Cabel Franchise

August 19th, 7:30 AM in 310, City Hall, Worcester MA

Cable Advisory members met at City Hall, at 7:30 AM, to approve a final draft of their recommendations regarding the city’s PEG channels. WCCA was present. WCCA TV 13 is the Public Access channel (P of the PEG Channels).

The Cable Advisory members voted to approve a document that was not available at the meeting. I was told the document was emailed to the cable advisory members in advance.

Earlier, the City’s government channel /cable division director had informed me that she emailed a draft to the Chair of the committee last week. WCCA had requested a copy of the draft in advance but it was not made available.

There was a motion to vote on the document that was emailed to the committee. The Chair asked if there should be any corrections. There was no further discussion and the vote was to approve the document. The committee members were asked to sign another document, which appeared to be some sort of confirmation pertaining to the vote. There then was a motion to adjourn.

I asked, for the record, for a copy of the final document that was approved and the Chair said he would email a copy to me.

Whereas WCCA and the E&G channels rest in the balance of the Cable Advisory Committees recommendations, and whereas I could possibly offer important insight, I also asked, for the record, why I was not given the opportunity to review in advance the document before the committee voted on it. WCCA TV was told the City Solicitor’s office instructed the Chair not to send out copies until the final version was out.

WCCA TV will update you, upon receiving a final version of the document.

WCCA presented a petition to the city council last night, asking for closure
and for the city to settle a new contract with WCCA before the end of
June. Councilor Rosen lead a motion by the council asking the city manager
to finalize a contract with the well liked station (WCCA)by the end of
June if possible. The motion passed unanimously. Mayor Lukes agreed , adding that it is time for closure on this matter.

WCCA has submitted a draft proposed contract which includes similar practical oversight and contractual obligations that has made WCCA's growth over the past 12 years possible. We sincerely hope the city manager will continue to allow WCCA to continue to meet community media needs and continue as a cutting edge public access model. As I said before, either the city leaders will support WCCA as an empowering community resource for all, or it will compromise it.

PETITION on behalf of many signatures and supporters of WCCA to the City Council: