Public access television in Wilmington remains an idea alive, even though the city’s governmental staff today reiterated its recommendation against it.
At City Hall this morning, members of Wilmington City Council emphasized that the community seems to support the prospect and that the city should further explore the feasibility.
“I think we owe it to those who have expressed the desire for us to take this down the road,” said Councilman Kevin O’Grady.
But O’Grady’s remarks, similar to those of fellow board members, followed a presentation from City Manager Sterling Cheatham that noted public access channels are being outmoded by the myriad avenues for cheap and far-reaching communication via the Internet.
Cheatham nodded to free video upload sites like Vimeo and YouTube, the latter of which boasts more than 4 billion hours of material viewed every month.
Citing census data, he also noted that 75 percent of North Carolinians today live in households that have web access.
Ultimately, his office doesn’t consider public access television, with its potential costs and liabilities, as something the city needs to pursue.
“There are many opportunities, by use of social media, to provide a lot of interaction,” Cheatham said.
But city council members noted that same census statistic also reflects 25 percent of homes without Internet access, and while public access television might indeed be a waning platform, it may serve to address the gap.
“There is still a digital divide,” Mayor Pro Tem Earl Sheridan said, “as far as who has access to computers … and a lot of times people who are most utilizing public access might not be people who have that same kind of computer access.”
Related story: City to revisit public access TV idea; securing it could take legal action
O’Grady said he understood the powers and ease of the Internet as Cheatham described. He also noted households that lack cable television access as well.
“It gives me some concern that we might be going down the wrong avenue with public access, but right now it’s the only mechanism we have” to broadly connect the community and its messages, O’Grady said.
Public access television features community-generated content, generally without commercials. All material protected under the First Amendment would have an opportunity to air.
Per direction from council, Cheatham’s office will further explore options–starting with a call to New Hanover County’s government to inquire about a partnership.
Councilwoman Margaret Haynes had reiterated points she raised during a related discussion in January (click for story) that if a public access channel aired–Time Warner Cable would be the provider–it would light up televisions beyond the city’s limits, into the unincorporated parts of New Hanover County as well as its beach towns. Haynes said it was only fair that at least the county–which already has an able television studio–contribute.
Next is better understanding the actual costs. According to Cheatham’s presentation, budgets for the top-five largest public access channels currently on the air in North Carolina range from $65,000 (Greenville, which doesn’t have its own studio) to $667,000 (Raleigh, which has its own studio and runs four channels, two of which are public access, according to Cheatham).
The city could bring on a third party to handle the operation, but discussion among council members also indicated interest for the city (with its partner in the county, potentially) handling it in-house.
The city attorney’s office has said the start-up could fall around $43,000 or more, covering fiber-optic lines and equipment. It also recommended insurance that could cost $3,000-$5,000 a year.
Staffers additionally noted the possibility of support money in a $4 million state-administered pot divided by the number of PEG (public, educational or governmental access) channels on the air in North Carolina. Under the formula, it could offer Wilmington a little more than $2,700 monthly, or a bit more than $32,00 a year. The fund is made of revenue from sales taxes collected on telecommunications and video programming services.
In supporting deeper exploration of the public access possibility, city council members like O’Grady noted a survey the city conducted late last year. It drew 339 respondents, nearly 80 percent of whom said they supported establishing a public access TV channel in town.
Nearly 90 percent of them claimed to live in Wilmington, and almost 72 percent of the total said they would support the use of local tax dollars to fund it.
Related story: Survey’s participants want public access TV
But council members noted today that a greater project could be in closing the digital divide and affording everyone in town the chance for online expression, sharing and learning.
“I wish we had a mechanism where we could extend Internet access to our poorer areas,” O’Grady said, adding: “The future is individual expression on the Internet.”
Councilwoman Laura Padgett floated the idea of working with an Internet company and “blanketing the city” with a free or low-cost Wi-Fi signal.
She said that could be a “significant” economic development tool.
“Some cities do that. You walk into a building, their city limits and you have free access,” said Padgett. “If we’re interested in communications, I’d like to broaden that discussion a little bit.”
Ben Brown is a news reporter at Port City Daily. Reach him at ben.b@hometownwilmington.com or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter: @benbrownmedia
