| The Plainfield Television Group Report to the Plainfield Village Board Jack Heimerdinger, Director November 23, 2009 |
Annually The Plainfield Television Group
presents to the Plainfield Village Board
a review of our previous year's operations.
The text shown here represent the 2009
presentation.
presents to the Plainfield Village Board
a review of our previous year's operations.
The text shown here represent the 2009
presentation.
The Plainfield Television Group is now
beginning our fourth year of offering
the people of Plainfield public access
television and creating original
television programming that is in the
public interest. We continue to
broadcast a regularly scheduled 2-½
hour magazine-style program, which is
currently shown five times weekly on
the community cable channel. We
launched P-SPAN, which allows
viewers across the county, state and
world to view Plainfield’s governmental
meetings, our weekly program, and
other channel 6 broadcasts on their
computer. We are one of a few
volunteer operations in the country to
offer this web-based service.
The Plainfield Television Group
continues to act responsibly, frugally,
and has fulfilled the requirements of
our agreement with the Village and we
ask that our license, support, and
funding be continued.
Public Access Television, which the
Plainfield Television Group represents,
is supported, generally, with funds
collected from cable operating
companies in the form of franchise
fees. In many parts of the country
these funds -- by law -- are entirely
channeled to community and public
access television. In other
communities, local governments
allocate the amount of money that is to
be used to support public access
television. Cable companies are
required by law to provide channels to
communities for local programming.
Federal FCC regulations strongly
recommend that franchise funds be
used primarily to support education,
government, and public access
television.
Our budget represents approximately
6% of the estimated $300,000
franchise fee the Village receives from
Comcast and AT&T. It is fair to say
that these cable operator franchise
fees support the Group’s activities,
though the Village may choose to label
and deposit the funds in some other
basket for accounting purposes. At
the 2009 March budget meeting,
questioning by Trustee Vaupel verified
this is our finding source.
Comcast and AT&T fees are currently
being used to cover the costs of
televising Village Board and other
government meetings, utilizing a paid
staff. This use satisfies only the
government portion of the PEG*
directives. Public access television is
equally important and funding it is
equally justifiable from this revenue
source.
As reported, in March we lost our
month-to-month occupancy in
downtown Plainfield and it was
necessary for us to relocate our studio
facilities. Accordingly, we requested a
slightly larger grant for 2009-2010
from the previous year, knowing that
our expenses would increase, but not
certain by how much.
Starting in September, we began
operating from our Walker’s Grove
studio. We have more usable
production space and the building has
an elevator, which gives us an
opportunity to schedule programs with
residents who previously had difficulty
navigating the stairs at our old studio.
The cost of the relocation and
conversion of this unfinished space
was covered by the differential
between our first-quarter budgeted
monthly cost estimate and our actual
expense. We now have a utility cost,
but that too was anticipated in our
original estimates. To reduce costs,
we petitioned Com Edison to supply
electricity as a Village facility at no
charge, but were turned down.
For the first half of the year our
operating expenses have been
approximately $1000 less than
originally anticipated, including the
cost of moving and re-equipping our
studio facilities. We believe this
expense level will hold true for the rest
of the fiscal year, and so we wish to
reduce our annual grant request to
$17,500 of which $7,750 is yet to be
released. This village grant is our only
source of funding.
Since August of last year our
volunteers have created hours of
original local television that included
interviews, community events,
discussions, election information,
profiles, and opinion – an
extraordinary accomplishment for a
volunteer group. We are in the
process of restructuring some
programs -- we will be featuring
fascinating stories about ordinary
Plainfield people, profiling community
leaders, interviewing governmental
officials, and exploring the important
issues of the day. We will be
expanding and creating new formats
that give Plainfield residents more
opportunities to speak-out. And, we will
continue our weekly cooperative
program with the Plainfield Humane
Society that for four years, has been
finding new homes for cats and dogs.
We are Plainfield’s soapbox – which is
a classic definition of public access
television.
We have not prepared an
entertainment video for this year’s
report, for we feel that there is nothing
entertaining about the financial
situation confronting the Village. Our
programming can be seen on our
website. Our weekly listing in the
Enterprise alerts everyone about our
weekly offering.
As required, we have submitted
financial reports and logs, and have
periodically met with Village personnel
and kept them informed about our
operation. Our operation is and will
continue to be, completely transparent.
We have received no direct complaints
or objections about our programming.
We are concerned that
communications from an appointed
Village official can be interpreted as an
attempt to influence our programming
and challenge our independence. We
want to emphasize that our license
guarantees exclusive control over our
programs, personalities, content, and
scheduling.
We have greatly expanded our website
capacity, and will be placing more
program segments on the web. The
website (PLAINFIELDTV.COM) has an
especially large audience, as residents
of School District 202 living outside of
the village turn to us for information
about the district.
