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+---
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+layout: post
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+author: Cassandra Dana
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+title: "The Quiet Media Revolution in Longmont"
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+summary: 'Many in Longmont are excited to be pioneering their own model for public
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+access television.'
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+tags: [stakeholder-news, shared-ownership-in-colorado]
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+---
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+
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+When the *Longmont Observer* responded to a request-for-proposals for control over the
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+city's public access channels, the team wasn't sure they'd win. The contract
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+had been held by another organization for over 30 years, and most
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+assumed it was unlikely to change hands. But the *Observer* presented an
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+unusual idea, one that sparked imaginations by proposing to reconfigure
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+notions of media ownership.
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+
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+If you walk into one of Longmont Public Media's (the *Observer*'s public
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+access branch) community organizing meetings you'll find 20 to 30
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+enthusiastic individuals happy to greet you and excited to work. Whether
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+its gathered around a small table in their office, or in the back room
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+of the local coffee shop, the energy of this eclectic group is palpable.
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+Many in Longmont are excited to be pioneering their own model for public
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+access television.
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+
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+The notion of public access television was devised in the late 1960s and
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+early 1970s. In the era of the first televised war NBC, CBS and ABC
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+controlled broadcast coverage of the cultural, political and social
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+conflict. They depicted the gruesome fighting over seas and the civil
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+unrest here in the United States. The effects were extraordinary. Screen
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+media began to have a major influence on public policy and mass
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+upheaval. TV began to be seen as a uniquely powerful force; one that was
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+dictated by commercial broadcast networks. Recognizing the power of the
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+medium, counterculture movements and media scholars began to advocate
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+for what was referred to as "Guerrilla Television." Michael Shamberg
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+pioneered the term in 1971 stating, "Guerrilla Television is grassroots
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+television. It works with the people, not from above them."[^1]
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+
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+Recognizing the importance of community driven media, the FCC developed
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+regulations authorizing state and local governments to require cable
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+television networks to set aside channels for public access. Cable
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+companies entered franchise agreements with municipalities in which
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+access to infrastructure (telephone poles, sidewalks, etc.) was granted
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+in exchange for 5 percent of companies' gross revenue. This franchise
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+fee was paid to the city, which often reinvested this money into public
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+access. Initially many local municipalities adopted this model granting
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+community members access to production and distribution methods.
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+However, as pressure for public access decreased and many municipalities
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+began experiencing increased financial burdens. Funding for public
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+access became less feasible. Some communities shut down public access
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+channels entirely while others limited them to local legislative
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+proceedings. Public access shifted from a place where community members
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+could develop skills and exhibit ideas to a droning of traffic court and
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+city council hearings.
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+
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+To complicate the matter further, in August 2019 the FCC approved an
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+amendment to their 1970s regulation. The change in legislation allows
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+cable companies to deduct "in-kind provisions" from their franchise
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+fees. This means cable companies can now assert that the market value of
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+public access networks (the value of the channel) can be deducted from
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+the revenue they pay to the municipalities. In 2017 Longmont allocated
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+25 percent of the franchise fees collected from Comcast (or \$187,924)
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+to public access television. According to the Colorado Sun, that is
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+enough funding to cover one full-time employee and two part-time
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+employees[^2]. The diminishment of franchise fees will seriously impact
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+the ability of cities and states to maintain public access television.
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+President of Rocky Mountain PBS told the Colorado Sun, "Going from
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+having franchise fees to not having them, typically what happens in that
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+case is the public access goes away." It's clear that new models must be
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+developed in order to maintain public access.
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+
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+Longmont Public Media has taken on the challenge of innovating public
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+access. They have suggested that public access television can truly
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+function as it was intended; as a resource created for and by the
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+masses. They have proposed a cooperative model of media ownership in
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+which members pay a small fee and in exchange can produce and exhibit
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+their work. The studio that houses Longmont Public Access will be
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+transformed into a media makerspace, serving as a venue for community
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+members to create, collaborate, share infrastructure and distribute
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+work. Each member of the co-op contributes to ideas around governance,
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+programming, events and space utilization. As Michael Shamberg explained
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+when he was innovating public access, "The inherent potential of
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+information technology can restore democracy in America if people become
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+skilled with information tools.[^3]"
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+
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+This is not Longmont's first foray into municipal ownership of community
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+media. In 2014 Longmont launched NextLight, a municipally owned
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+broadband enterprise. NextLight has dethroned Google Fiber as the
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+fastest fiber-optic network, and is now a national model for publically
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+owned internet access. Five years later Longmont is building on this
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+precedent through the creation of Longmont Public Media.
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+
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+When Longmont Public Media asked MEDLab to get involved——to help
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+formulate this model of cooperative public access——I knew it was an
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+opportunity not to be missed. Thursday nights have become one of my
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+favorite parts of the week; when I slide past the local middle school
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+choir and the couples quietly nestled sipping lattes to the back room of
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+the local coffee shop where we work to revolutionize media ownership.
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+
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+[^1]: Shamberg, Michael & Raindance Corporation. *Guerrilla
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+ Television*. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, 1971.
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+
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+[^2]: https://coloradosun.com/2019/02/11/cable-franchise-fee-limit-public-access-channels/
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+
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+[^3]: Shamberg, Michael & Raindance Corporation. *Guerrilla
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+ Television*. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, 1971.
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