11 - Public, Educational and Governmental Channel

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Item No. 11 MV= TO: Mayor & City Council FROM: Gene Anderson, Interim City Manager & Finance Director SUBJECT: PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL, & GOVERNMENTAL ACCESS FEE DATE: March 4, 2020 BACKGROUND: Historically, cable franchises were granted by local governments where a fee was collected for the use of the city's right-of-way. In 2005, the State legislature allowed cable companies to bypass local control by setting up a State -issued certificate of franchise authority. In the City of Paris' case, the cable company did not invoke their right to a State issued franchise until the local franchise expired at the end of 2009. At that point, the State franchise legislation applied to the City of Paris. In addition to the 5% franchise fee allowed under the State franchise fee, the City could also collect a 1% fee for the purpose of providing public, educational, and governmental programming to citizens on its own cable channel. While the state law imposed no restrictions on the type of expenditures made from PEG funds, Federal law dictates that this 1% fee can only be spent for capital items. Under the State franchise, the City can require Suddenlink Communications to provide the City with up to 2 PEG channels. The City would be required to provide at least 8 hours of programming each day on a PEG channel. Previous Councils have considered and rejected this type of programming because it would require at least one new employee (or contract worker) and there were concerns with the technology involved. STATUS OF ISSUE: No use of these funds has been made to date, and the City has collected $598,755 since the inception of this program. BUDGET: N/A RECOMMENDATION: The staff seeks direction from the Council on whether to continue to collect this fee and what to do about the accumulated funds.