Study: Many Value Public Access TV
Posted on: Friday, 1 July 2005, 21:00 CDT
DAYTON -- Time Warner Cable customers in Dayton rate government and public access programing as "highly important," according to a study of the city's cable needs and services. That's something DATV staff hope city officials will consider before cutting their funding.
"What the study shows is that clearly not only should Time Warner be supportive of public access television, they should be supporting it at higher levels," said John A. Rocco, executive director of DATV, Channels 12 and 20. "They looked at what we had here and were impressed."
Dayton officials have put all city-funded departments and organizations on notice that funding for the nonprofit DATV is uncertain after August 2006, when the city's cable franchise agreement expires.
In the 239-page study released by Pennsylvania-based CGB Communications Inc., most cable customers said they would be more satisfied with lower rates, but also think it's important their bill supports public access television.
Right now, the city gets a 5 percent franchise fee annually from Time Warner -- about $1.2 million in 2004. DATV's share, mandated by the franchise agreement, was $467,664.
The survey in the study -- conducted by Wright State University's Center for Urban and Public Affairs -- was based on phone interviews with a random sampling of 1,013 residents living in Time Warner's Dayton franchise area. Of the 600 cable subscribers, 4.5 percent said they watched DATV at least five hours a week.
"Only a handful of the 300 cable networks have viewership that exceeds a 1 percent share of the audience. By comparison, based on these numbers, one can see that local access television in Dayton fares very well," the study concluded.
The study also suggested that Time Warner provide a greater variety of program options with a range of costs, establish 24-hour phone service and improve community programming quality.
Contact Joanne Smith at 225-2362.
Source: Dayton Daily News
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