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HomeMy WebLinkAboutR-1934 - Amending Resolution No. 1320 and adopting Cablecasting rules and regulations for the Marysville Television ChannelCityof Marysville Marysville,Washington RESOLUTION NO./r3~ A RESOLUTION OFTHECITYOF MARYSVILLE AMENDING RESOLUTION NO.1320 AND ADOPTING CABLECASTING RULES AND REGULATIONS FORTHE MARYSVILLE TELEVISION CHANNEL BEIT RESOLVED BYTHECITY COUNCIL OFTHECITYOF MARYSVILLE, WASHINGTON AS FOLLOWS: Resolution No.1320 adoptedonJune6,1988 is hereby amended to adoptthe attached Cablecasting Rulesand Procedures forthe Marysville Television Channel.Allrulesand procedures whichare inconsistent withthe attached rulesare hereby repealed. PASSED bytheCity Council and APPROVED bytheMayorthis26th dayofJuly,1999. CITY OF MARYSVILLE By ~04fl.1 Mayor Attest: B~'~> CityClerk Approved asto Form: Bl~U-J~ City Attorney --------------------, MARYSVILLE TELEVISION CABLECASTING RULES AND PROCEDURES TABLE OF CONTENTS I.Statement of Purpose 2. Goals 3.Priorities 4. Access Availability 5.Scheduling 6. Technical Quality Standards 7.Content Standards 8. Political Programming 9.Non-Discrimination Policy 10.Procedures for Submitting Materials Section I.Statement of Purpose. The City of Marysville owns, operates and staffs Marysville Television,(herein after referred to as "MTV"),on the cable system owned and operated by the cable franchisee,(hereinafter referred to as "cable franchisee")under a cable franchise agreement for the purpose of communicating information of general public interest to all persons who subscribe to cable service in the greater Marysville area, and to perform related services for affected governmental departments. MTV is administered under the authority of the City of Marysville and reserved under a cable communication franchise with the cable franchisee, which has no control over the content of government access programs. The use of live or prerecorded programs on the channel is limited by the high cost of equipment, facilities and trained personnel;as such, locally developed video programs shall be produced to illustrate the functions or operations of City government and departments,and programs submitted from sanctioned outside government sources illustrating statewide or regional subjects of public interest, and public safety programs, shall also be cablecast when appropriate. Such programming (referred to herein as "cablecasting")is presently no higher a priority for the City than the use of the alphanumeric character generator system or broadcasting of state legislative and public affairs programming provided by Television Washington 2 (hereinafter referred to as "TVW"),an independent, nonprofit corporation.All cablecasting is subject to strict compliance with the rules and procedures stated below, and subject to supervision by the TV Advisory Committee (referred to herein as "TV Advisory Committee")and the Community Information Officer, who for the purposes of cablecasting shall be designated the Marysville Television Channel Coordinator (referred to herein as the MTV Coordinator),unless otherwise specified by the City Clerk. Section 2.Goals. The goals of MTV are: I.To increase public awareness and understanding of the structure, functions, services,resources and activities of local government and public education, and of public issues, through a pro-active approach to cablecasting. 2. To foster communication between the government and citizens and enhance opportunity for communication between citizens and government. 3. To stimulate citizen participation in the decision-making process of local government. 4. To enhance the quality oflife in Marysville through programming that contributes to making the Marysville area a better place to live. 5. To ensure that MTV programming meets ajournalistic mode of unbiased non-partisanship. 6. To ensure that MTV programming and operations meet ethical, professional and broadcast quality technical,production and artistic standards. Section 3. Priorities. In providing each day the maximum practicable number of hours of on-air programming of value and interest to the public, the following priorities for use of personnel and equipment resources for MTV are established: 1. City and City-sanctioned government programs and activities that involve or affect the Marysville public. 2.Informational programming on local government activities and programs produced by MTV staff or other entities related to government facilities, services and/or operation of the channel. 3 3. Acquired programming consonant with the purpose and goals of MTV. 4. Delayed and live coverage oflocal government public meetings sanctioned by the City or the parties as defined in Section 4 below. Section 4. Access Availability. The City of Marysville shall have exclusive access to MTV for cablecasting purposes. Other government agencies that are municipal Corporations of the State of Washington, or persons or organizations working for or sponsored by such governmental agencies may have access to MTV for cablecasting purposes subject to the approval of the MTV Coordinator. Section 5. Scheduling. Scheduling of cablecasting shall be at the sole discretion of the MTV Coordinator. a.Programming originated by MTV or parties referred to in Section 4 shall be cablecast for a period of time at the discretion of the MTV Coordinator,but for no longer than one consecutive week, with the exception of Public Service Announcements,which may be used on an occasional basis to fill time