2011 ILNATOA & DMMCPEG Seminar

May 10, 2011

Welcome & Housekeeping

• Help yourself to coffee & a snack• Refreshments are in the conference room off

of this Board room• Restrooms are in the hallway to your right• Lunch will be served at Noon– Lunch will include a program from CAN-TV

Session #1 What Should Your PEG Facility be Doing?

Survey Overview

• A few months ago DMMC, ILNATOA and various communities and PEG experts negotiated a model franchise with Comcast

• This model franchise left the PEG section blank so that each community could address their specific PEG needs with the cable provider.

• This session is designed to provide a PEG overview so to provide some insight/further training into the world of PEG

Survey Results

• Distributed a few months ago to all communities in DuPage County and to all ILNATOA members.

• 53 responses were gathered• Survey illustrated the various ways

communities address PEG issues

Results

• Based on survey results, a few trends were noticed in the communities represented in the responses.

Contemporary Equipment

• Sheer range of contemporary equipment that studios have– File servers• The last three years the price of file server technology

has dropped, making it affordable for PEG studios• Allows more streamlined use of the space in cable

studios

Programming

• The core of PEG programming continues to be municipal meetings and events

• More outside programming is being built in:– NASA Direct– Homeland Security– Building Code– PSAs – Park District– Library

Renewal

• 1/3 of respondents are going to be in renewal within the next year

• The average compensation for use of the right of way is as follows:– AT&T – 1% of gross revenues– Comcast - $0.35 per subscriber per month

FCC Seeks Information on PEG Operations

• FCC Seeks Information on PEG Operations• On April 21, the FCC released a Further Notice of

Inquiry concerning competition in the video programming market. Among the questions asked by the Commission are several dealing with the availability and delivery of PEG programming. In order to assist our members in filing comments, NATOA has put together a template for your use. The template, along with filing instructions and a copy of the Further Notice of Inquiry, is available on NATOA’s website at www.natoa.org in the Top Issues section. Comments are due June 8; reply comments are due July 8.

Welcome Panelists

• Moderator – Dave Bennett, MMC• Steve Bartelbaugh, Evanston• Will Soderberg, Des Planes

How do you use your fees for establishment of equipment

purchases?Do you also use funding from the

General Fund?

How do you report the progress of your PEG station to your

Manager/Administrator and Board?Goals and Objectives?

Who participates?How do you quantify your progress?

How do you measure quality?

Do you plan for the duration of your franchise?

Are you able to do much planning with your community in a state of

fiscal stress?

PEG fee funds are earmarked, have you continued to spend these

dollars while making cuts in other areas?

Have you seen pushback from your Board or community regarding the

use of PEG funds for capital purchases in this economic climate?

If you are still planning and purchasing, are you putting PEG purchases in your General Fund?Is there a capital fund that PEG is tied to?

How do you handle equipment that has past its useful life?

Are you donating, selling, recycling?

Questions?

Session #2 The Future for Legacy PEG Operations

Welcome Panelists

• Howard Klienstein, MPTV, Mt. Prospect• Ed Johnson, LFTV 17, Lake Forest• Ross Rowe, EGTV 6, Elk Grove Village

Capital Improvements and Financing

• Explore approaches to– Fee structure– Financing– Equipment Needs

Balancing Capital Purchases with Operational Capabilities

• When money is earmarked, how do you not only purchase the equipment, but find the staff to use it?– Elk Grove– Mt. Prospect– Lake Forest

Franchise Fee PEG Structure

• Elk Grove– By Ordinance– Franchise fee structure identified– 80% used for operating budget 20% fund balance

or to use for occasional operational expenses

Franchise Fee PEG Structure

• Mt. Prospect– More free form– Budgeted through the regular budget process– Year to year basis– No pass through charge to residents– 20% of revenue comes from intergovernmental

agreements

Franchise Fee PEG Structure

• Lake Forest– Cable budget provided through budget process– Developed on a year to year basis– No pass through fees to residents– Minimal revenues from production fees & DVD

sales, these go to the general fund

Equipment Needs and Planning Capital Purchases

• In-Staff research of latest trends• Hire technology consultants• Working with peers in the field• Watch trends– TV Technology– Videography– Trade shows– ROSCOR– AVI– ACM– B&H

