Our situation: End-of-Life for TV
Our core function is ‘Make TV’ which is supporting the production of video content by, or for, the people for hyperlocal cable TV distribution. Historically, providing this media agency to nonprofessionals has been referred to as ‘Public Access TV’. ‘Public’ is one component of P.E.G.,Community TV.
Since 2005, additional distribution options have been available for content produced. For decades, regulatory restrictions limited the use of Cable TV funding to support content creation for TV distribution. PURA affirmed in a Q&A (10.28.24) that PEGPETIA grant funds ‘… can be used to create programming that will be available on the internet, to increase the households that can access the programming.’ The condition is that content must still play on TV. For nearly a decade, a local company Discover Video enabled us to provide on-demand access to locally produced content via the internet as an underwriter. This kept us on the forefront of innovation for which we are grateful.
Currently, we do more than TV with the video content. We now simulcast the channel 24/7 on the internet. Certain videos are reformatted for Podcast and are available as As Told Here: WPAA-TV. Content produced by WPAA-TV is distributed on YouTube @WpaaTV and posted on social-media. Local producers use YouTube Channels to share their content.
Our cable TV affiliation could disappear
Since 2015, our subscriber fee income has been in steady decline. It will continue to decline without statutory reform. It is intrinsically linked to cable TV subscriptions. Federal and State laws and regulations are anchored in archaic technical ‘cable TV’ language.
There are now several noncable users of the public rights of way who have no public benefit requirements. The landscape for providers and viewers is changing. Comcast is considering divesting to Verizon. Frontier has partnered with satellite. They are incentivizing cable customers to leave. There is significant and unpredictable change.
The Community TV Study Docket #22-06-23 affirmed
- The current statutory framework, … is not designed for this new landscape… Under current statutes, cable companies must provide community access…
- re-imagining the statutory framework for community access will require a balancing of interests.
- there is no consensus among community providers who have different ‘In The Public Interest’ nonprofit models
- there is consensus among the 10 cable providers in CT that there is no need for them to have this public benefit obligation.
At the opening of the 2025 CT legislative session, 555 Bills had already been drafted. None about funding or community TV reform.
If not TV, what?
In the event that our TV affiliation becomes mute; Is it the intention to remain an arts, humanities & culture organization? Would this include retaining an internet channel? If yes, should we embody the original intent of the public access television as a local democracy movement providing agency to individuals, civic groups, and non-profits at no or low cost?
This will be reviewed in the Board’s next strategic planning session.
ACTIONS To-date
The mission statement is used in grants and public profiles including our website. In 2024, the mission statement was modified to be more ‘place-based’. Our mission image was colorized to represent inclusion. It is still very ‘TV’ centric.
Mission: To provide a brave, safe, and creative space for a diversity of expression from within our community. Make TV |Watch TV|More Than TV – Join In. Discover what you did not know you needed.
(2024) Wallingford Public Access Association (WPAA), d/b/a WPAA-TV and Community Media Center facilitates the production of digital media by people and organizations and distributes the content as community access television. Our doors are open to all on a 1st come, 1st serve basis.
Goal: To empower the people of Wallingford and beyond to meet their communication needs, as they define them, by facilitating digital media creation and managing its public distribution. The use of WPAA-TV digital media tools and studioW stage can help inform, connect, and build community through the production of ideas, opinions, stories, news, information, or performance. Our tools & stage yield more than videos when U watch and share. Unity begins with U.
Community TV, an experiment in democracy, engages people in ‘Good Trouble’. This experiment has at its core, the idea that ‘We The People’ must sustain our democracy. What we do together is anchored in valuing free speech, individual expression, inclusion, and diversity.
An award-winning volunteer-run Arts, Culture, and Humanities organization that focuses on #SocialActionArt: We use of art to uplift, inform, or inspire. We believe performance speech is the richest kind of free speech.
Our core program is Make TV. However, WPAA is #MoreThanTV. It is a place-based adaptive space for community meetings, theater, art exhibits, and special programs like film initiatives and internships of various kinds. We also bring creators together in response to our community’s needs for civic & digital literacy and well-being. We collaborate with other local nonprofits to advance their missions.
WPAA supports, or produces, a limited number of ‘Mission Continues’ projects. These projects must have the potential for community impact for the underserved and/or youth.
Our 2024 Annual Report theme: ‘Democracy is a Creative Practice’.
Examining the Creative Practice
Story and conversation are the cornerstones of our business. TV is merely as distribution platform. Story crafting, people gathering, and uplifting voices are the practice.
Fundamental to the practice of Making TV: Story
Before technology of any kind, there was story. Stories bring people together to entertain, to learn, or take action. They play a crucial role in fostering connection, building shared identity, transmitting cultural knowledge, promoting empathy, and creating a sense of belonging. Story leads to engagement by fostering opportunities for sharing experiences, perspectives, and values. Ultimately bonds are strengthening within a community. Stories can provide a common language for discussing complex issues and fostering open communication within a community.
Public Access content is predominantly comprised of recorded conversations, performance, and event coverage including spiritual services. All include some element of story.
Several nonprofits are anchored in the Impact of Story.
Change The Story Change The World sixdegrees.org StoryCorp
Others rely on powerful narratives to communicate their cause and inspire action.
Recent misinformation research suggests the two biggest action motivators are fear and inspiration.
Others provide marketing support to nonprofits as a nonprofit MissionStory The StoryTelling Nonprofit or as business consultants.
Some are shutting down. Socialbrite since 2011
For Strategic Consideration: Focus on the studio and legacy vs. TV
History: Since 2010, studioW has referred to the area of our building used for TV production.
The graphic incorporates three words: Express Show Perform, one version appears over We the People.
About the studio: No longer State-of-the-Art
Building on what has come before, WPAA offers a physical space with video production technology that people do not have at home. Our studio is very adequate for community TV; but much of our technology is no longer state-of-the-art.