Dalton Cable Panel Works to Update Contract
DALTON, Mass. — The Cable Advisory Commission intends to meet with Spectrum representatives to negotiate the terms of its contract.
The last time the town had a contract was in 1997 with Time Warner Cable, which was acquired by Charter Communications, doing business as Spectrum, in 2016.
The commission plans to negotiate for a share of gross revenue, capital funds, funding for fiber-optic cables to enhance connections, and updated equipment needed to handle this upgrade for Dalton Community Television.
"Over the past year, viewership has dropped, and it's reflected in our income. We have an extremely tight budget, and we're able to manage where we're at, but if it continues to drop, then that's going to cut the income that we get," said Commissioner John Ostresh, president of the Community Cable Association.
"I know they are now streaming a lot of programming that used to be on regular channels, movies, and that sort of thing on the internet. Is there any way we could tap into some of that to stabilize our income?"
Attorney William Solomon requested that the commission send him their quarterly revenue statements to confirm Charter is accurate and that they are paying for the programming in the Xumo boxing in their app, because that is cable service at the moment.
"We want to take a look at quarterly reports to see if we think they're accurate. Whether you're getting your full 5 percent of the proper amount of gross revenue. We want to broaden our definition of gross revenue in the new license," Solomon said.
DCTV can not get revenue from the internet service but the public access channel wants to make sure that anything that is cable service, regardless of the technology used, is counted as the revenue upon which 5 percent is applied.
Throughout the process of updating its contract, Dalton Community Television representatives have emphasized the need to address its aging infrastructure.
The association owns its facility. It has portable production equipment that is used to go live from various locations like Town Hall and the schools. The station's system still runs on analog.
The station currently has one channel, 1301. Dalton residents also have access to Channels 1302 and 1303 on Pittsfield Community Television.
In cases where the station wants to play Pittsfield programming, such as the 4th of July Parade, it is no longer able to switch broadcasting to 1301, as it was previously able to do.
Some commissioners expressed the need for a fiber connection directly from the studio back to Charter's headend to enable high-definition broadcasting.
The commissioners worked with representatives from the association to develop a 10-year capital plan that would add up to approximately $100,000, including funding for its equipment. They will be finalizing the list by next meeting.
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