Frequently Asked Questions

How do public access stations come into being?
When a cable channel provider wants the right to hook up homes in a community it approaches the local government. Local governments agree to let the cable provider enter the community, but in exchange demand certain things including the creation of public, government and educational channels, and the payment of franchise fees. The structure of these agreements and the fees that can be charged are all strictly controlled by law. The agreements are periodically renegotiated.

During renegotiation the law requires that the public be allowed to comment on the agreements and on the quality of public access.   Public input can have a significant impact on the shape of public access and franchise agreements.

For more information about franchise agreements and how the public can influence the process download documents from our CACVoices web page.

Would a non-profit community media center compete with private sector broadcasting or advertising?
Our goal is to increase public access to media in ways that would actually increase the business opportunities in our area. We look to the city of Grand Rapids as a model. In Grand Rapids , the Community Media Center serves non-profit and public groups that would otherwise not have access to major media and agrees to stay out of the private sector. Over time this tends to promote the community and encourage redevelopment which increases economic activity in Grand Rapids . The Greater Lansing Area is sorely lacking in this regard and is losing ground to other more media-savvy communities as a top quality-of-life destination.

Would a non-profit community media center pose a risk to local government?
The community media center would be created by local government as part of its regular cable franchise negotiations and the relationship between local government and the center would be periodically renegotiated. Thus the relationship between the center and local government would be mutually beneficial. There are many concrete examples of this: The center would provide access to resources and expertise in promoting the community that government might not otherwise have. Also, the center, rather than local government, would have to deal with disputes or controversies about content. Local government could evaluate their relationship with the center in terms of how well it managed problems that might arise.

What is a Community Media Center?
A Community Media Center may take a variety of forms. Generally a CMC takes the form of a community-driven non-profit organization with a mission that ensures the promotion, outreach, and access of all members of the community to learning and making a variety of forms of media. Community is cultivated and educated through all of our access to making and using it.

The types of media training and production we think are important to offer a thriving community could include

• television production
• computer training
• web design
• radio
• audio recording
• writing
• and anything else the community wants.
  
  The beauty of the Community Media Center is that it recognizes that media in our lives is evolving and converging. To be competitive as a region in the evolving job market, as well as working toward being a cool, exciting city, we beleive the Community Media Center could serve as an asset that emphasizes all the amazing community members and stories that as residents we know are happening every day.