Title
Report of City and County Staffs Regarding Public Access Television (PATV) (B)
This item is a report back to the City Commission regarding the PATV referral from the January 30, 2006 Joint Commissions meeting.
Explanation
At the January 30, 2006 meeting of the Joint City and County Commissions, the staffs were asked to report back to Commissioners regarding several issues as outlined in the attached report. City and County staffs have worked together to prepare the attached report.
The Gainesville City Commission discussed this issue again at its meeting this past Monday, June 12, 2006. Because of the operating expense impact of any use of a third channel, it was the consensus of the City Commission that the City of Gainesville is not financially able to support the utilization of a third channel, and that no funding for it has been included in the two-year budget that is currently being developed. A letter stating this position was sent to the Board of County Commissioners.
Fiscal Note
Under currently existing franchise agreement language, the City and County would receive $250,000 combined upon the operation of a third channel, or August 1, 2007, whichever came later. This would be split based on the proportionate subscriber rates at the time notice of use of the third channel is given to CoxCom, Inc., but it is anticipated that the City would receive approximately two-thirds and the County approximately one-third of that money. All such funds are restricted to capital outlay.
The educational, governmental and hybrid models that are presented would require considerably less in capital outlay than the $250,000 that would be available, but all of these would require at least two full-time positions to implement, monitor, and manage. These positions could not be paid for using funds from the Cox franchise agreement.
The PATV alternatives vary in cost from approximately $226,000 to $236,500 depending upon the alternati...
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