Advocates for media democracy won a victory in Fresno on Tuesday, December 6th, 2005. The Board of Supervisors held a public hearing to discuss the Fresno County Contract with Comcast cable. Photos and Report A broad coalition of activists, community groups and educational organizations attended and participated in the meeting. By the end of the meeting, the supervisors had 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.

There had been concern that the county contract would not include a public channel. A board briefing report posted on the board of supervisors website, had implied that one outcome of the meeting could be an agreement that did not include a public access channel or community media center. Fresno County 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 went to the meeting with a proposal, which according to community media activists, fell far short of what a good franchise agreement should contain. It was unanimously agreed to extend the current contract for 90 days. 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. He 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?” It was obvious that he was unclear on the concepts of free speech, the First Amendment, and the purpose of a public access channel.

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 agreements for the cities of Fresno and Clovis.

Fresno Alliance Website