The Local Situation: tctv2

Public access for the local area, tctv2, was established in 1993 as part of the Cable Agreement between C-Tec Cable Systems and The 4-C's (Cherry Capital Cable Council). C-Tec and the 4 C's entered into an agreement with Northwestern Michigan College whereby the college would administer and operate the public access station.

C-Tec agreed to provide a PEG (public access, educational access, and government access) channel and $47,000, beginning in 1994. The money increases by 5% per year for the length of the agreement (10 years).

By way of comparison, here are some of the 1992 budgets for other access centers in Michigan:

• Ann Arbor (30,000 subscribers) 8 FT/ 2 PT staff, $589,000 annual budget

• Battle Creek (25,000 subscribers) 3 FT/ 5 PT staff, $240,000 annual budget

• Cadillac (5,000 subscribers) 1 FT staff $65,000 annual budget

• Midland (13,000 subscribers) 3 FT/ 1PT staff, $200,000 annual budget

In 1994, Traverse Community Television began operations in a 22,000 subscriber system with 1 PT staff and a budget of $47,000.

The original franchise agreement between C-Tec and the 4-C's, which set up and provided for tctv2, was described as "woefully inadequate" in a letter dated October 14, 1993 by Dirk Koning, executive director of the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Media Center. The problem is that the local 4 C's chose not to fund Traverse Community Television in the usual manner (which is to provide the public access facility with a percentage of the franchise fees) opting instead for the grant from C-Tec described above. This means that the local governments can keep 100% of the franchise fees for their own coffers.

Another serious problem with the structure of tctv2 is that tctv2 is not a legal entity of its own. tctv2 exists only by grace of a contract between the 4-C's and Northwestern Michigan College. This makes it impossible for tctv2 to pursue grants and funding from most foundations as grantors require a legal structure in order to give money.

Compounding tctv2's problems is the fact that the agreement between the college and the 4-C's ends in June of 1998. The college has been very gracious and helpful in getting tctv2 up and running, and in fact, they have been supporting tctv2 with about $40,000 per year in in-kind services. It is possible that the college will sign another agreement with the 4-C's for another two years, but after that the college has designs on the space that tctv2 occupies, and it is unlikely that they will be able to go beyond the year 2000 as a home for the station. It is likely that the college will ask for some rent money with the next agreement. That is a gentle way to start easing tctv2 into the real world where rent will have to be paid anyway, and it starts to offset some of that $40,000. That means that in about 7 months' time, the tctv2 situation goes from serious to dire. Worse, in less than three years, tctv2 will have to start making up the $40,000 that is now provided by NMC, and have to raise money to refurbish a new location and to move. This is quite a challenge for a place that isn't even a legal entity in the eyes of funders.

In spite of the way we were set up, all is not hopeless at tctv2. We have devised a number of alternative funding plans which include underwriting programming, selling videotapes of the programs that we play on the air, and asking users with budgets to donate to tctv2. Several local governments, members of the 4-C's, have given tctv2 money from their franchise fees. A group has been formed, the Friends of tctv2, to help with the fundraising. The group has applied for a 501-(c)-3 and has incorporated, so they should be the legal entity that tctv2 itself is not. And, of course, there is always the tctv2 Beg-A-Thon, which raised some money for us last year, and which should just grow and grow in the years to come.

tctv2 now has a staff of one full time person and two 15 hour-a-week part timers. The staff is very dedicated, and all three donate time beyond what they are paid for. We have two professional field cameras, 1 camcorder, three studio cameras and a studio, and one off-line and one on-line editing suite for your use. We are now open 6 days a week and at least two evenings a week. We cablecast 7 days a week for 18 hours a day, with new programming each month.

Because of the way the 4-C's chose to set us up in the beginning, and because funding has always been "woefully inadequate", operating tctv2 has been and will continue to be a challenge. With dedicated staff, willing volunteers, and help from the public, and with careful planning and a lot of work, we expect to overcome these obstacles. It is our hope that tctv2 will continue to grow and be the community resource you have come to expect.

Return to the Index of Synapse 42, Winter 1997/98