Franklin Community Cable Access - Annual Meeting - Nov 13, 2014

On Thursday we held our third annual open member meeting. This was a good opportunity to begin shifting gears from all the construction and preparations of a new facility to a new focus - on how we will better serve Franklin.  

We began with a review of our finances to date: In spring of 2012 we began operations with some of the cable funds that the town had held in reserve. We purchased and renovated our building, installed new video equipment and paid our operating expenses. 

In sum: We remain on track with our development plan that was submitted to the town when we formed and began operating as FCCA, Inc. in 2012.

L to R (back row):. Ken Norman, Nick Remissong,  Jay Horrigan, Wesley Rea  L to R (front row):John Milot, Anne K. Bergen, Rose Turco,

There were no new board seats opening up this year, so our current board soldiers on. They have all been actively engaged in our progress, our programming and operation.  

As Executive Director, I have enjoyed their full support and thoughtful guidance in piloting our excellent progress to date. For all they do, I am most grateful. 

Looking forward, we turned to the topic of Community Outreach. We invited Franklin’s nonprofit groups to participate in our meeting. We discussed how we can work together, helping each other to better address the needs of the community. Some excellent ideas were put forward and plans are in the works. Stay tuned. 

And, thanks for watching! 

Peter Frasciano 

Franklin TV

This was re-posted from Franklin.tv here  http://franklin.tv/programguide.pdf

Annual Report 2013: Franklin TV

Continuing our series of sharing sections of the 2013 Annual Report of Franklin, MA we have Franklin TV

In November 2011 the town of Franklin incorporated Franklin Community Cable Access, Inc. (FCCA) d/b/a Franklin TV as an educational, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization to run the community’s three local cable channels. In taking up the charter of the cable committee, we are submitting this report as a nongovernmental body that maintains a close working relationship with municipal agencies, other nonprofit organizations and civic groups.  

In February 2012 a seven member board of directors was elected to run the corporation. In March, 2012 the town funded FCCA through the licensing fees collected from Comcast and Verizon. No taxpayer dollars are used to maintain and operate the community cable access studios.  

In April 2012 the board hired Peter Fasciano as its executive director to run the day to day operations. The first order of business was to stabilize our technical operation and brand our three channels. 

Our channels are:
Franklin All Access TV,
Our Public Access Channel (Comcast 8, Verizon 26),
Franklin Pride,
Our Educational Channel (Comcast 96, Verizon 28),
Franklin Town Hall TV,
Our Government Channel, (Comcast 11, Verizon 29). 

Throughout the past 16 months, Franklin TV has upgraded its equipment and broadcast signal. We continue to work with Comcast to have them carry our channels in a digital format. Our cameras are now recording programs in HD, waiting for Comcast and Verizon will provide HD channel support. 

Franklin.TV is our web site. Our weekly programming schedule is posted along with information about the station and contact information for posting messages to our Community Bulletin Board (CBB). 

In February 2013 we purchased the market building at 23 Hutchinson St to serve as our new home and broadcast studios. Construction will soon be underway to renovate the building and add a 1200 Sq Ft studio in the rear. The site will provide Franklin and its residents with a free, open access, state of the art Media and Arts Center. 

The Corporation is fully committed to serving the community. In April 2013 we entered into a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement with the town, becoming the first nonprofit organization to do so. We have also installed three small live TV facilities (video control systems and audio mixers with three cameras at each location) at two middle schools and at the high school. In June we awarded our $1,000 scholarship to Andrew Cyr, a deserving Franklin senior studying Communications. We are active members of the Downtown Partnership and Greater Attleboro Chamber of Commerce. We are working closely with other nonprofit and benevolent groups in Franklin to promote their mission goals and good works.  

We are very thankful to the cable committee and local officials for their prudent planning and foresight in managing the access studios in the years prior to our formation, thus insuring a bright future for both Franklin TV and the Franklin Community. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Ken Norman,
President, FCCA, Inc.

one of the three channels, Franklin Town Hall TV

The full annual report can be obtained from the Town Clerk's office (hard copy) or viewed and/or downloaded from the Franklin website here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Clerk/annual/2013report.pdf

Annual reports of prior years can also be found online at

http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Clerk/annual/

Candidates Forum replay schedule

The recent Candidates Forum is available for replay via your cable channel on these days and times. Franklin TV has confirmed that the schedule was adjusted to provide more views of the program before our election on Tuesday, Nov 5th.