between programs. b. Priority scheduling shall be given to existing, regularly cablecasted programming. Section 6. Technical Quality Standards. All videotapes submitted for cablecasting shall meet the following criteria: a.Videotapes shall be on broadcast quality one-half inch videocassettes, preferably in Super-VHS (S-SVH) format. b. Audio quality of all videotapes will be constant throughout the program and of sufficient level to permit adequate reproduction on the transmission equipment. c. Program format and production will be of professional quality, as determined by the MTV Coordinator. Section 7. Content Standards. The content of all programs accepted for cablecasting shall meet the following criteria: a. All programs must relate to some government activity and topic of interest that is specifically directed to persons residing or doing business within the boundaries of the Marysville School District. 4 b. All materials shall comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules and regulations, including, but not limited to, equal time requirements for candidates for public office, lhe [aimess deetrine;the personal attack rule and requirements relating to political editorials. If, in the judgment of the MTV Coordinator, a proposed program is of such length or nature that compliance with the FCC rules and regulations would be impossible,impractical or would interfere with other priorities of MTV, the MTV Coordinator may reject or require modifications of the proposed program. Should opposition parties be unavailable or elect not to participate,the City shall insert a disclaimer on the program stating that fact. c. The following materials shall be prohibited: (I)Material which does not relate to local government or which is not of general public interest. (2)Commercial advertising. (3) Any material or program, the primary purpose of which is to promote a service, product, trade, business or person. (4) Material that identifies any product, service,trademark or brand name in a manner which is not reasonably related to the non-commercial use of the same. (5) Material which is intended to defraud the viewer or designed to obtain money by false or fraudulent pretenses,representations or promises. (6) Lottery information. (7) Any material which promotes any activity which is illegal under City, state or federal law or which is defamatory, misleading,fraudulent, obscene or indecent. (8) Any announcement which more appropriately should be displayed on the character generator, as determined by the MTV Coordinator. (9) Any other material inappropriate to the mandate, mission, goals and priorities of MTV. (10) Political programming except as set forth below. 5 Section 8.Political Programming. a.Political programming and individual statements by or relating to elected officials and candidates for public office Use by elected officials seeking reelection and candidates seeking election is prohibited from the first day of filing week through the elections,except in balanced,nonpartisan open forum programming formats staged by a govemment agency or a neutral,third-party nonpartisan organization sanctioned by the TV Advisory Committee. b.Ballot measures,legislative and issue-oriented political programming by any person,party,organization or group Programs that promote a local issue or policy yet to be decided by the legislative body may be controversial. These programs shall be permitted only when they are sponsored by a govemmental agency or a non-partisan organization sanctioned by the TV Advisory Committee,and debates or forums shall strictly comply with FCC rules referred to in Section 7(b) above. These programs shall be brought to the TV Advisory Committee on a case-by-case basis for an affirmative decision on whether or not to balance the program by inviting opposing views. c.Balanced ProgramminglEqual Time Programs which relate to political content as described in 8(b) above shall, as a condition of being aired,cam an invitation to solicit opposing views. It is the intent of the TV Advisory Committee to provide fair and equal opportunity for presentation of opposing views for programs deemed to require program balancing. At any time, at its sole discretion, the TV Advisory Committee may require balancing of a particular program giving both proponents and opponents an opportunity to present sides of the issue. The following programming options will be available to the TV Advisory Committee for balancing program content: 1. A three-minute rebuttal statement to immediately follow a program cablecast on MTV. 2. A forum or roundtable discussion to be established on a program developed specifically to create such a forum. 3.An invitation to the opposing viewpoints to present a videotape produced with its own resources. Should opposition parties be unavailable or elect not to participate, the City shall insert a disclaimer on the program stating that fact. Section 9.Non-discrimination Policy 6 a.Programming on MTV shall depict people in a manner which does not discriminate or foster discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, nation origin or ancestry, age or gender. Section 10.Procedures for Submitting Material: All parties submitting videotapes for cablecasting on MTV shall follow the procedures below, unless the same are specifically waived by the MTV Coordinator: a. Each governmental agency desiring to cablecast on MTV shall provide the MTV Coordinator with a list of those individuals and organizations which it has authorized to