June
PEG News As Cable Fades in Popularity, Public Access TV Stations Suffer Originally published by John Moritz March 9, 2022 Connecticut Post Facing constraints as more residents drop traditional cable, public access television stations operators called for the passage of legislation Tuesday that would expand fees currently paid by cable customers to include all internet or video streaming services. The rise in so-called cord cutters — customers who have switched from traditional paid TV plans to online streaming platforms — has decimated revenues to local public, educational and government access stations, which rely on fees levied on cable subscriptions to fund their stations, operators said. Without an expansion of those fees, station operators told lawmakers Tuesday that they may be forced to shut their doors. “We’re done,” warned Joanie Walker, the executive director of Nutmeg TV in Farmington. “I can have the best equipment here, but the lights won’t be on and the doors will be locked because we’re bleeding.”
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A bill before the legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee would task the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority with establishing a new fee on cable, internet and video streaming services to ensure continued funding for public-access television. Yet, despite the showing of support for public-access TV during a hearing on Tuesday, the legislation has drawn the opposition of a host of industry groups representing cable and internet companies, satellite providers and streaming platforms, who said those fees would simply be passed on to their customers. In testimony submitted to the committee, those groups argued that even a $5 annual fee to fund public-access TV could quickly pile up for customers who subscribe to multiple streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ or Hulu. They argued that there is no effective way to limit the fee to a single charge per household, as the companies do not share their customer lists with each other. “This bill is overreaching and imposes duplicative taxes on your constituents who may subscribe to video streaming services, especially the many state residents who are already paying a fee toward community access programming through their cable television subscription.” said Angela Miele, a lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association. View the entire article at:
https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/We-re-done-Public-access-TV-stations-in-16987233.php