People sometimes ask me how I came to write this column. Back in the late 1990s, I hosted a show on Greenfield Community Television called “Political Potpourri,” where I would occasionally break down tape and analyze what was going on in Greenfield government.
I never made a dime from it or knew from week to week if anyone was even watching, but it was good media experience and I enjoyed doing my part to elevate the conversation surrounding the politics of my hometown.
Apparently, there were at least a few viewers, among them then-Recorder Editor Tim Blagg, who suggested I write a weekly column because he wanted “that perspective in this newspaper” — and, just like that, “In The Arena” was born.
That was 19 years ago, and I’ve had a great time in this space ever since, but it might never have happened without the medium known as public access television, which, sadly, is about to come under fire perhaps as never before.
The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to enact a rule change that could drastically alter the way public access funding is distributed to municipalities.
Under the current system, every cable bill contains a small franchise fee, some of which goes back to cities and towns that distribute it to local access cable stations for what is called “PEG access,” (public, education and government) programming. That programming is carried by nonprofit access stations like GCTV and Frontier Community Television, which I now operate.
These rules were established in a 1984 Cable Act, which contained an additional provision that the cable companies provide these cable access channels for free in exchange for the right to exclusively provide programming to their contracted communities.
The proposed FCC rule change would allow those companies to deduct the cost of providing those channels from what it currently pays in franchise fees, which will likely decimate — and in some cases wipe out completely — the revenue needed to operate these stations.
The main argument in favor of this rule change is that it will foster competition among cable operators, and remove what some feel is a “hidden cost” to cable customers. Some cost. We are talking about pennies on the dollar in exchange for a service that affords individuals and communities access to airwaves they would otherwise never have, especially considering the rampant of corporate consolidation consuming today’s media world.
Such a change would also appear to have a political upside for an administration that has already shown a hearty disdain for criticism. Many of today’s “voices of dissent” have gotten their starts on public access stations, and if the Trump-led FCC can further deregulate an industry and put a little more coin in the pockets of the fat cats, while at the same time shutting down the Amy Goodmans, David Pakmans and Chris Collinses of the world — not to mention the next generation of potential analysts — so much the better.
I’m hoping people are outraged by this, not that it will do much good. The feds have done a pretty good job keeping this change on the “down low,” so much so that even many members of our own industry are barely aware of it. The public comment period on the rule change expired Wednesday, meaning the only hope of blocking this change, much like with net neutrality, is a vote of the United States Senate.
You’ll have to excuse me for not blooming with optimism over that one.
The only senator making any real noise about this is our own Ed Markey, whose been trying to rally his colleagues, with so far only moderate success. I hope that effort will bear fruit before this rule change goes into effect, possibly as early as next month.
In the meantime, if anyone needs me, I’ll be updating my resume.
The Franklin County business community will have to wait a little while longer to bid farewell to a legislative giant.
Retiring 1st Franklin District State Rep. Steve Kulik was to have been honored at this morning’s Franklin County Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Greenfield Community College, an event which has been rescheduled to November 30 because of today’s weather.
When that event does happen, it will be overseen by his successor, outgoing chamber director and 1st Franklin State Rep.-elect Natalie Blais.
“Steve has been a tremendous advocate for this area, always accessible and ready to help,” Blais said. “That’s exactly the kind of representative I want to be.”
I will personally miss my conversations with Kulik, who was always my “go to” guy when I needed a quick interview on a complex Beacon Hill issues.
I also loved the way he never allowed partisanship to get in the way of serving his constituents. You definitely knew he was a Democrat, but he was there for all the people of his district, not just the ones who agreed with his world view.
If the true definition of success is leaving a place better than you found it, then the Steve Kulik years were, in my mind, an unqualified success for this commonwealth, and the rural corner of it he has so ably served.