Franklin TV: PEG in a Nutshell, Part 10

Stream On?

by Pete Fasciano, Executive Director 06/16/2024

The streaming media industry is maturing. It’s also reaching a saturation point. This is becoming manifest by the higher viewer churn among streaming providers, the melding of some stream services into ‘bundle subscriptions’, and increasing monthly fees by those enviable players at the top of the industry. Some of that increase is profit taking, (because they can). Much of it is just trying to stay ahead of increasing program costs. Streamers face the same program cost challenges as Comcast & Verizon for original content.

Increasingly, cord-cutters who have left their cable carriers are finding it more difficult to keep streaming home entertainment costs down. If you seek variety then you likely have 3-5 streaming accounts. The giant savings are not quite so giant anymore. It’s also a hassle to constantly start/stop/restart/stop/re- uh… and you get the idea. (Because there’s always another ‘must-see’ series ‘coming soon’.)

We at Franklin.TV have been streaming lots of programming as well – but our live event streams are free on all three of our channels. Comcast and Verizon pay us an Access fee. The streaming companies; Netflix, AppleTV+, Prime, et al do not pay us. This where things may change in the next year or so. Massachusetts is examining the streaming industry, as have almost half the states across the U.S. Many states are implementing an entertainment tax on video streaming and online gaming. This tax is the digital equivalent of the entertainment tax on tickets to live events. The tax is distributed in various ways by the states. Much of the proceeds go to support PEG studios like ours because we suffer losses as more viewers abandon cable.

There is legislation pending on Beacon Hill in both MA House and Senate that would collect a streaming entertainment tax and apply it expressly to support local PEG studios great and small (like ours) across the state. When? Perhaps in the next year or so the proposed bills will be up for a vote.

Consider all that we do for localism and for Franklin’s spirit as a great community to live and work in – the public and civic events, all those school sports, the many government meetings, our public radio station and more. It all requires support.

We would greatly appreciate yours.

Thanks for listening to 102.9 wfpr●fm.

And – as always – thanks for watching.

Get this week's program guide for Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) online  http://franklin.tv/programguide.pdf   

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