Underwriting cutbacks, channel shifts to digital Siberia and the passage of bills that eliminated long-term funding agreements are making these tough days for public, educational and government producers. They’re having to shift gears from being content creators to fundraising foundation developers, and they’re finding that shift is as slow as bringing around the Titanic.
PEG channels were initially touted as the electronic soapbox. In franchise hearings, operators bidding for the local business advocated that cable systems would provide the kind of super-local voice that broadcasters couldn’t offer, the immediacy that local papers couldn’t match. But what was promoted as a benefit is being shuttled aside by the "new, best" localism: video on demand. Those original local voices, funded by but uncontrolled by local cable executives, appear to be an endangered species, scrambling for new dollars to stay on the air.
Take the Hillsborough TV, a government station in Hillsborough County, Fla. The operation has 21 employees and projected a budget for this year of $1.9 million, plus $500,000 for a digital upgrade. Instead, the station is looking for ways to raise money in anticipation of budget cuts from the county, according to station manager Tammy Peralta. Property tax reform in the state has left the county with a shortfall and local politicians are looking for new and different ways to continue operation of the station, which televises planning commission, land use and Tampa Port Authority meetings, among other government functions.
One scheme under consideration: commercials from "underwriters" of the local government coverage, similar to the spots that accompany Public Broadcasting Service programs. It could be a tricky solution, though. Peralta said if such a funding mechanism is attempted, HTV and county executives would refuse support from any business that might have to do business with the county commissioners in the future. That would definitely shrink the pool of potential underwriters.
The times are posing tough questions for those who operate local channels and production centers.
"How can you maintain valuable services without charges (for production time and facilities) that are prohibitive?" asked Tony Riddle, executive director of the Alliance for Community Media. "You’d just become a commercial station." Already, many production centers have begun charging for production training that had been free.
To conserve resources, production centers, which were once open to anyone in their regions, are having to draw lines, limiting resources to local residents. That means in some places, potential producers who live near by but are county residents are forced to find a way to travel to more remote production centers.
"We’re switching from outreach (among community groups) to ‘I gotta raise $200,000,’" said Chad Johnston, executive director of The People’s Channel in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. State law changes there mean the production facility needs to find new, long-term funding for an operation with a $160,000 to $170,000 budget. "It will take years to develop a donor base," he predicted, adding PEG producers will be competing with better-established fundraising machines of public television and radio.
It would be a shame for these outlets to collapse. The electronic soapbox is still needed. Community participation should not be limited to those with money and mobility. The homebound senior is as much in need of information from the local city council meeting as the moneyed developer. Local programs need to get out the word of their existence as much as their target audiences need their information.
PEG is a local promise that still needs to be kept.
