On Tuesday, May 19, 2009 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
approved, on first reading, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi’s State Video
Franchise Holder Ordinance. The vote was 8 to 3 to set the level of PEG
support at 1.15% above the 5% Cable Franchise fee which is about $1.8M
per year. The Ordinance will take effect in January 2010. However,
these funds can only be used for capital (equipment) unless laws are
changed at the Federal and State level to allow them to be used for
operations. The Ordinance must be on the agenda for the next full Board
of Supervisors’ meeting, as a second reading, but it is expected to
pass. The discussion and vote can be seen by clicking the YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOtvpScl6dA
Also, Supervisor Mirkarimi announced that Comcast Cable had agreed to
provide a one year operational grant for PEG. We are told the amount is
$375,000 which is still $142,000 less than the current Comcast grant
which expires on June 30, 2009. Other details about the grant, when it
will be available and how it will affect a public access management RFP
process are yet to be determined.
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