Summary of Recommendations

Facility Recommendations

* Provide WCCA TV 13 with additional funding that will adequately address ongoing maintenance and repairs. Additional capital funds should be acquired to address the electrical problems, the HVAC problems, renovation of the KidsNet/Youth Channel space and renovation of the façade of the building. A capital grant must be sufficient enough to address anticipated building repairs over a ten year period.
* Given there is a need for an additional twenty-five hundred square feet to adequately meet staff and producer need, identify additional space for a “satellite facility.” Frequently, municipalities have surplus buildings which they give to access centers. Work with the City to arrange for surplus property to be acquired as a satellite access center. Access centers typically seek to establish a satellite facility in an area of the city that is not being served by the central facility. Again, a capital grant is usually needed for preparing the satellite facility for production. A satellite facility could also take the pressure off the competition for training and production space at WCCA, since producers who live in the vicinity could use the satellite facility for production. Also with enough pre-planning the satellite facility could house storage space and a shop for building sets.
* Secure handicap parking spaces around the facility, with perhaps two on-street spaces being reserved strictly for handicap parking permits. This would assist the senior producers at WCCA (some of whom we met at the Focus Group Session) who have to use walkers. Make sure that the sidewalks cuts are adequate to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers.

Channel Recommendations

* Require compliance from Charter to release a second channel to WCCA as per the current franchise agreement.
* Acquire future channels based on a percentage of capacity v. current definitions of spectrum.
* Facilitate “live” and remote programming by addressing concerns regarding INet capacity and usage. Set aside a separate strand just for video feed so it won’t interfere with the City’s capacity. Identify drops around the city and arrange for WCCA TV to have access to those drops as needed. If a technician is needed to be present, ensure that Charter assumes the cost of the technician.
* Include a provision in the franchise agreement that will prohibit WCCA TV 13 from being moved from its current location, unless pre-empted by Federal must-carry rules.
* Provide for compensation and advanced notice of any channel changes, either for WCCA TV 13 or subsequent channels.

Programming Recommendations

* WCCA TV 13 is doing a good job of having a wide variety of programming and engagement of community groups. When we compare the variety of programming on WCCA against other access centers around the country, we believe that WCCA has achieved an excellent balance and stands out as an example.
* With the level of programming currently being created, additional resources will be necessary to program a second channel and to pursue a partnership for distance learning programming.

Training Recommendations

o Acquire additional space to accommodate training. This will eliminate conflicts between training schedules and studio use.
o Acquire a satellite facility to allow for training in another part of the city, not just downtown.
o Consider weekday evening training, which will require more staff, but may accommodate more schedules.
o Increase amount charged for training while still offering the volunteer-in-lieu-of-money option.

Staff Recommendations

o Resources need to be made available to provide more staff for WCCA TV 13.
o Once more staff is hired, extend operating hours of the access center to better accommodate working adults.
o Acquire facility space to accommodate additional staff (see Facility report).
o Review salaries in both the nonprofit sector and the for-profit sector. Find a salary comparison for access centers but weigh it against nonprofit and for-profit industries outside of the access field. Undertake a study of cost of living in Worcester to determine if staff salaries are keeping up with the cost of living.
o Consider increasing the amount that is matched in the Simple Roth.
o Change personnel policy to allow carry-over of sick leave.
o Consider changing personnel policy to allow carry-over of a certain amount of vacation leave.
o Change personnel policy for new staff from one week of vacation per year to two weeks per year (increased incrementally for years of service).
o Consider implementing “Time-Off” awards as a non-monetary method of giving bonuses and encouraging excellence.

Technical Recommendations

o Provide WCCA TV a list of remote drops in the city. This will assist WCCA and the community by allowing WCCA to partner with the institutions that have these remote drops to provide live coverage of institutional and community events.
o Include in the franchise agreement and/or contract a protocol for WCCA (or the government or educational channels) to access these remote locations. Provide guidelines that will streamline the process and not prove to be over burdensome for either WCCA, Charter or the City.
o Provide language in the franchise agreement that would require access channels be transmitted with the same quality as cable and broadcast channels. Resolve the interference problems between Channels 12 and 13.
o As previously stated in the Channel Recommendations section of this report, require Charter to provide the second channel to WCCA TV as per the current franchise agreement.
o Require Charter to include WCCA TV programming in their preview channel, establish guidelines for how that information is transmitted to Charter and Charter’s obligations to provide that information to the public.

Equipment Recommendations

o In order to meet the needs of WCCA TV 13 in the operation of its channels, equipment must be reliable and updated from time to time. Because much of WCCA’s equipment is aging, the current funding rate of $30,000 per year is not sufficient. WCCA will need a substantial equipment grant over the next few years to stay current with technology and fully transition to digital. Staff estimates that amount to be $824,495.00 or roughly $82,000 per year.
o The estimate for the grant amount does not contemplate a mobile van unit. We recommend that additional funds be secured to purchase a mobile van unit.

Focus Group Recommendations

o Increase WCCA TV 13 staff to meet the needs of community stakeholders such as the Focus Group participants. Focus on production facilitators and marketing/outreach.
o Acquire additional space to accommodate increased staff and production.
o Consider a “PSA Day.” This is something done by other access centers on a yearly or quarterly basis. Nonprofits are invited into the studio to tape a sixty-second video PSA.
o Acquire a mobile van unit so more production can be done in the field at community events.
o Consider building an “express” studio to accommodate easy production by organizations and service providers (see Chicago Access Network).
o Update equipment to accommodate current and new producers.
o Require interconnectivity of channel to nearby towns to accommodate those who work in Worcester but do not live in the city limits.
o Acquire additional channel to meet increased demand.
o Acquire “avails” on other channels on the cable system to promote WCCA. This has become standard in franchising.
o Acquire listing in the cable guide.
o Make provisions to be included in “On-Demand.”
o Upgrade server for webstreaming, consider using BitTorrent or similar methods of delivery.
o Train organizations how to webstream.