CHARTER/SPECTRUM CONTRACT - TB Town of Esopus Workshop Minutes on 5/7/19 Esopus Community TV 23

Esopus Community TV 23

The Town has been facing challenges with the Public Access Channel for more than a year. At Town Hall there is Public Access broadcasting equipment that is outdated and Spectrum is not helping us pay for it. Supervisor Harris has started to explore putting a Franchise Fee in place to pay for updated equipment because she said that by law the Town needs to broadcast public access and allow the public access for their broadcasts as well. Supervisor Harris said, at this time the Town is getting close to falling out of compliance with the law.

Supervisor Harris explained that Charter has their heels dug in due to another franchise agreement at the southern end of the Town which is now in the hands of the lawyers. Supervisor Harris is also going to invite the Public Access Committee Chair to the next Ulster County Supervisors’ meeting. At this time there are approximately 8 other municipalities for whom the Town of Esopus is the broadcasting center. All these municipalities are collecting franchising fees and are not giving the Town any money for updating the equipment. There is a bit of negotiation going on. The Town would like the other municipalities to give the Town money toward updating the equipment but we don’t know how that will go over. This is still a work in progress. The Town has called in the Public Service Commission to help with this issue.

Councilwoman Van Vliet mentioned that the franchise fee will get passed down to the consumer with a small fee of $1.00 or $2.00 on the cable bill and Supervisor Harris confirmed this.

Supervisor Harris discussed that the concept of a consortium will come into play and contributions from the other municipalities who benefit from our Public Access Chanel with be asked for money. They need not get involved other than providing funds to update the equipment. The Town of Esopus should not have to bear all the costs especially when we don’t even charge a franchise fee.

DRAFT TB WORKSHOP 5/7/19 PDF