2023 Report for Our Operating Year 2022 FRANKLIN COMMUNITY CABLE ACCESS,
INC. dba Franklin•TV (www.franklin.tv) and Franklin Public Radio, wfpr•fm
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 6, Verizon 26).
- Franklin Pride TV - Our Schools Channel (Comcast 8, Verizon 28).
- Franklin Town Hall TV - Our Government Channel (Comcast 9, Verizon 29).
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FRANKLIN COMMUNITY CABLE ACCESS, INC. |
We are Franklin's local TV channels on Comcast and Verizon. We are not owned by Comcast or Verizon.
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 local access fee that cable subscribers pay per the LFA agreements. Thus, as an independent nonprofit group, F•TV is not funded by taxes. We operate at no cost to the town. F•TV also pays a PILOT fee (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) to the Town of Franklin by agreement. We are the first nonprofit group that contributes to town services. As an IRS 501(c)(3) charity we also may receive grants and donations.
Our Charter Operations
We support requests from town agencies and civic organizations for coverage of community events. We cover events that are cultural or institutional in nature and of general interest to the public.
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.
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| Community Bulletin Board Service |
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), a live television control room, two audio recording and production rooms, six digital video editing/effects systems, and our multi-channel audio record/playback systems and business offices.
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| Our Studios and Offices |
We also have general purpose Community Meeting Space available - free to qualified nonprofit groups and service organizations for occasional meetings. Our facility can accommodate up to 30 people.
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| Community Meeting Space |
A Broadcasting Opportunity, wfpr•fm
WFPR is the public broadcasting extension of F•TV's media services to Franklin and surrounding towns. Franklin Public Radio went on the air at 10:29 AM on February 2nd 2017.
Like F•TV's Community Bulletin Board, our wfpr•fm public service announcements inform listeners about local civic groups and events. We promote the good works of civic and pro bono groups. Our mission is to Amplify the Public Good. wfpr•fm broadcasts more than 30,000 pro bono messages, each 20 to 30 seconds long. If your group wishes to expand its outreach on community radio, call 508-528-9377 to learn more. There is no cost.
WFPR also 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. Volunteers currently produce several regular weekly programs for broadcast over wfpr. These programs also can be heard online at wfpr•fm and as podcasts on their respective websites. In 2022 our volunteers produced over 400 original weekly radio programs.
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| Franklin Public Radio |
wfpr•fm's FCC License Renewal
Our wfpr•fm license to broadcast on 102.9FM was renewed by the FCC for 8 more years, commencing April 2022. All New England broadcast facilities in good technical and operational compliance are renewed customarily on a regional basis by the FCC.
Franklin Matters
Steve Sherlock and Franklin Matters continued to provide extensive coverage of government meetings, civic issues and timely recurring discussions with Franklin officials on wfpr•fm, Franklin Public Radio. Our collaboration also extends F•TV and wfpr•fm to the social media world. Our program guide is now part of Franklin Matters' daily email newsletter, and will soon be shared via Twitter and other social media platforms to promote greater awareness.
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 free equipment for covering private or personal events or for purposes other than generating access programs to be shown over the Franklin cable system. 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 free-lance and staff professionals to shoot and edit the institutional programs that we cover.
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 archive to learn more about Franklin•TV, our growth and development, and the civic events that we cover throughout the year. You can also watch past programs via YouTube video on demand, at www.Franklin•TV, or listen to Franklin Public Radio on 102.9 FM. You can also listen live online or find podcasts of past programs at www.wfpr•fm.
Franklin•TV is not a cable carrier, but we do provide local cable programs via both Comcast and Verizon. Our local programming service agreement with the Town of Franklin was renewed in 2022 for another 10 years.
Scholarships
In June 2022, as part of our continuing commitment to students at Franklin and Tri-County High Schools, Franklin•TV awarded two $1,500 scholarships to FHS students Nipun Goel and Samuel Reis, and another to Tri-County student Josh Mariotti. For 2023 we awarded a scholarship to FHS's Ryan Martin. Our best wishes to all in their academic endeavors.
Cord-Cutting Continues
Our operations funding is derived solely through cable subscriber fees. From our start as Franklin•TV in 2012 we saw overall budget increases of 25% over 5 years to 2017. Since that time we have seen a like reduction in funding as cable customers reduce or cancel their cable TV services. Currently, we are down by 15% from our 2017 funding, and quarterly revenues continue to erode while our operating expenses continue to rise. We continue to trim expense wherever possible while also expanding our live coverage of school and community events. Increased live streaming of our programming is more costly as part of our new post-pandemic normal.
The Massachusetts legislature is currently working on two versions of a bill (Bill H 74 and S34) that would help to stem the P/E/G studio revenue losses by levying a 5% tax on streaming video services.
Comcast Channel Assignments
As of this writing, Comcast is rearranging their channels line-up. They are relocating our P/E/G programming to new channels. The change is scheduled to take effect on Tuesday, August 29.
Verizon customers are unaffected.
Our new Comcast channels will be
- Franklin All Access TV - Our Public Access Channel (Comcast 6, Verizon 26).
- Franklin Pride TV - Our Schools Channel (Comcast 8, Verizon 28).
- Franklin Town Hall TV - Our Government Channel (Comcast 9, Verizon 29).
New Board Members
We're pleased to report that Steve Sherlock and Jim Derick are recent additions to our F•TV board of directors. Dr. Anne Bergen takes on Ken Norman's duties as our President. Jay Horrigan is our Vice- President. Steve Sherlock assumes Secretary/Clerk John Milot's recording duties, and Ken continues on our board as Treasurer.
Finally, in closing, "Thanks for Watching!" Thanks for listening to wfpr•fm on 102.9 and following online at Franklin Matters.
Submitted by Franklin•TV's Board of Directors:
Dr. Anne Bergen, Jay Horrigan, Ken Norman, Steve Sherlock, John Milot, Dr. Pandora Carlucci, Rose Turco, and Jim Derick
Peter Fasciano, Executive Director, Franklin•TV & wfpr•fm
The full Town of Franklin FY 2023 Annual Report can be found online
The Franklin TV section can be found directly here -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x8TwEiwrdQm5WEvyNgikLDew4hDtt6ic/view?usp=drive_link
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