Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 7896 � ~ _ ° INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7896 w STE March 7, 1995 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Subject: STUDIO 46 FEES BACKGROUND In 1988, Sammons Cable of Fort Worth asked the City of Fort Worth to renegotiate certain portions of its cable franchise. One element of the revised franchise transferred control of five commuriity channels to the City of Fort Worth to program. Under the initial terms of the franchise, Sammons was responsible for community programming. Under the terms of the revised franchise, the City was responsible for the municipal, community, open, and two educational channels. The agreement requires the City to produce at least 2 10 hours of original, non-repeat programming each quarter or 840 hours annually for the municipal and commuriity channels. Sammons agreed to, add a fee of$1 per month per subscriber to finance the City's commitment. The fee pays the cost of purchasing equipment, providing facilities and maintaining staff to produce municipal programming on Channel 07 as well as to provide production assistance to community programs on the Cornmunity Channel 45. The agreement placed no minimum programming requirements on the two educational chanriels or the Open Channel. The City has continued Sammons' arrangement of permitting the Fort Worth Independent School District and Tarrant County Junior College to each program one of the two educational channels. The Open Channel shows programs produced by citizens at their locations. The City or a contractor has merely scheduled these programs since 1988. Also in the 1988 franchise amendment, Sammons agreed to contribute $1 million to the City to construct a central community cable studio. The studio was required in the 1981 franchise agreement, but Sammons never built the facility. The City Cable Studio opened in January 1995. The facility includes a main studio to support the City's commitment to programming on the municipal and community channels. It also includes a- community studio to support Open Channel programming. DISCUSSION During the last 12 months ending in February, the City has produced 1,004 hours and 24 minutes of original programming for Channels 07 and 45. Since the franchise has been amended, the City has exceeded the required hours of programming each year. In 1993-94, the City exceeded the minimum by 12 percent. The cost of producing the programming has been financed by revenue from the$1 fee. In 1993-94, programming fee revenue collected by Sammons and paid to the City was $704,844. The 1994-95 estimated revenue is $705,000. The fee pays for Cable Office operating costs and staff, as well as equipment replacement. A reserve equal to about a month of operating costs is maintained to address any emergency situations. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER- FORT WORTH. TEXAS- - ° INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7896 March 7, 1995 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council 'Ex Subject: STUDIO 46 FEES No general funds are budgeted toward city cable programming efforts. Nor is any of the $1,122,000 in cable franchise fees to be received in 1994-95 by the City used for cable programming. Rather, the Sammons franchise fee is used exclusively by the General Fund. With a new community studio available to citizens to produce programs for Channel 46, the City is introducing a new level of service. Previously, the City Cable Office merely accepted the citizen- produced tapes, scheduled the programs for showing and delivered the tapes to Sammons. There was no charge to citizens. With Studio 46, the community studio's name, a ftilly-equipped studio, with master control, editing studio and audio dubbing studio, is available to citizens to produce programs. Studio 46 equipment is a blend of equipment used in the former City Hall studio and new equipment. The studio is designed to allow citizens to produce the same quality programming as appears on Channels 07 and 001m, Currently, 55 citizens provide programming for the Open Channel 46. After review of other Open Channel programs in Texas and around the country,the Citizens Programming Advisory Committee and Cable staff concluded that a Studio 46 program patterned after other successful public access programs is a good model for Fort Worth to adopt. The rationale for a membersl-�p public access organization is to provide a mechanism for citizens interested in producing video to support each other, foster meetings from time-to-time to celebrate success,provide equipment training service and oversee equipment maintenance and replacement. The Programming Advisory Committee and staff believe nominal fees will encourage the serious community video producer to use Studio 46, thereby increasing the number and variety of programs on Channel 46. Studio 46 membership entitles a citizen to use the community studio free of charge for 20 hours annually. If the citizen producer desires more time, additional hours would be available at a "below public access market rate." Once a citizen is certified to use equipment, a pool of Studio 46 members will be available to assist other citizen producers on their productions. All programs produced in Studio 46 must appear on Channel 46. Citizens who do not know how to use video equipment may elect to take one of five video production courses that will be offered. Like membership, the proposed fees for training courses are below market prices to encourage citizens to enroll. Citizens who are familiar with video equipment can "test out" to certify that they can use the equipment. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH. TEXAS - ~ INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7896 March 7, 1995 FRI To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Page 3 of 3 Subject: STUDIO 46 FEES Two principle costs for the Studio 46 program are instructors and equipment replacement. The Studio 46 program will cost an estimated $26,900 annually. Based on rates paid to instructors in continuing education programs, the annual instructor cost will be approximately$1,900. Equipment replacement wiJI cost approximately $25,000 a year, 10 percent of the value of the equipment. Industry standards and City experience indicate the 10 percent annual equipment replacement benchmark is accurate. If the 55 current Channel 46 users and the 13 potentially new Studio 46 users, who have requested to use the studio, elect to become members and take advantage of some of the training courses, Studio 46 fees will total an estimated $8,050 annually. The revenue is based on a mix of senior citizens, youth and non-residents, as well as residents,participating in Studio 46 and using a variety of services. W%ile no major equipment replacement in the community studio is anticipated in the next year, the use of some used equipment in Studio 46 opens the possibility that a major piece of equipment could fail at any time. In subsequent years, equipment upgrades would be scheduled, as funds allow or with the community program funds, if necessary. The Community Programming Advisory Committee and City staff recommends the Studio 46 program and the fees set out in M&C G-10980 as the best means of maximizing the use of the community studio facility and increasing the amount and quality of programming.on Channel 46. If members of the Council have further questions,please contact Assistant to the City Manager Pat Svacina at 871-6415. Bob Terrell City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER— FORT WORTH,TEXAS- ~ The following "below the market" fee concept is designed to recover only the out-of-pocket costs to providing training": Service Senior/Student Fort Worth Non-Fort Worth Resident Resident Resident Membership $35 $58 $140 (Cable Subscriber) $70 (Non-Cable Subscriber) Basic Course $5 $10 $50 Producing/ $20 $25 $50 Directing Audio/Character $20 $25 $50 Generator Editing $20 $25 $50 CamCorder $15 $20 $50 eFF Additional Editing $10 $15 $75 Facility Use per hour per hour per hour Additional Control $10 $15 $85 per hour per hour per hour The $58 membership fee for Fort Worth cable subscribers recognizes that these members pay the $1 a month subscriber fee,