TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to allocate Public, Education, and Government (PEG) fee revenue equally among the three categories of cable access providers, each receiving one-third of the total available; and
Increase appropriations in the General Services Fund (IS 385) in the Technology and Innovation Department (TI) by $955,701, offset by PEG fee revenue. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
The enactment of the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 (DIVCA) marked a major change in the regulation of video service providers in California. Essentially, DIVCA replaced the local franchising process with a State process under the authority of the California Public Utilities Commission. Changes in DIVCA included the creation of a PEG fee to be permitted under the federal Communications Act, while at the same time eliminating the requirement that local cable operators provide Cable Access facilities and support.
In September 2007, the City Council adopted an ordinance setting the City’s PEG fee at 1.04 percent of the cable providers’ gross revenue. Under the federal Communications Act, the fee is required to be used to support PEG channel facilities and is restricted to be used for spending on capital items only. The fees cannot be used for operational expenses such as staffing, or any other reoccurring costs. If PEG funding is used for any activity other than purchasing capital items, the local cable/video providers may deduct that amount from franchise fee payments made to the City.
PEG Fee Revenue Allocation
On June 21, 2016, the City Council approved an equal distribution of 2015 PEG revenue to all three cable access categories: (1) Public (“P”), to Long Beach Community Action Partnership (LBCAP) that operates Public Access television (PADNET); (2) Education (“E”), to California State University Long Beach, Long Beach City College, and Long Beach Unified School District; and, (3) Government (“G”) to City cable chann...
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