IF YOU ARE NOT A RESIDENT OF DURHAM, NC OR NOT A USER OF DURHAM COMMUNITY MEDIA, PLEASE DO NOT SEND! We really need LOCAL residents to show LOCAL officials you care!

Act today! Ask Durham County Commissioners to: 

Approve a three year contract with Durham Community Media/The Peoples Channel.

Allocate 3% of the state replacement franchise fees to provide Public Access TV services for a three year contract.

FACT: In 2009, when The Peoples Channel was contracted as the vendor for the operation of Public Access TV for the Durham community, there no longer existed a local franchise agreement. 

A Franchise Agreement allowed the City and County to negotiate terms and conditions around the funding or managing of Public Access by Time Warner Cable.  For instance, under the previous agreement, the City and County negotiated that Time Warner contribute in-kind the operation of Public Access services.  The City could have also set up a small subscriber fee to fund Public Access, as many other cities have done.  Had the City or County received funds from a subscriber fee under the Franchise Agreement, they would have received money from the state to continue funding Public Access.  But unlike other franchise agreements, the City and County did not have a dollar figure associated with the operation of public access.

If the City or County had spent any of their franchise fees on public access or had opted for a subscriber fee, monies would have been available from the state to replace those funds once the local franchise expired.  Instead, funding for public access with Durham Community Media/The Peoples Channel as the vendor came from general revenue. 

FACT: The funds the City and County receive from the state are greater than they received under the local agreement.  Because the community can no longer negotiate special funding for Public Access, we request that a small portion of those funds be used to support Public Access for all Durham residents.

FACT: A three year contract will allow DCM to diversify its funding sources to become sustainable in the long run, build a stronger community around media access, and help Durham bridge the digital divide.

Send the message below to your Durham elected officials, urging them to ensure a three year contract for Channel 18 and funding through a small percent allocation of replacement franchise fees.