City Council Meeting Date: February 6, 2024
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: Ben Martig, City Administrator
Michelle Mahowald, Communications & Human Resources Director
Sam Temple, NPB Station Manager
Title
Resolution of support for the MACTA effort to modernize public, education, and government (PEG) programming/public access funding.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council is being asked to support the MACTA effort to modernize public, education, and government (PEG) programming/public access funding.
Summary Report:
The Minnesota Association of Community Telecommunications Administrators (MACTA) is a statewide professional organization of city representatives and staff that a strong cohesive network which speaks, advocates, provides conferences and shares information with and for cities and their residents.
Through community television programming community members are able to stay connected and entertained through public, education, and government (PEG) programming. In the City of Northfield, PEG programming includes local community and nonprofit submissions, our City Council meetings, our board and commission meetings, and community events, among other things.
Community television programming is primarily funded through a cable franchise fee negotiated with cable providers in return for use of the public right-of-way. In some cases, there may also be additional PEG fees negotiated between cities and cable television providers.
Unfortunately, recent trends are decreasing the funds available for community television programming. Subscriptions to traditional cable television providers are rapidly being replaced by digital/video streaming services, which are, in turn, decreasing funding to community television programming, such as our own Northfield Public Broadcasting (NPB).
While streaming services are still using the right-of-way, under current state law, many of the companies providing streaming services are not required to compensate cities.
In response to this issue, MATCA is working on legislative efforts to modernize community television funding to stay current with consumer trends. MATCA is advocating for the following changes at a state level:
• Implementation of a modest fee on any company using the right-of-way to deliver services.
• Assessing a modest fee on digital/video streaming services to be collected by the state and allocated to cities and community television stations.
• Creation of a state budget line to support community television stations.
• Implementation of annual funding to support community television stations, similar to the current support provided to public radio and public television stations.
• Protection and preservation of city authority over the public right-of-way management and compensation for private use.
At a federal level, MATCA supports:
• Protection against threats to city authority over the public right-of-way.
• Advocation of changes in federal laws to codify current community television funding in franchise agreements.
• Support of the appointment of a full FCC Commission to protect consumers and regular the industry.
MATCA is working with cities in Minnesota to offer support to their work through the passage of a resolution of support (attachment 1). Additional background on MATCA and their efforts are attached (attachments 2 and 3).
Alternative Options:
The City Council can choose not to support this effort but staff strongly discourages that.
Financial Impacts:
N/A
Tentative Timelines:
N/A