• Reach out to schools and local production companies

Staff Cuts and Maintaining Production

• Use of volunteer crew members– Training– Assignments– In-house production

Staff Cuts and Maintaining Production

• Efficiencies in editing– iMovie– Final Cut Pro– Sony Vegas Pro

• Lowering the learning curve for new and existing volunteers

Staff Cuts and Maintaining Production

• Use of Hard Drive Cameras/SD Cards– Rendorazation time saved– Digital encoding– DVD – Bulk purchasing

Staff Cuts and Maintaining Production

• Developing a Well Rounded Staff– People usually only have one job in the production

world– In the PEG world, you have to be able to do it all:• Filming• Editing• Writing

• Developing a Well Rounded Facility– Power– Lighting– Studio portability

Planning for Digital Channel Migration

• Switching from Analog to Digital– How do you prepare?• Equipment• Programming

– Don’t confuse digital with HD• Not all digital is HD• All HD is digital

– What are the differences?• Delivery

– Digital delivered over the internet protocol platform– Analog delivered through wires and cables

Planning for Digital Channel Migration

• Regardless of delivery method– What are the plans of the cable provider– Michigan example• Movement to the 900s

Cable Company Infrastructure

• Structure of a System– Satellite or studio– Coax or fiber to Head End– Processed at Head End and sent to subscribers

Cable Company Infrastructure

• Understanding the differences in fiber and coax– Fiber– Coax– Conversion to digital at the Head End– Digital channels and quality of programming

Cable Company Infrastructure

• Comcast is changing everything to digital because they need the bandwidth– Give and take in migration– Give digital channel in the 900s– Many municipalities lost channel 6 slot, moves

higher in the numerical system

Finding New Audiences Beyond TV• Webcasting– Live webstream– Webcasting meetings

• On Demand Site– Watch programming at viewer’s convenience

• Google Video• YouTube

– Government Designated Channel• Archive.org• Document Management Software

• Role of Facebook and Twitter• Mobile Signal

Questions?

Session #3: Developing an Access Channel from the Ground Up

Welcome Panelists

• Bruce Anderson, HETV, Hoffman Estates• Cheryl Fayne-DePersio, NCTV 17, Northbrook• Holly Deitchman, BATV, Batavia

PEG and Franchise Renewal Negotiations

• Capital Investments– Negotiating equipment as a part of the renewal

• PEG Fees & Pass Through– Variety in the structure of these fees

• Programming Requirements– What is your experience?– Programming your product v. provided content• Governmental mission

PEG Planning and FinancingHow do you plan and finance your station?

• BATV– Not-for-profit– 2 channels• Public• Private

– 2 full time employees one part time employee– 11 member Board of Directors• 6 from civic groups• 5 resident members

– Operates out of Batavia High School

PEG Planning and FinancingHow do you plan and finance your station?

• NCTV– Part of the Village– Operated in-house– 3 PEG channels– 2 school channels– 1 government channel

• Village• Library• Park District

– 2 part time staff members– No Public Access

PEG Planning and FinancingHow do you plan and finance your station?

• HETV– Part of the Village– Operates out of Village Hall– 3 channels• Government• Harper College Educational Access• Public Access operated by Comcast

– 1 full time coordinator, 1 part time assistant, 2 volunteers, 1 to 2 interns

Hardware, Software & Training Needs

• How do you approach your training needs?

Programming Resources

• Where do you look for your programming?

Community Outreach

• How do you get people to watch?• How do you know people are watching?• What do you do to reach the community?

Questions?