In Defense of HYPER LOCAL PUBLIC TV

Is there anyone in the CT State Legislature who still believes in free speech? I am beginning to wonder. As a part time employee of Nutmeg TV in Farmington, I wish to voice my support for HB 5446 An Act Concerning the Funding for Community Access Television, CT-N and Low Income Internet Access. Nutmeg TV in Farmington, a large regional community TV station in the state, along with other local community public access stations, now face an existential threat for survival. Operating funds are in jeopardy as more and more customers are “cutting the cord” of traditional cable service and receiving programming via the internet. As a result, Connecticut has lost over thirty-five million dollars in gross earnings taxes while the cable companies didn’t lose customers. In fact, it’s estimated that they grossed earnings of over $1 billion on cable alone in CT last year. In addition, they also pay NO tangible personal property tax on any equipment used for cable TV in CT. We are the only state in the country that allows this and as a result the state is denying millions of dollars to our cities and towns who need it. It’s time to level the playing field.

Many local area residents who have completed Nutmeg TV’s training sessions in the past have gone on to gain valuable hands-on experience which has allowed them to move into well-paying jobs in the industry including ESPN and CTN as well as other broadcast stations. For many of our producers, Nutmeg TV offers them a chance to volunteer, feel like they are part of a team and build confidence. Our doors are open to a diverse group of folks from every ethnic and socio-economic background. The variety of programming topics we offer is immense. We have shows on cooking, religious, art, financial literacy, and veteran’s issues just to name a few.

Nutmeg TV is also there covering local town meetings allowing residents who might not otherwise be able to attend to become informed on a variety of hyper-local issues affecting them. This includes town and budget meetings, Board of Education, and other special sessions. We have also hosted interviews with Federal, state and local politicians providing them a way to directly engage constituents outside the bubble of the mainstream media. Plus, we offer services for paying clients and have become a hub for studio rentals attracting many production and marketing facilities. These are all dollars that stay in the state of Connecticut benefiting our economy and help keep small business employers keep employees like me.

The time has come to finally address the inequities that are unfortunately inherent in the system. Everyone likes to throw around the term unfairness these days, but the truth of the matter is it would be truly unfair to let Public, Education & Government (PEG) stations like Nutmeg TV to wither and die on the vine potentially having a huge impact on the local economy and freedom of speech for decades to come. It would have a chilling effect in terms of silencing freedom of speech for our talented producers. It’s unfair to the dedicated and professional employees on staff, unfair to the volunteers and unfair to the community and viewing audience at large.

Cable companies are federally mandated to fund PEG stations. Now it’s time for the legislature to come into the 21st century and do their part. With all of the issues that come before the state legislature every year, it would seem to me that this issue should garner bi-partisan support just like it has in other New England states in order to make right the injustice and abuse that has been going on for quite some time.

The state funds CTN by a pass-through fee from the cable companies to cable customers. The municipalities deserve the same for their hyper local content especially because our streets are the ones being used for these companies to run their wires. It’s our taxpayer dollars that maintain those streets. The state wants to continue giving these billion dollar a year companies a tax exemption on every truck, wire and piece of equipment they use while public access will be defunded. This doesn’t make sense!

If local public access TV is defunded in CT, it will make national news. It will be a dire move to go down in history that after 40 plus years, CT will “close the curtain” on our local town channels in favor of big cable companies.

Sincerely,

Richard Contrastano