Franklin Town Hall TV

The Candidates Forum will run this week:
Friday  2:00 PM and 7:00 PM
Saturday 10:00 AM and 8:00 PM

They will also schedule it heavily Mon/Tues next week.


Franklin.TV ... 23 Hutchinson St., Box 286 Franklin, MA 02038-0286 ... 508-541-4118

Reminder - Franklin TV meeting - Nov 8 6:00 PM

A quick reminder:

Our first annual member meeting is scheduled for tomorrow evening, November 8th at 6:00 PM at the Senior Center.  This meeting is open to all Franklin TV members.  Questions?  Call 508-541-4118.

This meeting is an opportunity to learn about Franklin TV's plans to provide better production support for Franklin residents and organizations who wish to create TV programs.  Our progress to date, plus the groundwork for our plans going forward are all thanks to our current board members who have contributed so much of their time and energy to shape a clear vision for Franklin TV and move ahead as a new nonprofit organization.

At this meeting Franklin TV members will be voting to elect directors for two board positions.  If you received this email, then you are listed as a member and you are eligible to vote.

Come to the Senior Center, November 8th at 6:00 PM.
We will start with a brief Presentation at 6:30.

Please join us at this important Franklin TV event.  Get to know the current board.  Come meet, greet, and vote for the nominees.  Hope to see you there.

And, thanks for watching!

Pete Fasciano,
Executive Director,
FCCA, Inc., Franklin TV

Real time reporting - Franklin TV

I. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS 
Franklin TV, Ken Norman

incorporated in Nov 2011
original charter called for 7 directors
Ken now president of Corporation, got funding in March 2012
found and hired Peter Fasciano as Executive Director

using small room downtown, explored other spaces within Franklin
looked at Huchinson St property
over Labor Day weekend, explored the property purchase options and have a signed purchase and sale agreement
have filed or will be filing notices to assume occupancy and build a 30,000 900 - 1200 sq ft studio

Thursday, Nov 8th first annual meeting
At the Senior Center, starting at 6:00 PM

handed business plan to Jeff Nutting, completing the requirements

Peter worked in broadcast all his life, TV and video production 
built the original Channel 7 studio
had staff of 50 people with a 20,000 sq ft studio for video commercials
worked for Avid technology, an editor software ran the advanced development group
has 24 patents for TV, much that is shown on TV goes through software and features I had part in

rebuilt Medfield facility two years ago, and when the opportunity arose here, I applied for it

received initial funding of $400,000 of the cable funds, expecting to get the remainder of the funding sometime

documented the requirements of a video production studio
size average, 900 to 1,000 sq ft for a town of our size
drive in access, piano or van for equipment moves
one of the difficulties is finding suitable space

did look at the Emmons St, would need to be on the second floor, accessible via the elevator
would be workable but not desirable

there is a stream along the back so the property is designated as river front

Franklin, MA: Cable Advisory Commission

Page 131-133 of the Franklin Annual Report for 2011 covers the Cable Advisory Commission.
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Clerk/annual/Desktop/FRANKLIN%202001%20TR-WEB%20COPY.pdf (Note the page references are to the PDF version, the printed version would be Page 125-127)

Town Council, School Committee and many other committee meetings along with some special events are available via live broadcast or replay via cable. The Commission is also looking into creation of a non-profit entity by which the cable operations would be run instead of by Franklin. Stay tuned for developments in this area.

"a nonprofit organization to run the town's public access channels"

Franklin's nonprofit idea is not new. The first nonprofit access stations were formed in the early 1970s as cable television grew in popularity and regulations required cable companies to fund local programming. Other stations were run by the towns themselves or by the cable companies. 