We have launched P-SPAN, which is
live streaming of channel 6 on to the
web. We are one of but a few public
access operations in the country to
offer this service. Channel 6
programming is limited to the
boundaries of Plainfield -- P-SPAN
allows viewers across the county,
state, and world, to watch Plainfield’s
governmental meetings, our weekly
program, and other channel 6
broadcasts.
Unlike many surrounding community
television operations with paid staffs,
our volunteers give their time,
creativity, and talent freely. Many
have worked in broadcasting
professionally, others just like the idea
of producing television programs.
Other than an occasional lunch, our
volunteers receive no compensation.
The Plainfield Television Group
represents service to the community at
its best.
The Group’s out-in-front style has
been honored by a newly formed
group of public access television
devotees in Maine. They followed our
progress on the web and have used
our experience as a model for their
channel. Earning the support and
respect of the community is motivation
for all of the members of the Group to
continue.
The Plainfield Television Group feels
we are providing a unique public
service and are operating in the public
interest, which is the singular criterion
on which we should be measured.
We look forward to having our license
and funding extended.
beginning our fourth year of offering
the people of Plainfield public access
television and creating original
television programming that is in the
public interest. We continue to
broadcast a regularly scheduled 2-½
hour magazine-style program, which is
currently shown five times weekly on
the community cable channel. We
launched P-SPAN, which allows
viewers across the county, state and
world to view Plainfield’s governmental
meetings, our weekly program, and
other channel 6 broadcasts on their
computer. We are one of a few
volunteer operations in the country to
offer this web-based service.
The Plainfield Television Group
continues to act responsibly, frugally,
and has fulfilled the requirements of
our agreement with the Village and we
ask that our license, support, and
funding be continued.
Public Access Television, which the
Plainfield Television Group represents,
is supported, generally, with funds
collected from cable operating
companies in the form of franchise
fees. In many parts of the country
these funds -- by law -- are entirely
channeled to community and public
access television. In other
communities, local governments
allocate the amount of money that is to
be used to support public access
television. Cable companies are
required by law to provide channels to
communities for local programming.
Federal FCC regulations strongly
recommend that franchise funds be
used primarily to support education,
government, and public access
television.
Our budget represents approximately
6% of the estimated $300,000
franchise fee the Village receives from
Comcast and AT&T. It is fair to say
that these cable operator franchise
fees support the Group’s activities,
though the Village may choose to label
and deposit the funds in some other
basket for accounting purposes. At
the 2009 March budget meeting,
questioning by Trustee Vaupel verified
this is our finding source.
Comcast and AT&T fees are currently
being used to cover the costs of
televising Village Board and other
government meetings, utilizing a paid
staff. This use satisfies only the
government portion of the PEG*
directives. Public access television is
equally important and funding it is
equally justifiable from this revenue
source.
As reported, in March we lost our
month-to-month occupancy in
downtown Plainfield and it was
necessary for us to relocate our studio
facilities. Accordingly, we requested a
slightly larger grant for 2009-2010
from the previous year, knowing that
our expenses would increase, but not
certain by how much.
Starting in September, we began
operating from our Walker’s Grove
studio. We have more usable
production space and the building has
an elevator, which gives us an
opportunity to schedule programs with
residents who previously had difficulty
navigating the stairs at our old studio.
The cost of the relocation and
conversion of this unfinished space
was covered by the differential
between our first-quarter budgeted
monthly cost estimate and our actual
expense. We now have a utility cost,
but that too was anticipated in our
original estimates. To reduce costs,
we petitioned Com Edison to supply
electricity as a Village facility at no
charge, but were turned down.
For the first half of the year our
operating expenses have been
approximately $1000 less than
originally anticipated, including the
cost of moving and re-equipping our
studio facilities. We believe this
expense level will hold true for the rest
of the fiscal year, and so we wish to
reduce our annual grant request to
$17,500 of which $7,750 is yet to be
released. This village grant is our only
source of funding.
Since August of last year our
volunteers have created hours of
original local television that included
interviews, community events,
discussions, election information,
profiles, and opinion – an
extraordinary accomplishment for a
volunteer group. We are in the
process of restructuring some
programs -- we will be featuring
fascinating stories about ordinary
Plainfield people, profiling community
leaders, interviewing governmental
officials, and exploring the important
issues of the day. We will be
expanding and creating new formats
that give Plainfield residents more
opportunities to speak-out. And, we will
continue our weekly cooperative
program with the Plainfield Humane
Society that for four years, has been
finding new homes for cats and dogs.
We are Plainfield’s soapbox – which is
a classic definition of public access
television.
