Alice Green Supports Using Cable Franchise Agreement to Promote Democracy and Community Media

Alice Green, the Green Party candidate for Mayor in Albany, said today that she supported requiring the city's cable franchise agreement with Times Warner to support the establishment of a community media center where local residents can produce and air their own television shows.

Green said the franchise agreement should also do more to assist the city and schools in developing cutting edge use of communication technology, including the establishment of Institutional Networks (I-Nets) and dedicated cable channels for educational, government and community use. I-Nets are high-speed networks that allow schools, libraries, and governmental entities to communicate and share information with one another and the public.

"The Jennings' administration notorious lack of support for democratic participation and debate is reflected in the city's failure to take advantage of the community media possibilities available to it through the cable franchise agreement. Schenectady for instance has been able to establish a vibrant local media center, Channel 16, which gets about $80,000 a year through the city's contract with Times Warner. Albany used to have a local access studio at the public library, but that has been discontinued," noted Green.

The cable franchise agreement establishes the type, quality, and level of service the cable company will provide in the city. In exchange, the cable provider can use the public's right-of-way to lay cable. The cable franchise is determined for a number of years, sometimes as many as 15, and locks in those provisions for that length of time.

Green said that as Mayor she would work with the Common Council to empower a broad-based citizens committee representing local nonprofits, human services, educational institutions, art groups, media advocates and the public to take the lead in negotiating a new cable franchise agreement with Times Warner. The present committee appointed a committee by the Mayor over a year ago, chaired by Council Member, David Torncello, as been described by Council members as "moving very slowly and frustratingly."

"The cable franchise agreement is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the cable company and is one of the most valuable agreements the city gives away. Much more must be required of Times Warner in exchange. The committee would be empowered to conduct a needs' assessment, inviting the community to comment on the types of services, that the community needs," Green stated. The needs' assessment would form the basis for the city's negotiation with Times Warner to develop an agreement.

The standard contract under federal laws allows the City to collect 5% of cable fees. This is approximately one million dollars annually. Albany merely uses the money for the general fund. Other funds collected from Times Warner have been diverted to fund communication systems at private institutions such as St. Rose which community members and nonprofits are not given access to.

Green also said that the city needed to adopt an update telecommunications ordinance to reflect changes in the industry, especially with the pending move of Verizon into the market.

In addition to a community media center and increased dedicated public access channels, other options include a technology fund to support community technology programs that provide public access to computers and the Internet, training in technology skills for low-income communities, and production of multimedia content; and, free, reduced, or volume-discounted rates for cable modems and monthly Internet subscriptions.

"When the cable television industry began to develop thirty years ago, we were told that this new technology, with the possibility of unlimited tv channels, would democratize the media, allowing community residents to easily exchange information and be their own news producer. Unfortunately, the opposite is increasingly happening, with most local governments at best indifferent to the fate of community media and the media giants such as Times Warner flouting the law to aggressively suppress public access. Albany needs to reverse this trend," added Green.