Last we heard of Seattle’s public access outlet, Seattle Community Access Network (SCAN), the station’s management was plying reporters with pumpkin pie and pleading with the Seattle City Council to restore their funding. Mayor McGinn proposed cutting $558,000 from the public access budget and putting the contract out to bid, which amounted to a death sentence, SCAN officials warned.
That was nearly a month ago, before council restored money to some programs (but not others) and passed the final city budget. Since then, we’ve heard nary a peep from the rabid SCAN fans who were talking about pursuing federal criminal charges against City Council. So what happened?
The council did indeed cut the funding and open up a competitive bidding process for the public access provider contract, SCAN spokesman Jamie Flaxman said this morning. But this is not the end; SCAN intends to still be on the air on January 1.
More public access gossip and an update after the jump!
Right now, the city is looking for a transitional provider to fill its public access slot on Comcast until the bidding process wraps up in July. SCAN is negotiating to be that transitional provider, which would give them $30,000 and allow them to keep their spot on the air. Even if they get the money, Flaxman said “It is way below what we currently receive. It will still end in most of our services being reduced.”
The decision on which services would be reduced or cut remains up for discussion by SCAN’s Board of Directors. Flaxman said programming would remain on the air, but indicated that there would be a “significant reduction” in SCAN’s open-to-the-public hours from their current 80 hours per week to potentially less than 10 hours. Additionally, nearly all of SCAN’s employees have been given layoff notices to take effect as of December 31.
If SCAN doesn’t get the transitional contract, it will cease to exist as a television station and likely become an online-only provider.
Meanwhile, other providers seem to think they can replace SCAN and offer similar services on the $100,000 the city has reserved in next year’s budget for the bid winner. Among them is Puget Sound Access (PSA), a public access provider in south King County. PSA is said to be comfortable with the smaller budget, but they also don’t provide the same services as SCAN—they have offered less community-generated content and more rebroadcasts of public domain movies.
The new provider’s budget doesn’t have to be limited to $100,000. In fact, according to the council, they would love to see the next public access provider seek outside funding. They’re even planning on using that as a criterion for the competitive bidding process that the city will open up sometime early next year.
SCAN had originally claimed that $100,000 from the city was not enough to maintain their operations and seemed disinclined to participate in the bid process. Today, Flaxman indicated that they may submit a bid for the reduced-budget contract after all. Necessity is the mother of bitter desperation invention.
UPDATE (12-9-2010): SCAN’s city funding was coming from franchise fees paid by cable subscribers, not from the city’s general fund. In this year’s budget, the Department of Information Technology reapportioned the majority of the franchise fee revenues that would have gone to SCAN to instead expand the city’s email capacity. The manipulation of this funding loophole was what led some SCAN partisans to call for criminal charges against city lawmakers for violating the Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act of 1984.
Everything must go!
After all, we’ve got an unfunded Tunnel to build, and serfs to tax to pay for it.
I miss Jim Spagg. /portland
And I just found out about “Ask an Atheist” too, so lame.
I’m not really sure why this matters? Guys, the internet exists. YouTube exists. Blogs exist. Fifteen years ago I would have been bummed, but in 2010 public access television is obsolete.
Public Access is basically for people who dont own computers or refuse to buy them. YouTube has eliminated the need for public funding for Public Access.
However, if Cascade Bicycle Club had a show on PA, they would find a way to keep the funding.
public access is great and all, but honestly, the internet has made it completely irrelevant. And SCAN is no angel; it has dumped programs or producers it didn’t like plenty of times, despite their purpose being to make broadcast television available to all.
All the SCAN producers can now shut the fuck up and post their shows on youtube or any of a thousand video sites and quit whining. Seriously, dubbing to VHS tape and hand-delivering or mailing to Northgate is superior to pressing Upload? GMAMFB.
I would only point out that there don’t seem to be any options for public studio space besides SCAN. Maybe I just don’t know where to look. Then again, library meeting rooms are free.
@ Kinison — Heh.
@ K — Even if SCAN goes under, the city still owns the building. It’s going to be there. Whether the city wants to find money to open the studios or they sell it off to another organization, there’s no reason to think the studios will have to sit empty.
wow, what a bunch of classist bullshit responses! many of the communities who use SCAN’s services are minorities who are extremely underrepresented in media and have neither the funding nor the technical skills to simply move their programming to the web (or they already would have). i’m sure some of them will find a way to keep their programming going and there can certainly be arguments made for whether or not SCAN was managed in the best way, but people who think SCAN is unimportant as a cultural equalizer for many are people who mainstream media in one way or another caters to and who cannot step outside of their privilege to imagine otherwise.
The web is so vast and cluttered with garbage that it will be hard to actually get a meaningful audience in comparison with putting that same content on television.
I know all the web addicted people will think this is counterintuitive, but I don’t think that SCAN’s programming would reach much of an audience online without serious help and funding.
Luby should get a job with the Seattle Community Access Blog.
@7 – SCAN actual holds the deed to the building, which is what all the hullabaloo about suing the city is about. The city rightfully owns equipment purchased with public money, but not the building.
8 & 9: Thank you.
6: public access is great and all, but honestly, the internet has made it completely irrelevant.
Then why hasn’t any other TV/cable station gone online only? The day ESPN goes online only, then we can talk about other “irrelevant” television.
That’s what our broke-ass city need to subsidize, a tv studio for 9/11 truthers and goofy hippy exhibitionists.
#4
People mention you tube…but are there actually vids or channels with local content that are the equal of SCAN’s programming on the web?
If so, can you post links? Or maybe a SLOG article/post should be written.
I’ll always fondly remember the entertainingly revolting Mike Hunt shows.
“Needs” sorry. Also, remember that fucking low-life that followed Courtney Love around with his camera?
@16 that would be the unimitable Richard Lee.
There are more than a hundred thousand people in the city without broadband access. I know that’s hard for rich young connected people to grasp, but it’s true.
#17
And yet somehow they can afford basic cable.
I thought Concast had to provide public access. At least that was the rule way back. I still miss Bong Hit Championships and Spud Webb and Bombshelter.
18: A TV and basic cable is still way cheaper than internet broadband and a decent computer.
19: Comcast isn’t required to provide access on their own. The City can require access, but it’s up to the City to require it and fund operations.
Television still exists? WTF, Television? You are so boring!
I think people should start transmitting on UHF/VHF frequencies and start pirate television stations.
And you can rest assured the full measure of Matt Luby’s journalistic integrity stands behind every word of this post.
Hmm, a libertarian squawking about a public channel not being funded?
@ Smell — Oh no, I’m not squawking about the funding cuts. I just reported the facts. If it was my decision to make, I would have cut the funding to $0, not $100,000.
And actually, losing city funding could be a great libertarian thing for SCAN. If they can relaunch with private funding, I would love the stuffing out of them.
“If they can relaunch with private funding, I would love the stuffing out of them.”
All the public access money can buy. What was it Mencken said about freedom of the press?