City formally opposes FCC proposal

Avon Lake City Council formalized its opposition to proposed changes to the Federal Communications Commission’s Cable Communications Policy Act.

On Nov. 26, Council passed a resolution to changes which could threaten Avon Lake Community Television’s capacity to continue producing quality television for the community.

The FCC proposal seeks to amend the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 allowing cable companies the right to deduct the fair market value of public benefits from their franchise fee obligations for public access, educational and government channels (PEG).

The FCC, which regulates funding for locally produced media, recently filed “Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making” allowing cable companies to determine a channel’s value, solely at their discretion.

“Basically, what this resolution is, is another format, another vehicle for Avon Lake to voice its opposition to cable franchising fee changes that the FCC is considering,” said Ward 3 Councilwoman Eileen Campo.

Campo, who chairs Council’s natural resources, environmental, and public media committee, with oversight over ALC-TV, called the move by the FCC a threat to locally produced public television across the United States.

“The Public Access, Education and Government (PEG) channels that are utilized by ALC-TV (Avon Lake Community Television) would be jeopardized,” Campo said. “The public harm would be there if they decide to pass this.”

ALC-TV currently benefits from three Public Access, Education and Government channels providing Avon Lake residents coverage of government meetings, local churches and other awardwinning educational programming.

“There’s only three groups supporting this and it won’t surprise you that it’s Verizon, the national cable lobby and American Cable Association, all of which who would obviously benefit from this at the expense of the cable customers losing that public access, educational and government channels,” Campo said.

With the FCC proposing to essentially put a price on local television, Mayor Greg Zilka said it was important for Avon Lake to make their voices heard loud and clear.

“This is really a tremendous threat to what we know today as what we’re doing right now, which is public service, through churches and organizations and shows that the digital media group puts on,” Zilka said. “And they do an outstanding job and they are very informative as they educate the public. So, this would be a tremendous setback.”

The city receives about $350,000 annually from cable companies through franchise fees which help produce local programming along with helping cover maintenance costs and an additional portion going direct to ALC-TV and the city’s digital media department.

If the city were to suffer cutbacks, officials said it could threaten ALC-TV and the ability of residents to stay informed.

“Because we could lose a considerable amount of revenue, or we have to choose to cut back, that would be unfortunate to our community,” Zilka said. “I think this is a battle that we just need to take on to benefit our residents being informed and having access to information.”

ALC-TV was honored Oct. 27 at the 2018 Philo Festival for Media Arts award ceremony in Alliance for its programming.

Campo said the city’s digital media director Barb Cagley will reach out to local churches whose services are broadcast on ALC-TV as an additional way of voicing opposition to FCC’s proposed changes.

Avon Lake residents are being encouraged to submit public comments at www. fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express for docket number 05-311.