REPORT IN BRIEF

The one-year pilot program for Public Access Cable TV Channel 60 started on March 19, 2001. Five Sunnyvale producers participated in the pilot program and aired their programs in 30-minute timeslots two times each day—three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening—with the exception of Tuesdays and Thursdays when programs are aired in one three-hour block of time. City staff met with the five producers three times during the pilot program to obtain feedback and comments. At the meeting held with the producers in February 2002, one of the agenda items was a discussion on how to proceed with public access programming after the one-year pilot program ended. City staff also surveyed local cities to determine what type of public access program was provided to their citizens. This report provides the results of the pilot program including options on how to proceed regarding public access programming. Staff is recommending that the City expand the technical capability of the Channel 60 public access program to add one new producer, look at developing a programming policy, and re-evaluate the program in one year.

BACKGROUND

In December 1999, City Council placed Study Issue Paper Number ITD-1, Review Cable TV Franchise Agreement for Fund Appropriation, on the 2000 calendar for review and consideration. RTC #00-241 was presented to Council on July 11, 2000 listing three options for providing public access programming in addition to the option of pursuing agreements with the cities of Cupertino and Los Altos. Council approved staff’s recommendation to continue its "one-time exception" to the "no operating costs" position related to cable public access and directed staff to pursue a one-year pilot program to air public access programming on the City’s Government Access Channel 18. Subsequent to the RTC in July 2000, AT&T Broadband completed its replacement of the existing coaxial cable line used for Channel 18 with a fiber optic cable enabling the City to broadcast over public access Channel 60. As a result, staff pursued a one-year pilot program to air public access programming over Channel 60. In December 2000, City Council placed Study Issue Paper Number ITD-1C for the public access pilot program on the 2001 calendar. This study issue was continued for the current 2002 calendar year to report on the results of the one-year pilot program.

Channel 60 went "live" on February 28, 2001 with the airing of temporary bulletin board slides announcing the upcoming programs. Staff from the Office of the City Manager and the Information Technology Department worked with four Sunnyvale producers (identified by the De Anza TV Center) whose work met the screening process established by the TV Center. Each of the four producers signed a Producer Agreement with the City for the one-year pilot program, and the City launched the one-year pilot program for Channel 60 on March 19, 2001. The original broadcast schedule played each producer’s program in a 30-minute timeslot and aired consecutively at a pre-determined time on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays through Saturdays (no programming was scheduled for Tuesdays so as to avoid overlap with the live broadcast of the Council meetings on KSUN Channel 18).

After a meeting with the four Sunnyvale producers in August 2001 to review the first five months of the pilot program, discussion was held regarding the addition of a fifth producer. The fifth producer is a Sunnyvale resident who had an active agreement with the De Anza TV Center as of July 2000 and, therefore, was eligible to participate in the pilot program. It was agreed that the City would add the fifth producer and that the schedule for the public access programs be modified to enable a total of six 30-minute timeslots to be played back in a three-hour block of time twice a day. The City purchased and installed additional playback decks to enable the new schedule.

On September 9, 2001, the new schedule for public access programs went into effect. The five producers’ programs are currently being aired two times each day—three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening—with the exception of Tuesdays and Thursdays when programs are aired once. The current show times are:

Current programming on Public Access Channel 60 includes the programs produced by the five Sunnyvale producers and the bulletin board. The bulletin board provides text information about the five programs.

It is difficult to determine how much viewer interest there is for public access programming in Sunnyvale. The 2001 External Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted in December 2001 included a question on how frequently citizens viewed Channel 60 and KSUN Channel 18. Overall, 16% of those citizens responding to the survey indicated that they watched Channel 60 at least one time a month. The results of the survey are indicated in the following table.

The Office of the City Manager received feedback in the form of e-mail messages, mail-in cards or telephone messages from approximately 25 individuals. At least five individuals expressed a desire to produce programs for Channel 60. There appears to be a demand from producers to expand the capability to air more public access programming.

City staff conducted a survey with several cities to determine what type of public access program they provide to their citizens. The survey also asked cities to provide information on what resources are required to operate and maintain the public access program, who administers the program, what costs are involved, and what type of marketing strategies they use to promote their respective public access programs. The survey was distributed in January 2002 to seven local cities—San Jose, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Milpitas, and Los Gatos—and to 11 other California cities. Attachment A lists the responses received from four local cities: Milpitas, Mountain View, Cupertino and Los Gatos. The City of San Luis Obispo responded that it does not provide a public access program, and the City of Concord responded that a private operator provides its public access program.

Two of the respondents—Mountain View and Los Gatos—are nonprofit organizations whose sole function is to operate the cable television channels for the respective cities. De Anza Community College provides the public access programming for Cupertino. The primary sources of funding for these three organizations are from cable television franchise fees or through grants. The City of Milpitas is the only respondent who operates its public access cable television channel with the support of one City staff member. Milpitas currently plays public access programming on Thursdays from 5pm-8pm. Preference for playback time is given to local residents first. Milpitas does not have a studio to produce tapes; producers must provide fully completed videotapes for playback.

There are three options that would expand the playback capabilities of Public Access Channel 60, depending on Council’s direction. If the operations of public access programming are retained in-house, there are two options to expand the playback capabilities.

Option 1 - There is technical capability to add one more producer to the playback schedule with the purchase and installation of a S-VHS playback deck in the existing rack located in the KSUN control room behind the Council Chambers. The cost of a playback deck is approximately $1,300.

Option 2 – To double the playback capability of Channel 60 (from a three-hour block of time to a six-hour block of time, two times each day), six additional S-VHS playback decks would be needed. A controller, encoding equipment, control interfaces and rack shelves would also be required. Estimated costs for this equipment—excluding system design, integration and installation—are $30,000.

Option 3 - There is also the third option of exploring the feasibility of outsourcing the entire operation for Channel 60 to a non-profit organization similar to those three communities who responded to the City’s survey. The City of Cupertino pays an annual amount of $98,400 to De Anza College for public access programming; the annual budget for Mountain View Community TV is approximately $400,000.

Currently, the contracted operator spends two hours per week to prepare tapes and schedule playback for Channel 60 at a cost of $3,000 annually. If the City adds one more producer, it is expected that there would be no additional hours required. If the City adds six more producers to the schedule, an additional two hours per week would be needed for this process. The increase in annual operating costs for these additional operator hours is $3,000.

City staff in the Office of the City Manager currently spends two hours per week related to Channel 60 activities at a cost of $5,100 annually. If the number of producers increases by one more producer, the City expects no impact on the operating budget. If the number of producers doubles, it is anticipated that staff would spend an additional two hours per week and there would be an increase in operating costs of $5,100 per year.

If the public access program is continued, staff is recommending that Council consider a study issue for the development of a programming policy for Channel 60. Council adopted a similar policy for KSUN Channel 18 programming (Policy 7.2.10 in the Community Participation Sub-Element) in May 1996 (RTC #96-166). The programming policy will clarify the purpose and use of Channel 60 including definition of criteria for staff to use to select producers to air programs. These policy guidelines will also be incorporated into administrative and operating policies. The administrative policy will detail responsibilities of specific City staff, the role of the operations contractor, and other operational procedures.