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Presentation from 2016 regarding Forest Lake Cable Commission optionsForest Lake Cable Commission Discussion LATV Background •LATV currently operates Channel 10 and Channel 20 •Films Government meetings for member cities and broadcasts those meetings •Operates YouTube and Vimeo Channel •Offers equipment rental to residents •Offer VHS to DVD transfer services •Provides equipment training sessions •Films community events in both member and non member communities. •Governed by a Cable Commission consisting of both elected and citizen representatives from each of the participating communities Why are we having this conversation? •Significant staff transition: Executive Director and the Office Manager resigned •Current facility lease expires in October •Franchise renewal is complete •Challenges within the organization •Technology has evolved and there are now multiple avenues to broadcast videos (YouTube, Vimeo, Snapchat, Vine, Facebook live) •Public broadcasting is experiencing a decline in views leading to the message reaching an ever shrinking audience •Many alternatives to cable now in the market place (Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime) •Lack of density in communities leads to limited or questionable future growth How is the Commission Funded? •The Cable Commission receives the majority of it’s funding from two main sources: •Franchise Fees •Franchise Fees are fees charged by local units of government to cable companies as compensation for placing cable in public right of ways •Franchise fees are passed on by the Cable Companies and paid by the subscribers •PEG Fees •(P)ublic, (E)ducation, (G)overnment (PEG) fees are fees collected by cables companies and are intended to “be used solely to support PEG Access in a manner consistent with applicable law” (i.e. PEG Capital Purchases) The Cable Commission also receives a small amount of funding from the sale of DVD’s and sponsorship revenues. Subscriber Detail by City City of Forest Lake •7441 total households •2557 Subscribers •34% subscriber rate City of Scandia •1,476 total households •216 Cable Subscribers •14% Subscriber rate City of Columbus •1525 total households •252 Cable Subscribers •17% subscriber rate Public Access Viewership Trends in Minnesota •Some Cities elect to provide PEG programming while others do not. Local examples of those not participating in PEG programming include Wyoming and Hugo. •Many Cities are currently evaluating their participation in Cable Commissions including Maplewood and Lakeland. •The City of Maplewood recently participated in a survey of residents designed to gauge the viewership of their PEG Channels. •The results of the survey showed that less than 16% of subscribers viewed their Government Channel. The Public and Educational channels received even less viewership*. •Only 1% of subscribers used the PEG channels to learn what was going on in their community, placing this far behind other media forms, (print and online)* *Source:http://www.maplewoodmn.gov/1506/Maplewood-Area-Cable-Franchise-Survey Public Access Viewership Trends in Minnesota If the numbers from Maplewood’s survey were applied to the households covered by the Forest Lake Cable Commission: •479 households or 4% of total community households are watching government access programming •29 households or .046% of total households are tuning in for Community Related programming. 