We have not prepared an
entertainment video for this year’s
report, for we feel that there is nothing
entertaining about the financial
situation confronting the Village. Our
programming can be seen on our
website. Our weekly listing in the
Enterprise alerts everyone about our
weekly offering.
As required, we have submitted
financial reports and logs, and have
periodically met with Village personnel
and kept them informed about our
operation. Our operation is and will
continue to be, completely transparent.
We have received no direct complaints
or objections about our programming.
We are concerned that
communications from an appointed
Village official can be interpreted as an
attempt to influence our programming
and challenge our independence. We
want to emphasize that our license
guarantees exclusive control over our
programs, personalities, content, and
scheduling.
We have greatly expanded our website
capacity, and will be placing more
program segments on the web. The
website (PLAINFIELDTV.COM) has an
especially large audience, as residents
of School District 202 living outside of
the village turn to us for information
about the district.
We have launched P-SPAN, which is
live streaming of channel 6 on to the
web. We are one of but a few public
access operations in the country to
offer this service. Channel 6
programming is limited to the
boundaries of Plainfield -- P-SPAN
allows viewers across the county,
state, and world, to watch Plainfield’s
governmental meetings, our weekly
program, and other channel 6
broadcasts.
Unlike many surrounding community
television operations with paid staffs,
our volunteers give their time,
creativity, and talent freely. Many
have worked in broadcasting
professionally, others just like the idea
of producing television programs.
Other than an occasional lunch, our
volunteers receive no compensation.
The Plainfield Television Group
represents service to the community at
its best.
The Group’s out-in-front style has
been honored by a newly formed
group of public access television
devotees in Maine. They followed our
progress on the web and have used
our experience as a model for their
channel. Earning the support and
respect of the community is motivation
for all of the members of the Group to
continue.
The Plainfield Television Group feels
we are providing a unique public
service and are operating in the public
interest, which is the singular criterion
on which we should be measured.
We look forward to having our license
and funding extended.
Plainfield Television Group
Budget Expenses --
May 2008 to March 2009
Studio Account Scenic materials, fixtures, $1,200.00 8%
Operations Account Supplies, video media, entertainment 2,400.00 17%
Equipment Account New equipment and maintenance charges 2,400.00 17%
Rent/Utilities Studio occupancy fee, internet access fee, web hosting 6,300.00 44%
Facilities Upgrade and remodel of studio space 2,000.00 14%
Total 2008 Funding Request $14,300.00 100%
Plainfield Television Group
Estimated Budget Expenses --
May 2009 to March 2010
Studio Account Scenic materials, fixtures, $1,200.00 6%
Operations Account Supplies, video media, entertainment 2,000.00 10%
Equipment Account New equipment and maintenance charges 1,100.00 6%
Rent/Utilities Studio occupancy fee, internet access fee, web hosting 13,200.00 68%
Facilities Upgrade and remodel of studio space 2,000.00 10%
Total2009 Funding Request $19,500.00 100%
Plainfield Television Group
Revised Budget Expenses --
May 2009 to March 2010
Studio Account Scenic materials, fixtures, $1,200.00 7%
Operations Account Supplies, video media, entertainment 2,000.00 11%
Equipment Account New equipment and maintenance charges 1,100.00 6%
Rent/Utilities Studio occupancy fee, internet access fee, web hosting 13,200.00 75%
Facilities Upgrade and remodel of studio space* 0.00 0%
Total 2009 Revised Funding Request $17,500.00 100%
*This cost was covered by the differential between
the budgeted expenses and actual expenses for the
first 4 months.
* PEG is a FCC acronym from the Cable
Regulation Act describing the requirement
that cable franchise holders provide up to
three channels on their system dedicated to
Public Access, Educational and Government
programming. In smaller markets, such as
Plainfield and by agreement, these functions
are shared on a single channel; in larger
markets, there may be separate channels for
each type of program on the system.
Communities usually negotiate with the
cable companies regarding this provision
and the amount of franchise fees. Generally,
cable companies add a $1 per month service
fee to their statement to fund the PEG
requirements. In practice, this fee is collected
even if the local community does not
distribute it to public access television
projects.
Regulation Act describing the requirement
that cable franchise holders provide up to
three channels on their system dedicated to
Public Access, Educational and Government
programming. In smaller markets, such as
Plainfield and by agreement, these functions
are shared on a single channel; in larger
markets, there may be separate channels for
each type of program on the system.
Communities usually negotiate with the
cable companies regarding this provision
and the amount of franchise fees. Generally,
cable companies add a $1 per month service
fee to their statement to fund the PEG
requirements. In practice, this fee is collected
even if the local community does not
distribute it to public access television
projects.
| Want more information about Public Access Television -- watch this You Tube video by Susan Fleischmann of Cambridge Community Television click on button |
