April 2002 "lottery", one of the new "lottery" participants said she came here to kick another producer off their slot at the lottery. This open threat against another producers show is a very clear example of the process that the "lottery" is creating pitting producer against producer and allowing for the weakening of solidarity among the producers and programmers .
Part of the pressure by CTC management to dump long standing shows is also the unhappiness that politicians have over the programming. Many of the shows expose the growing corruption and attacks on working people, the homeless and the use of the city for the developers and corporate union busters. In fact CEO Blaney has made continual public attacks on a "long time show on Thursday night from 8:00 PM to 9:00PM." He just happens to be singling out "Labor On The Job".
This attack on labor producers and programmers from the community in San Francisco is obviously not just a San Francisco problem. Labor TV producer and UPPNET board member Wes Brain in Ashland, Oregon faced the same problem in their community. In order to confront these challenges we need to educate the entire labor movement about the need to defend seniority at community access stations as far as programming and begin the campaign for elected boards of a membership in order to keep community access television a resource for labor and the community.
Further Articles on the Issue
http://www.sfbg.com/36/20/news_public_access.html
http://www.sfbg.com/36/23/x_talkback.html
SF Labor Council Resolution
The San Francisco Labor Council Executive Committee on March 6, 2002 and the Council as a whole on March 11, 2002 passed the following resolution. The SF Labor Council represents over 60,000 workers in San Francisco.
Resolution In Opposition To Channel 29 Lottery and For an Elected CTC Board
Whereas, it is critical that locally produced community access shows on ATT Channel 29 be encouraged and,
Whereas, community access is the only uncensored free speech on San Francisco cable for those who have been excluded from corporate controlled media and,
Whereas, the implementation of a "lottery" of Channel 29 show slots threatens long standing San Francisco produced labor and community shows and,
Whereas, around the country community access is threatened by corporatization and policies including "advertising" that have removed labor and community shows supposedly in order to "professionals" community access and,
Whereas, the present unelected board of directors of the Community Television Corporation have ignored the unanimous opposition by San Francisco Producers and Programmers and,
Whereas, the need for a membership organization in which the board of directors is elected by the membership is critical to provide a more responsive board of directors of the Community Television Corporation,
Therefore, be it resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council opposes the change of policies by the Community Television Corporation to implement a lottery and supports locally produced shows having priority in programming slots and,
This council calls for the implementation of an elected board of directors for the Community Television Corporation and for it to become a membership organization open to all people in San Francisco and,
Therefore be it finally resolve that the San Francisco Labor Council will relay this view to the Community Television Corporation and the Board of Supervisors.
Adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council Executive Committee on March 6, 2002
Respectfully submitted,
Walter L. Johnson
Secretary Treasurer
San Francisco Labor Council
1188 Franklin St. Suite 203
San Francisco,California
94109-6852
(415)440-4809
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