2015/2016 LATV Budget Details •The total operating budget of the LATV in 2015 was 196,750 •The 2016 approved operating budget is $207,575 2015/2016 LATV Budget Details FY2015 (FLCC Approved 10.21.2015 Board Meeting)BUDGET 6 Mo Actuals % Budget DISBURSEMENTS: NET WAGES --- STAFF 100 $46,300.00 $17,793.59 38.4%$47,600.00 NET WAGES --- EXEC DIRECTOR 101 $13,800.00 $6,279.60 45.5%$14,100.00 NET WAGES --- FILM MAKERS 102 $11,000.00 $6,540.81 59.5%$14,000.00 NET WAGES --- EDITING n/a $3,700.00 PERA:Employee+Employer 121 $12,000.00 $4,726.42 39.4%$12,200.00 FICA, Medicare, Withholding 122 $22,300.00 $9,665.93 43.3%$21,000.00 STATE Withholding 125 $4,000.00 $1,219.60 30.5%$4,100.00 WORKERS COMP INSURANCE 150 $450.00 $452.00 100.4%$550.00 OFFICE SUPPLIES 200 $1,750.00 $484.18 27.7%$1,500.00 OPERATING SUPPLIES 210 $1,600.00 $685.73 42.9%$3,200.00 POSTAGE 215 $200.00 $182.36 91.2%$400.00 REPAIR & MAINT SUPPLIES 220 $200.00 $71.15 35.6%$200.00 SMALL TOOLS/MINOR EQUIP 240 $300.00 $82.43 27.5%$300.00 AUDIT/ACCOUNTING SERVICES 300 $3,600.00 $5,500.00 152.8%$8,600.00 MINNESOTA SALES TAX 301 $750.00 $672.00 89.6%$750.00 LEGAL 304 $1,000.00 $0.00 0.0%$1,000.00 MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSE 305 $200.00 $30.00 15.0%$500.00 TRAINING 310 $400.00 $460.00 115.0%$600.00 TELEPHONE 321 $1,150.00 $649.48 56.5%$700.00 *INDEP CONTRACTOR --- Editing 326 $500.00 n/a MILEAGE, PARKING 331 $250.00 $93.20 37.3%$250.00 PROMOTIONS & MKTG & WEB 350 $1,500.00 $476.41 31.8%$2,000.00 GENERAL LIABILITY 361 $2,200.00 $1,992.00 90.5%$2,700.00 ELECTRIC SERVICE 381 $3,000.00 $1,437.51 47.9%$3,200.00 REFUSE COLLECTION 384 $350.00 $160.93 46.0%$350.00 EQUIPMENT REPAIR 404 $200.00 $0.00 0.0%$200.00 BUILDING RENTAL 412 $25,200.00 $12,600.00 50.0%$25,200.00 DUES & SUBSCRIPTIONS 433 $550.00 $550.00 100.0%$675.00 OFFICE FURNITURE/EQUIP 570 $500.00 $291.33 58.3%$500.00 NEW EQUIPMENT 590 $30,000.00 $16,614.87 55.4%$30,000.00 LEASEHOLD IMPROVEMENTS 599 $0.00 n/a $1,000.00 REFUNDS AND REIMBURSEMENTS 810 $1,500.00 $966.00 102.0%$1,500.00 RESERVE (General)$5,000.00 $0.00 $0.00 MM SAVINGS INVESTMENT (FRANCHISE RESERVE)800 $5,000.00 $5,000.00 TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS $196,750.00 $90,677.53 46.1%$207,575.00 REVENUE: DVD SALES 36200 $8,000.00 $7,265.00 90.8%$9,000.00 GOVERNMENT MTGS 36220 $0.00 $0.00 #DIV/0!$0.00 SPONSORSHIP REVENUE 36235 $2,000.00 $1,375.00 68.8%$2,000.00 F.L. ADDITIONAL FRANCHISE FEES 36230 $6,000.00 $6,000.00 100.0%$6,000.00 REFUNDS/REIMBURSEMENT 36240 $250.00 $0.00 100.0%$250.00 FRANCHISE FEES 38050 $127,700.00 $60,589.53 47.4%$138,325.00 ACCESS FEES 38053 $52,800.00 $26,205.00 49.6%$52,000.00 MISC. REVENUE FROM RESERVE--- INTEREST 36250 $0.00 $3.08 0.0%$0.00 TOTAL REVENUE $196,750.00 $101,437.61 51.6%$207,575.00 * This line will be eliminated in 2015 . FOREST LAKE CABLE COMMISSION 2016 FINAL Budget FY2015 ACTUAL FY2016 FINAL BUDGET Note: The FLCC will notify the cities of any future change. Thank you. Options to Consider Option 1: Continue participation in the current Joint Powers Agreement Option 2: Dissolve the Joint Powers Agreement Option 3: Pursue dissolution of the current Joint Powers Agreement and reestablish a more limited partnership between the three cities focused on governmental programming and reprioritize the remaining funds. Withdrawal vs Dissolution Under the current Joint Powers Agreement any member may withdraw from the Commission after they have given the commission 2 year advance written notice. After the withdrawal process is complete the member who withdraws shall be entitled to their franchise fees. If 2 out of the 3 members wish to withdraw from the Commission the dissolution process is triggered. The dissolution process states that the commission should remain in operation for 6 months after the dissolution date to allow for the affairs of the commission to be wrapped up. What happens to the assets in Dissolution or Withdrawal Under the current Joint Powers Agreement, either the withdrawal of a member or the dissolution process triggers the same asset interest procedure. The procedure involves the inventory and appraisal of all Commission assets. The assets of the Cable commission are then distributed according to a formula described in the Joint Powers agreement. Option 1 Details Option 1: Continue participation in current Joint Powers Agreement This option would require hiring a new Executive Director and