Public Access Blues
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Well there was a lot of deliberation about me going to a conference around here. But finally it was decided that I would be going to the ACM 2007 International Conference & Trade Show.
But things have changed. And it's all thanks to that lovely bit of legistlation that SBC/AT&T pushed down Michigan's throat a few months back.
While Comcast did agree to maintain it's contract with the CMC, they also took advantage of the loop hole in under the new laws which allows them to change the payment schedule. So the francise fees (over $150,000) that the CMC usually gets in April will not be coming until August. Thus all expenitures must be cut back to the bone.
So, I will not be attending the ACM conference. Nor will anyone at the Media Center be doing so including Laurie, our director, who was scheduled to speak there.
That's the way the Public Access cookie crumbles.
I don't think I'm going to be presenting the Media Center with any new program ideas. Not unless my idea is a money maker. And charging for services would kind of defeat the point. *shrug*
It's a tough time to be in this business.
I hope everyone is doing well.
Later,
Rich
Comment from lauren bratslavsky on May 1, 2007 - 11:33am
Oh Rich- that's awful. Ohio may go done the path of Michigan. Too bad no one is going, the Grand Rapids CMC seems like one of the best in the country. Are you considering going to the Allied Media Conference in Detroit? (Finally, a media conference in the mid-west). Good luck with the youth media business.
Comment from danielle martin on May 1, 2007 - 2:28pm
Hey Rich,
That major stinks! I definitely feel the pain as we tried to outreach to public access stations to get VISTAs and they just can't do it. And I also know quite a few folks trying to convice PEG access stations to do more stuff digitally and they just can't imagine it. I actually sat in at a conference at MIT a few months ago where someone (a person NOT from the public access world) suggested that public access stations should accept their fate and come up with an "exit strategy" of moving to all online endeavors. It's a really hard fight to talk to folks about too - I mean, many people see public access as a bunch of Wayne's World like content that they don't care about.
ug.
-Danielle
Comment from cheryl jerozal on May 2, 2007 - 12:37am
maybe you could go to this conference: Communities and Technologies Conference
it's not too far away from you and maybe you could convince them you should qualify as a student so you could be a student volunteer