The following is a text representation of the printed pages 77-79 (actually 84-86 of 264)
"ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FRANKLIN COMMUNITY CABLE ACCESS, INC.
for Our Operating Year 2016 dba Franklin.TV (www.franklin.tv)
Franklin.TV is an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.
We operate the local access TV studios for Franklin. We produce local TV programs on three channels:
- Franklin All Access TV = Our Public Access Channel (Comcast 8, Verizon 26).
- Franklin Pride TV = Our Educational Channel (Comcast 96, Verizon 28).
- Franklin Town Hall TV = Our Government Channel (Comcast 11, Verizon 29).
We are Franklin’s local TV channels on Comcast and Verizon, but we do not provide cable TV service.
Background
The Town of Franklin is the Local Franchise Authority (LFA) that maintains agreements with Comcast and Verizon. Franklin.TV’s funding comes from a 4.8%
access fee that cable subscribers pay per the LFA agreements. Thus, F.TV is not funded by taxes. We operate at no cost to the town of Franklin. F.TV pays a PILOT fee (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) to the Town of Franklin by agreement. We are the first nonprofit organization that pays for town services.
As an IRS 501(c)(3) charitable organization we also may receive grants and donations from contributors.
Local Programming Produced in 2016
During our 2016 operating year we generated:
- 217 Public Access Programs
- 95 School/Sports Programs
- 19 School/Civic Events Programs
- 96 Government Meetings
427 Locally Produced Programs
All of these programs were produced, recorded and edited by our staff on behalf of Franklin residents, organizations, agencies and local government.
Our extensive production support reaches beyond the customary charter of other public access studios to lend equipment and provide technical training. This additional commitment of professional support enables us to provide a broader range of programs
Community Bulletin Board Service
In addition to programming, Franklin.TV offers free community announcements on our Bulletin Board for all three P/E/G channels. Nonprofit organizations who wish to promote their meetings, special events and activities are welcome to contact us.
Our Studios and Offices
We have five thousand square feet that houses two video studios (a large drive-in access studio and an interview studio), two audio recording rooms, four digital video editing/effects systems, and our offices. We also have general purpose Community Meeting Space available – free to qualified nonprofit groups and service organizations for occasional meetings. Our facility accommodates up to 30 people.
A Broadcasting Opportunity, WFPR-FM
In February of 2014, Franklin.TV was awarded a construction permit by the FCC for a 100 Watt, noncommercial educational FM radio station. WFPR, (Franklin Public Radio) broadcasting on 102.9 FM. After completing approvals and clearances for our new radio tower located at the top of Forge Hill, Franklin Public Radio began broadcast operations and went on the air for the first time at 10:29 AM on February 2nd 2017. Our WFPR tower is also home to Franklin’s Police and Fire Radio Communications systems. The town relocated their services this spring, saving the cost of renting antenna space on a nearby cellular tower.
WFPR is a public broadcasting extension of F.TV’s media services to Franklin and surrounding towns. WFPR provides opportunities for local citizens to have a voice by producing their own radio programs or participating as volunteers to make our radio station successful as a local community resource.
Scholarships
In June, as part of our continuing commitment to Franklin students, Franklin.TV awarded two $1,000 scholarships to graduating seniors:
- Tatyana Youssef of Franklin High
- Emily Scannell of Tri-County High
Our congratulations and best wishes go out to them in their academic endeavors.
Our Charter Operations
We continue to see increasing requests from various town agencies and civic organizations to provide TV coverage for local events. We cover Franklin events that are cultural or institutional in nature and of general interest. We are always interested in training volunteers who would like to learn the craft of video production. Trained volunteers and interns work alongside our roster of freelance and staff professionals to shoot and edit the
institutional programs that we cover.
Citizen Access
Residents who produce their own access programs are the owners of these programs. As such, these producers hold their own copyright and may copy and distribute these programs freely, provided that the programs are cablecast on the Franklin system. Per our Public Access charter, we do not provide equipment for covering private or personal events or for purposes other than generating Access Programs to be shown over the Franklin cable system
Information about our weekly programming can be found on our web site: www.franklin.tv. While visiting our website, also read our informative F.A.Q. on P/E/G TV studios, their operation, history and charter. We also recommend browsing our past newsletter archives to learn more about Franklin.TV, our growth and development, and the civic events that we cover throughout the year.
Finally, in closing, “Thanks for watching!”
Respectfully submitted,
FranklinTV’s Board of Directors
Ken Norman, President
Jay Horrigan, Vice President
Wesley Rea, Treasurer
John Milot, Clerk
Anne Bergen, Pandora Carlucci, Rose Turco
Peter Fasciano,
Executive Director
Franklin.TV and wfpr.fm"
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| Annual Report 2017: Franklin Community Cable Access (Franklin.TV and WFPR.FM) |
You can find the online copy at the Town of Franklin webpage
http://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk/pages/annual-reports
and specifically for 2017
http://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk/files/town-annual-report-2017-revised
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