The Federal Communications Commission has ordered rule changes that would allow cable operators to treat funding for cable-related costs as “in-kind” donations. This means they are allowed to deduct an undefined amount from monies that traditionally have gone to community media.
MassAccess has hired the Cohen Law Group to help us file opposition to the proposed rule-making. Read our official filing HERE.
Municipalities and Media Centers should examine their current contracts with the cable provider(s) and see if there are items or services in there that now might
be considered “In-kind”.
Many Massachusetts Media Centers donated to our filing effort and the money was well spent. Thanks in part to your generosity, MassAccess was cited in the order and was able to keep the FCC from determining market value for PEG channel capacity – at least temporarily.
The Alliance for Community Media is monitoring the situation very closely.
