PROPOSED LEGISLATION WOULD TAX VIDEO SERVICES TO FUND COMMUNITY ACCESS CABLE CHANNELS

A proposed state tax on streaming video services could lead to higher prices for popular video services such as Netflix and Hulu. But the state’s community access cable channels, which provide local news, sports, and gavel-to-gavel coverage of local government, say the tax is essential to keep them afloat. “If we don’t have some kind of help in updating the funding for community media, we’re not going to be around,” said David Gauthier, president of MassAccess, the statewide organization for community access cable channels. In July, the Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology held hearings on legislation filed by Democratic State Representative Joan Meschino and Republican Representative Mathew J. Muratore. Their bill would require streaming video companies to pay a 5 percent fee on the gross revenues generated in the state. The estimated $65 million a year raised by the fee would support roughly 200 community access channels, the most in any state. The community channels are run by nonprofit organizations or town governments, and funded by cable TV companies, which are assessed a fee by local governments for the right to run their cables through city property. The cable companies pass the cost on to subscribers. But subscriptions are plummeting as US consumers abandon pay TV for streaming services.

Cable and satellite subscribers now number about 70 million, down more than 25 percent from 95.5 million a decade ago, according to Leichtman Research Group, a New Hampshire research and analysis company specializing in media, entertainment, and broadband industries. Meschino said citizens can’t afford to lose access to community media channels, because so many local newspapers have shut down. “There’s literally no other way to consume that sort of hyperlocal programming,” Meschino said. The community channels were especially valuable during the COVID lockdown, as they provided emergency information and broadcast virtual public meetings via cable and the internet. “That’s how town board meetings occurred,” said Muratore. “Government still had to function. They were able to do that through the local access stations.” About a dozen US states levy sales taxes on consumers’ streaming video bills. But Meschino said that sales tax money goes into each state’s general fund. Instead, she wants the streaming fee to be dedicated entirely to support for community media services, just like the fee paid by traditional cable TV companies.