In the past 10 years, Comcast has stopped running many cable access stations it inherited when it purchased AT&T Broadband, leaving towns to figure out how to keep providing those services, said Amy Palmerino, vice chairman of the Board of Directors of MassAccess, a statewide organization that advocates for public access television. 

Many communities, including Milford and Hopkinton, created nonprofit stations when a cable company stopped running their studios, a move Palmerino said increases community participation and creates separation between the town and one of its primary media outlets.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x311049248/Towns-find-ways-to-take-control-of-local-cable-access-TV#ixzz1NjtPZf2t


Franklin, MA

In the News - cable license

Franklin Town Council approves change to cable license

by Brian Benson/Daily News staff

Franklin, MA

Verizon Cable License Amendment - public comment period

The cable license between Franklin and Verizon is being amended to bring the revenue into agreement with the current revenue from Comcast. Actually a reduction from 5% to 4.8% of gross revenues would come to Franklin.

The comment period begins 14 days after the notification (12/16/10), hence 12/30/10 and runs for 21 days (hence Jan 20th).

Franklin Amendment Verizon Cable License


Related post from the Town Council meeting on Nov 17th discussing the possible public access channel operation
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/11/live-reporting-cable-update.html


Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Historical, Memorial, CATV

Historical Commission

Jeff - keeping documents up to date, pay a few bills for the historical commission

had increased from 1,000 to 2,000 in anticipation of the new building up and running. It hasn't yet but it will be used fully once the new building is open.

Memorial Day

purchase of flags for the graves to be put on by volunteers

CATV

We have to budget a minimum amount per subscriber
used to offset the costs of the broadcasts going out over the air waves
set by the license

Streaming Video - Historic event

There was a significant historical event this week. The first Town Council meeting was streamed live over the web on Wednesday evening.

What does that mean?
Instead of being in your home with a cable subscription, you can now view a town meeting via your computer. This means that anyone with interest to find the meeting can view it anywhere in the world via the internet and their computer.

Since only 90+% of the town has access to cable, how much this will enable those who don't have cable access is open for discussion.

What will this streaming live change?
I think it will be interesting to see how this will change the meetings, if anything changes at all.

• Will the various board and committee members improve their personal behavior and conduct now that they can be viewed around the world?
• Will the nature and presentations of the meetings themselves be modified now that there is a worldwide audience?
• Will there be an increase in viewing amongst the people in the town?
  

The one drawback I see is that the availability of the meeting via the internet may reduce the actual physical attendance in the room. Only those who actually need to be there to participate in the meeting will continue to be present. On the other hand, the worldwide audience may actually increase the participation due to the exposure.

How do you view the meeting?

1. On your computer, open your favorite browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.)
2. Navigate to the Franklin website home page
3. Follow the link on the notice for the live streaming (I have not yet found another way to get to this live streaming or archive. I assume there will be an additional path put on the site at some time.)
4. The first time you view a meeting, Microsoft Silverlight will require to be installed. Once installed, you'll need to close your browser and restart the browser. After this installation, you should be able to go direct to view either the live or an archived program.
5. You can view the meeting from beginning to end or skip to sections according to the published agenda.

Have you viewed a meeting yet?

What do you think of this?

Live reporting - Town Council meeting 2

Attending: Whalen, Bartlett, Feeley, Pfeffer, Doak, McGann, Zollo

Absent: Mason, Vallee


A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – November 19, 2008, December 3, 2008, December 10, 2008,
and December 17, 2008 Regular & Executive Session

approved - 7-0


B. ANNOUNCEMENTS none

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS none

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS

Robert Dean, Chairman of the Cable Advisory Committee, talks about the new live feed of the Town Council meetings. Chapters will be available in the archive.

Cable households - 2007

Did you know that the Town of Franklin 2008 Annual Report tells us that the total subscribers to cable are as follows:

Comcast -> 7818
Verizon -> 1833
Total cable subscribers -> 9651

The channels provided are

Cable Channels	Comcast	Verizon
Live	11	29
Playback	8	26
Educational Playback	96	28

If you have not picked up your hard copy of the report at Town Hall, you can try to view it online here: http://www.town.franklin.ma.us/pages/FranklinMA_Clerk/2008arpt.pdf