It was reported on Friday the 29th of January, in the Pacific Business News, that the new franchise agreement between the The City and County of Honolulu and Oceanic Time Warner Cable “will force more service cuts” for Olelo. Olelo is Oahu’s public access service provider.

In January, Oceanic’s license to operate in Oahu was extended  for another 20 years.  As part of it’s license to operate, Oceanic pays the state a “franchise fee” in return for using public property for infrastructure and to run it’s cables.  A portion of that money, required by federal law, goes to subsidize public, educational and government access.  This cost is paid by cable subscribers in their monthly bills.

The DCCA (State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs) regulates the license for franchises in the state of Hawaii.  In 2000, the state imposed a cap on Olelo, which cut the funding in half over the past five years.  “The DCCA’s decision to continue to dirvert funds that are meant for the community’s benefit will mean additional reductions in our services on Oahu.” said, Olelo President Kealii Lopez.

For the full story, check PBN’s website.  http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2010/02/01/story11.html

By Jay April

January, 20, 2010

The Airwaves Belong to the People

In a democracy long, long ago when Community Television was in its infancy, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Nicholas Johnson recognized that according to U.S. law, “the airwaves belong to the people”

The year was 1972; cable television behemoths were about to wire the nation. The federal government’s intent was to protect localism and diversity of viewpoint by requiring these companies to pay “rent” for using our public rights of way by providing Public, Educational and Government Access channels, production equipment and facilities for public use on cable systems throughout the land. The fly in the ointment, however, was that the Feds left implementation and regulation of the Public Access concept up to LFA’s or local franchise authorities. Not every one followed this “best practice” model, but many did and in the vast majority of cases it was mainly city and county governments who granted local cable television monopolies. In a few cases, like New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Hawaii, cable regulation was assigned to a state regulatory agency.

Community Television, also known as PEG Access, began to proliferate in local jurisdictions. The more successful stations were independent nonprofits established at arms length from government and financed from up to 5% of cable revenues. These stations were set up in local communities for no other purpose but to create public access to cable and provide free or low cost media skills for any and all comers. The big idea was not to benefit any one institution or special interest but to serve the general public from all walks of life including the unaffiliated, the disenfranchised, the popular as well as the unpopular, people who would otherwise not have a voice, teachers and students involved in all aspects of formal and informal education. Another main goal was to encourage local democratic discourse by televising gavel to gavel coverage of government meetings making government more accessible to the masses.

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Now at 11 p.m. on Ch54

Akakū: Maui Community Television added Democracy Now! to the 11 p.m. time slot on weekdays. Fans of Democracy Now! can now catch their favorite national, independent, news program three times a day at 6 p.m., 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. on Akakū Channel 54 right before viewing The Maui Daily, Akakū’s community-based news magazine show. (more…)