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Salina, Kan., Director Says Community-Access TV Threatened By Bills

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 October 2005, 21:01 CDT

By Darrin Stineman, The Salina Journal, Kan.

Oct. 18--At least three bills that have been introduced in Congress are a threat to the continued operation of Community Access Television of Salina, CATS Executive Director David Hawksworth told the Salina City Commission on Monday.

Community Access receives 40 percent of the cable franchise fee paid to the city of Salina, which amounts to about $190,000. The proposed legislation, which proposes to take cable TV regulation from local governments, would wipe out that funding, Hawksworth said.

Community Access' annual budget is around $350,000.

At Monday's city commission meeting, Hawksworth presented his concerns and a resolution opposing the legislation. The resolution was drafted by the Community Access board of directors.

Commissioners Donnie Marrs, Abner Perney and John Vanier voted to sign the resolution and have it forwarded to Rep. Jerry Moran, Sen.

Sam Brownback and Sen. Pat Roberts, all Kansas Republicans.

Mayor Debbie Divine and Commissioner Alan Jilka were absent.

The three proposed bills -- HR 3146 in the House and S 1349 and S 1504 in the Senate -- came about as a result of telecommunication providers who are lobbying for relaxed government regulation so they can compete with cable companies to provide video services, City Manager Jason Gage wrote in a report to the city commission.

The bills would take away local governments' ability to charge franchise fees from cable providers, which would cost the city of Salina about $300,000, Hawksworth said.

"S 1504 would actually eliminate all cable franchises," Hawksworth said after Monday's meeting, "so once a cable franchise goes away, it would make it real difficult to maintain the funding we have now.

Would we be able to survive under that scenario? I don't know. I think it would be difficult."

Hawksworth said he didn't know how likely it would be that any of the bills would be signed into law.

"Right now, I think there's a lot of trading of ideas," he said. "How it's eventually going to shake out, I don't know. But I thought it was important to make it clear that cities and access centers and citizens are opposed to changing a system where the city gets franchise money and it can be used for things like Public Access."

During a city commission study session Monday, city officials presented a utility master plan for potential areas of expansion in northwest Salina.

The city commission asked for the master plan in light of interest expressed in industrial development in the area surrounding West Grand Avenue. The commission approved an annexation in part of the area last year, but no development has taken place yet.

Shawn O'Leary, the city's director of public works, said it would cost about $1.4 million to extend city water into the 350-acre area, and about $2.4 million for a sewer system.

The costs would be shared by property owners. As an example, the city estimated that King Industries, which covers 15 acres, would have to pay about $177,000.

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To see more of The Salina Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.saljournal.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Salina Journal, Kan.

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Source: The Salina Journal

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