Tuesday, November 02, 2004

DCTV, City Council at odds over budget

DCTV, City Council at odds over budget
By April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain NewsOctober 28, 2004

Denver Community Television is at a crossroads as it struggles to keep from fading to black in the face of a severe funding cut. On Wednesday, the Denver City Council and Mayor John Hickenlooper gave DCTV a reprieve of sorts by earmarking $265,000 in the city's 2005 budget for the station. "With everything going on in the city, we have stepped up to the plate to support public-access television," said City Council President Elbra Wedgeworth. "Now they have to come to the table and step up. They have no choice now. They are like any other city agency now. They have to submit a budget every year, and there are no guarantees," she said. More than two dozen residents and DCTV supporters criticized the council and administration earlier this week for its decision not to fully fund the station.

Its budget has been sliced by nearly half from the $500,000 it had grown accustomed to receiving since its inception in 1990. That money came from Comcast Cable under terms of a contract with the city, but the pact expired in January, leaving the operation low on cash and forcing the city to come to its aid. Of the $265,000 allocated, $150,000 must be spent solely on equipment. That leaves $115,000 to cover staff salaries and rent.

Community leaders argued that the city should fully bankroll DCTV, contending it is a community asset that has given organizations and citizen groups shut out by the mainstream media an outlet to express their views and air their voices. "Our primary shortfall is that we didn't raise as much money as we should have," said Mark Bussinger, chairman of the DCTV board. "If you don't have access to the airwaves, you don't have a voice in this society."
Denver resident Carolyn Phillips, who produces a show on DCTV with Cole Middle School students, echoed those sentiments. "Its the only voice the minority community has," she said.
DCTV, which has a studio along Welton Street in the Five Points area, broadcasts an array of homespun programs on channels 56, 57 and 58. The budget shortfall leaves DCTV's management, board and supporters struggling to rebuild, said Dr. Agnes Martin, the new executive director of the station who was appointed in August. DCTV's six-member board also has seen a shake-up. Three members have been replaced, and Martin is seeking to recruit new members from area corporations and foundations to help guide the station.

"There are people really concerned about DCTV staying in the community," Martin said. "DCTV will survive. We will be stepping up to the plate. I'm praying everything works out." Martin has proposed a 10-point business plan designed to bolster fund-raising. The first plan of action: The station will launch a membership drive in November and broadcast a telethon in December to try to raise about $100,000 to supplement next year's budget and to avoid cuts in its staff of 12 technicians. Bussinger said DCTV signed two contracts with the city in 2004 that required it to raise 10 percent of its operating budget. DCTV raised $50,000, exceeding its mandate.

Now it's being asked to raise 80 percent of its operating costs for 2005, he said, an expectation "that hasn't been accomplished by any cable public-access television operation in the country." Wedgeworth disagreed. "For a year and a half, we've been trying to find way out of this problem," Wedgeworth said. "They have done zero. The board didn't keep the staff or producers informed. They always thought the city would bail them out."

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