|
|
If you want to watch real life drama and alliances gone bad, skip Survivor: Africa and tune into Cincinnati City Council meetings on CitiCable instead.
Cable viewers will still have their public access channels this year, despite Mayor Charlie Luken’s hint that he would try to end the service. The day after the Nov. 6 election, Luken called for a reduction or elimination of funding for public access and CitiCable.
Last month council accepted Luken’s proposal to reduce CitiCable’s funding by $190,000 — a 33 percent cut. Cincinnati cable subscribers will still get to see council antics from the comfort of their couch, but CitiCable is in the process of determining just how the cuts will affect its operation.
CitiCable’s budget before the cuts was about $578,000, generated by Time Warner’s franchise fee to the city.
“All of our funding comes from the franchise fee,” says Frank Clark, CitiCable manager.
The franchise fee has traditionally been used to pay for communication, in the form of government television programming and also for items such as police radios.
The $190,000 cut from CitiCable will be returned to the general fund.
Confusion over cuts
CitiCable also oversees the city’s contract with Media Bridges, whose funding has not yet been cut.
Media Bridges is a nonprofit corporation, while CitiCable is a city department, according to Belinda Rawlins, executive director of Media Bridges.
Media Bridges runs four public access channels in the city.
Time Warner Cable collects 96 cents a month from each Cincinnati subscriber, and the money goes to the city to fund Media Bridges, separate from the franchise fee that funds CitiCable.
“That is solely restricted for public and educational (television),” Rawlins said. “If we were not here, that 96 cents would not be able to go anywhere else. They wouldn’t be able to divert that to sewers. That’s not an option.”
CitiCable runs shows on government offices. It also airs public service announcements, city related news and council and committee meetings.
The agency also runs the Institutional Network (INET), which can be picked up at about 400 locations in the city. It is used by government departments, hospitals, recreation centers, public libraries and schools. INET offers the ability for people at different locations to interact with one other and have meetings and training without having to travel.
CitiCable doesn’t take programming from the general public.
“All of our programming is government-related in some way,” Clark says.
But because of funding cuts, CitiCable’s coverage of such events as Riverfest and the Juneteenth celebration, which require a great deal of manpower, is now in question.
“Most of the things that we would normally do on the weekends are in jeopardy, because we can’t pay overtime,” Clark says. “Right now we’re just trying to see what we can continue to do.”
CitiCable had been planning to do video streaming to allow people to pick up programs on their computers. But those plans will have to wait. CitiCable is losing at least two of its six full-time staff members.
“It’s only been a few weeks since they voted on the budget, so we’re still trying to get our balance,” Clark says. “We’re literally making adjustments every day.”
Council meetings — one of Citicable’s most popular programs — only requires one staff member, because they are filmed by remote cameras in council chambers.
“If a council meeting doesn’t play when it’s supposed to, that’s when the phone rings,” Clark says.
Clark says he believes CitiCable will still be able to broadcast the meetings and provide closed captioning for the deaf. But after that, it’s up in the air.
“Right now we’re just trying to see what we can continue to do,” he says.
Last-resort TV
When Luken first called for cuts in public access, Rawlins wasn’t sure how the changes would affect Media Bridges. No one from city council called her to let her know.
“It was really a wait and see,” she says. “It was a very confusing time even for those of us in the know.”
Rawlins contacted council aides, who offered what information they could.
“It really sounded like things were happening so fast they were figuring things out as they were going along,” she says.
The cuts to CitiCable could affect Media Bridges, because some of the events CitiCable now covers might fall to Media Bridges.
“If it’s not meeting coverage, chances are with the 33 percent cuts, they won’t be able to handle those events,” Rawlins says.
But she says Media Bridges won’t be able to cover some of the events, either — for example, the Reds’ parade on Opening Day. Media Bridges doesn’t have a truck to cover the parade as a live event, as CitiCable does.
Clark says he hopes CitiCable will still be able to cover the parade.
Media Bridges’ gets 90 percent of its operating budget from the city, $763,000 in 2002. The agency has 13 staff members to run four cable channels and teach classes.
Media Bridges’ four channels provide programs on themes of public, educational, religious and metro. Any city subscriber has access to the channels and can air programming.
Rawlins says the channels are popular.
“If something happens and the channels go off for a minute, you know about it very quickly,” she says.
Besides offering education and entertainment, Media Bridges gives ordinary people a chance to get their messages out to the public at no cost.
“We’re the largest (public access) in the state and definitely among the largest around,” Rawlins says. “Ohio is very strong for public access. It’s actually considered the birthplace of it.”
Television time on a local network affiliate is expensive — if they will even sell it. Public access, by contrast, provides equipment and air time free of charge.
“It’s the last chance for people to have access to the media,” Rawlins says.
Making their move
While trying to keep track of the city budget, Media Bridges has been working on new space at 1100 Race St. The agency is moving from its former location on Reading Road, where it had operated for 12 years, and construction at the new location was supposed to be completed in October.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, however, construction materials were slow in arriving. Rawlins estimates Media Bridges will move to its new facility in a couple of weeks. Since July it has been temporarily stationed at 1106 Race St. The construction is privately funded.
Media Bridges hasn’t been able to broadcast any live studio productions in its temporary location, but sends crews to shoot wherever users want them during the transition.
Equipment checkout, editing and classes continued.
“Studio’s the only thing that’s been missing,” Rawlins says.
Those who take classes with Media Bridges and show proficiency in using equipment can borrow cameras, lights and tripods to produce films.
“They take them out just like a library book,” Rawlins says.
The classes and services offered by Media Bridges is free.
“We have about 85 churches that use the religious access channel right now,” Rawlins says.
Media Bridges also does productions for non-profit groups up to four times a year.
Cincinnati is different from most cities in that government has its own channel in the form of CitiCable. This allows the city to create its own programming. Programs aired on the four channels run by Media Bridges is created by producers of the shows.
“Basically anybody can make a program about anything,” Rawlins says.
There is no censoring of materials at Media Bridges, according to Rawlins. If a producer indicates a program has sensitive content, it airs in a later time slot.
“The first time we see anything is when it goes on the air,” Rawlins says.
‘Refuse and Resist’
John Henry Simmons, co-founder of the non-profit group Be Kind, has been using public-access television for about 15 years. Simmons says he took lessons in operating a camera and started producing programs.
“What we do is find people who did kind things and received no recognition for it,” he says.
Simmons’ show has recognized people such as Alice Lefker, a woman who visited the sick in nursing homes.
Simmons says lay people would not be able to broadcast their messages on commercial television because of the cost.
Media Bridges has been vital in getting out the “Be Kind” message, according to Simmons.
“To make Cincinnati the city of kindness is surfacing,” he says. “It’s bubbling, and Media Bridges is the front-runner of this.”
Brian Garry has been using Media Bridges for four years.
“I’ve produced a bunch of shows that have been on,” he says.
Garry’s productions include shows about the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), an intercultural and intergenerational performances at a Montessori school and Maurice McCrackin Day. He is working on documentaries about McCrackin, TABD and police brutality.
Adrian Carsiotis, a Media Bridges consumer, attended a vigil for juveniles arrested for curfew violations during the April rebellion.
“We camped out at the Justice Center, and at that point we were anxious to get access,” he says.
Citizens who participated in the vigil were filmed for a show, produced by Garry, called Refuse and Resist. The show started in January, with a new segment about once a month.
“A large segment of the show was set aside for call-ins,” Carsiotis says.
Broadcast live the first time and later as a recording, each time the show played, people called, trying to get on the air.
“It was a complete spectrum of Cincinnati,” Carsiotis says. ©
This article appears in Jan 9-15, 2002.