Progress in Fight to Save Public Access #VB62
Los Angeles, CA Faced with strong opposition from prominent and influential independent producers, the L. A City Council retreated from their plan to seize public cable channels and studios to consolidate the operations for government use. The fight to save public access cable operations gained momentum when the City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday, December 3, 2008, to refer a controversial proposal to a second committee rather than call for a full Council vote. That vote would have allowed the City government control of all the public channels in Los Angeles.
Following the Council hearing, Full Disclosure® interviewed Mr. Vin Di Bona, four-time Emmy Award-winning and Peabody Award-winning Executive Producer and creator of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” , who is also the former Chairman and currently Co-Chair of “The Caucus” www.caucus.org a prestigious organization representing Producers, Writers and Directors of the New Media in Los Angeles. The Caucus is calling for the preservation of the public access cable operations in Los Angeles. (Watch 5 min video here)
On a motion by Councilman Bill Rosendahl, that was passed unanimously, the council referred to the matter to the Budget Committee. That Committee, chaired by Bernard Parks, will now be charged with the task of re-evaluating whether or how an approximately $30 million dollars in cable operators franchise fees to the city can be used for a public channel.
Although Council President Eric Garcetti called for six minutes testimony from each side, there were no requests from the public to support the Council’s proposal.
David Hernandez, President of the Los Angeles Public Access Coalition said “If the Council’s plan to kill public access is approved, the public would be limited to one or two minutes on the government access Cityview Channel 35, provided they were granted permission to speak”
Full Disclosure Network® will release a full and complete video report covering the entire hearing, with testimony is to be aired on public access cable channels throughout the state and on the internet soon.