Office Manager at LATV and either renewing the current lease or finding a new space to rent. This option would result in no changes to filming schedules and overall programming. Option 1 Budget Impact If all 3 cities agree to maintain the current Joint Powers Agreement, the budget would remain the same. However, if 1 of the cities decides to pull out of the Joint Powers Agreement, the budget would need to be reevaluated to account for the future loss of franchise and PEG fees. Option 2 Details Option 2: Dissolve the Joint Powers Agreement This option would dissolve the current Joint Powers Agreement and not authorize the creation of a new joint power agreement between current member cities. Each city would be responsible for the filming and distribution of their own government meetings and community events. Each community would be responsible for its own program origination. Option 2 Budget Impact If the current joint powers agreement is dissolved and no other agreement is entered into, each city would retain their franchise fees and PEG fees. The cost of filming and distributing government meetings would be the responsibility of each city. The amount of franchise fees available for other priorities would vary depending upon which filming/distribution option (if any) each city decided to pursue. Option 3 Details Option 3: Pursue dissolution of the current Joint Powers Agreement and reestablish a more limited partnership (service agreement) between the three cities focused on governmental programming and reprioritize the remaining funds. This option envisions continuing the work that LATV currently does in a more efficient and cost saving manor. Subscribers would still have access to the channel 10 and 20, however, slight adjustments to the programming broadcast would be made. What would remain the same under option 3? •Channel 10 and 20 remain on the air •Government meetings would still be taped and broadcast •Pre produced shows (Church services, Publicly created shows) would still be broadcast on the channel •Big community events (Fourth of July, Vinterfest, Fall Festival) would still be covered •Community news/events schedules would be broadcast •Groups wishing to have their events broadcast would still be able to access the channel •Government meetings would continue to be live streamed (Forest Lake) and archived on YouTube/Vimeo (Columbus, Forest Lake, Scandia) What Will Change Under Option 3? •Community event coverage would be streamlined to the most popular events. •Free Equipment rental and classes would more than likely no longer exist •Filming of Forest Lake High School Sports and events would no longer be done by staff •However, if the team/event has someone film an event/game they would be able to have it broadcast on the channel 10 •VHS to DVD transfer services will no longer be available •(Three private companies in the Forest Lake area currently offer this service, so residents would still have the ability to transfer VHS to DVD) Budget Impact Option 3 It is anticipated that Option 3 could be implemented for an annual cost of 30,000 (Staff costs etc) All of the PEG fees would be used for capital expenses. Cities would be able to update/upgrade their production equipment. $52,000 (PEG fees annually) Using LATV’s 2016 budgeted revenues of $190,325 from Franchise fees and PEG Fees, Option 3 would yield an annual budget savings of approximately $108,325. These savings will be realized through a streamlining of services, a reduction in staff hours, elimination of rent, and a reduction in overhead. The City of Hugo is currently operating in a situation similar to what is envisioned in Option 3. They are in a cooperative group (Group w), but all franchise fees are retained by the City and none go to the group. They hire a videographer to upload meetings online and they livestream their meetings using an online streaming service. Forest Lake Cable Commission Discussion