Save Access Television, Contact the FCC

Deadline is today, no time to waste. Please contact the FCC about this important matter. This email is from Beverly Hacker, head honcho at KDHX who I met last night at the Royale:

Hi - This is Beverly Hacker , Executive Director of KDHX Community Media. I am writing to ask that you take a moment to read through this message and consider taking steps to help preserve access television here in St. Louis and across the country. This message is long, but very important. The FCC is accepting comments through Wednesday a, December 13 at 5:00 pm on proposed action that could seriously affect the future of access television.

PEG (Public, Education and Government) television is a benefit to the public that is paid for through cable franchise agreements. The way it works is that when a cable company comes into an area, it is required to negotiate what services it will “give back” to the community for privilege of operating a public utility within that community. That negotiation usually takes the form of a franchise fee (a % of cable subscriber dollars) which the franchise authority then distributes for things like PEG access and i-Net (intstitutional networks) and cable hookups for public schools.

Here in the City of St. Louis, the City Communications division operates the Government Channel, the board of education operates the Education Channel and KDHX Community Media (Double Helix) operates the public and community access center. In St. Louis county it funds such things as CALOP - University City’s funding agency for locally- produced films, HEC-The Higher Education Channel as well as the Cooperating School Districts and CableTec which work to put educational television in to classroooms over cable television.

How can you help?

During the last congressional session, there was a lot of work done on proposed changes to the telecommunications laws that govern not just cable companies, but the Internet and the telephone companies that are in the process of entering the video market. The democratic process was working and many compromises were reached between the interests of the cable and telephone industries and the interests of the public. As Congress moves through its lame-duck session, the FCC has taken up this matter and has proposed regulations that would seriously impact how PEG access is funded and how it operates. The FCC announced on Thursday, December 5 a one-week comment period, ending Wednesday, December 13 at 5:00 p.m.), after which they will proceed. You can help ensure that the voices of the public are heard on access television by contacting the FCC now.

The Alliance for Community Media, an organization that works to support the efforts of hundreds of access centers and thousands of access producers, has put together a step-by-step plan to help you take action and get your voice heard. It is a four-step process that will take about 15 minutes, but it is extremely important as it could make the difference between whether the public has access to the media, or is shut out.

Step 1: file a comment with the FCC by going to their website at:

http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/upload_v2.cgi

The Proceeding number is 05-311.

You will be filing a comment.

You can type in your comments or you can attach a separate letter on your letterhead. I have included suggested wording at the end of this email which you will probably want to customize:

Step 2: Fax a message to the FCC at 202-418-2439.

You can use the same wording as above, or write your own.

Step 3: Fill out and send the ex-partie communication form.

The FCC requires that any communication with commissioners be documented, which is the purpose of this step. You can use the Alliance for Community Media's automatic form by going to this address:

http://short.kdhx.org/4b5171

Step 4: Fax a copy to your Congressional delegation.

You can obtain the current fax numbers of your members of Congress by going to Google and searching for CONGRESS FAX NUMBERS. There are a number of sites that will allow you to look up the contact numbers by using your zip code.

Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you think might be
interested in helping.

Beverly Hacker
Executive Director
KDHX Community Media
314-361-8870x226