Franklin Matters: Franklin TV: Town Council Presentation

Sunday, September 8, 2024

Franklin TV: Town Council Presentation

Venimus, Vidimus, Concurrimus

We Came, We saw, We Concurred

by Pete Fasciano, Executive Director 09/08/2024

Franklin.TV appeared before Wednesday’s Town Council meeting to provide an update on our status and activities. After a long (90-minutes) and somewhat contentious discussion regarding liquor license transfers we provided a crisp PowerPoint overview (10 minutes) leading to the key take-away that we and the Council seek the support of our Beacon hill legislators regarding House and Senate Bills that would shore up our dwindling income from cable access fees.

Our presentation on YouTube begins at 1:48:45 in Wednesday’s meeting (link to video below), and the PowerPoint that we presented is also at the end of this week’s Program Guide (link to doc below).

The Council members were most supportive of our efforts and in complete agreement regarding voicing their support for these pending bills.

Both House and Senate bills are crafted in identical language, and the House bill is also available at the end of this Program Guide (link to doc below). The streaming industry would bear the costs and pay the same access fees that cable carriers currently provide. This would offset our increasing losses from cord-cutting and ensure our future.

You can help preserve and support local media in Franklin by contacting your MA legislators and voicing support for these bills.

The Council also concluded with their regular approval of town transfers to us of the quarterly access funds collected by Comcast and Verizon.