Franklin County’s local television station may soon be off the air.
Forgotten Coast TV owner John Spohrer told county commissioners Tuesday that the Mediacom cable company plans to remove Forgotten Coast TV from the channel lineup on November 12th.
The issue is over ad sales at the station.
Forgotten Coast TV is a public access channel and according to Mediacom is supposed to be non-commercial.
The station does sell what it calls sponsorships of its programs but Mister Spohrer said he does not believe they run commercials because they do not quote specific prices for specific products.
Mediacom, however, says that simply having local business advertisements on the air makes the channel commercial which then falls under different guidelines.
The Cable company said Forgotten Coast TV can lease a channel on its lineup and then sell commercials to cover the costs.
County commissioners have very little say over the matter.
In 2007 the state took control of cable broadcasts away from local governments so the issue falls under state laws.
Commissioners said the television channel does provide a public service especially as it re-broadcasts county commission meetings.
County commissioner Pinki Jackel said she wants to see the channel remain on the air, and this issue is just another example of how the loss of home rule hurts us.
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1 comment:
Forgotten Coast TV is a valuable source of information for visitors about natural history and ecology of this very fragile bay. Having information about local businesses is a part of this, people who live here need a livelihood, and this cable channel lets local people present what they offer along with their unique viewpoints concerning history and culture. Fie on the regulations and regulators who would nit pick this resource into extinction. Losing Forgotten Coast TV would be a major loss from my point of view. Please keep us posted.
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