submit program material. The list shall be updated and reviewed once every two years. b. A Cablecast Application Form, together with a videotape of the program, shall be submitted to the MTV Coordinator at least two weeks prior to the date proposed for the cablecast. This two-week rule may be waived by the MTV Coordinator for good cause shown. c. Cablecast Application Forms submitted to the MTV Coordinator include a statement which must be read and signed by an authorized representative of the submitting agency which waives any claims against the City, its elected officials, agents or employees:the Marysville School District. its elected officials, agents or employees: or the cable franchisee, its officers, agents or employees, and indemnifies and holds them harmless from any claims or damages or other liabilities of any nature whatsoever, including, but not limited to,defamation and copyright infringement.If a copyright exists on any material which is submitted to the City, the submitting agency shall be responsible for obtaining the necessary releases or the material will be rejected. Section II.Production Policies. a. Resource Allocation. Scheduling of production personnel and equipment shall be governed by priorities set for in the aforementioned sections above and at the discretion of the MTV Coordinator. Given substantially limited staff and technical resources available, MTV cannot operate like a cornmercial station news department. It shall be the responsibility of the MTV 7 Coordinator to schedule MTV staff, persons and resources as required by MTV's internal operating procedures. b. Scope of work. Audio and video production by MTV staff shall be available primarily to City government departments/divisions and, at the discretion of the MTV Coordinator, to cablecast firms under contract with the City, and/or utilized in an equipment-combining capacity with the Marysville School District. c.Responsibility for content. Responsibility for the content of any programming produced by MTV for any City government department or division lies solely with the initiating department or division. Department and Division directors shall be required to approve, in writing, programs and production requests relating to their departments and divisions. The MTV Coordinator shall reserve the right to edit copy without altering content if such copy does not meet professional journalistic and broadcast standards. Copy editing shall be performed in a consultative/collaborative spirit with the client. d. Program origination. Design and development of programs produced by MTV shall be performed cooperatively by the MTV Coordinator and originating department or division. e. Scripting. Initial preparation of a program script shall be the responsibility of the originating departments, in consultation with the MTV Coordinator. f.Approvals. No audio or video production shall be initiated by MTV staff until written objectives and a script are completed and "signed off" by the Department Director. g. Disclaimer. All programming sanctioned for airing on MTV shall contain the following disclaimer: "Comments expressed by the individuals in this program do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions ofthe City ofMarysville" Section 12. Public Records. a. The City shall have the right to copy any videotape submitted for cablecast. The original videotape shall be returned to the submitting agency,if so requested, in writing. The City shall not be charged any fee or royalty for making such copies. The copies shall be kept in the City's public records and shall be available for 8 ~.,,. future cablecasting at the pleasure of the MTV Coordinator. The City shall not reproduce such copies for sale or distribution to the general public without first obtaining written permission from the submitting agency. b. The MTV Coordinator shall maintain a complete record of the names and addresses of all persons, groups,organizations or entities requesting use of the cable television equipment or facilities and/or making application for cablecasting. c. The MTV Coordinator shall maintain a complete record of all programs for cablecast on City MTV, including the date of the cablecast and a brief description of the program content. d. Any application for cablecasting shall be rejected if the submitting agency refuses to have its identity and address filed in the City's public records. e. All public records referred to herein shall be available for public inspection at Marysville City Hall, 4822 Grove St.,Marysville, Washington during regular business hours. f. Unless FCC rules provide to the contrary, all public records referred to herein,together with copies of the application forms, waivers of liability and indemnity forms filed by applicant agencies, shall be retained by the City for a period of three years and may then be purged from the public records. Section 13. Grievance Procedure. Any party aggrieved by a decision of the MTV Coordinator may appeal the same to the TV Advisory Committee by filing written notice of such appeal within ten (10) days after the decision in question. The Committee shall consider the appeal at its next meeting, and advance written notice of said meeting shall be sent to the appellant. Any party aggrieved by a decision of the Committee shall have the right to appeal to the City Council. Written notice of such appeal shall be filed with the City Clerk within ten (10) days after the Committee's decision. The decision of the City Council shall be final. 9