New Policy Framework Needed to Address Infrastructure for Community Media Centers
Sustaining community media and its adoption of multiple communications platforms must be achieved through better infrastructure, cable franchising and other policy priorities, community media leaders said at an event late Wednesday discussing a new report at the New America Foundation. A major threat is the public’s access to distribution infrastructure, said Joshua Breitbart, an analyst for the foundation’s Open Technology Initiative: “That threat necessitates a multi-platform approach to community media.” Public, educational and governmental (PEG) channels are increasingly taking advantage of new technologies and working across other forms of media, including mobile, wireless and cable, he said. “If there are challenges or losses in one platform, there are other opportunities for distribution."
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PEG channels face a challenge with local cable franchising, the panelists said. That issue came up in the report, which said cable operators “use the cable television infrastructure … to offer broadband and telephone services.” But “local authority and franchise fees are only associated with the cable service,” which inhibits PEG channels from providing services across all platforms evenly, it said.
The Universal Service Fund and the Local Community Radio Act can bring more opportunities if implemented effectively, panelists said. USF is a “real opportunity in terms of access to funding and the principle of universal access,” Breitbart said. The industry must learn from NTIA’s Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program, he said: “While it [BTOP] has brought a number of new organizations and types of organizations into the space of working media and technologies, community media organizations are only involved in very few projects.”
Depending on how the FCC implements the Local Community Radio Act, “we expect to see hundreds to thousands of new low-power FM stations, hopefully in the largest markets and urban areas,” said Brandy Doyle, policy director for Prometheus Radio Project. “We also see it as an opportunity to build community media infrastructure.” Her group advocates for low-power FM stations.
The NTIA’s Public Telecommunications Facilities Program is an important source of funding, said Sylvia Strobel, Alliance for Community Media executive director. “I do worry that the applicants that may need the funding the most just simply can’t rise to the criteria requirements of the” request for proposals, she said. “I think if they're working with some existing groups, stations … and people that have gone through the process before, they might be able to secure those grants.”