City Panel Wants to Change the Channel

Frustrated by programming they consider “oddball” and complaining that too many shows are produced by nonresidents, local cable TV officials are pushing for more control and drastic programming changes in TCI Cable’s public access channel.

Kenneth Yas said he and other members of the city’s Citizens Advisory Cable TV Issues Committee want TCI employees to take a hands-off approach to the public access channel--Channel 8--so local residents will have more control over the program schedule.

TCI, the nation’s largest cable TV company, should only continue to provide funding for the channel as part of its legal obligation for providing services to communities, he said.

“There’s precedent for this--lots of it--all over the United States,” Yas said.

He said the advisory committee is tired of “oddball, esoteric, exclusive” programming--shows produced elsewhere, like “Jesus in Motion,” and “Our Cosmological Heritage”--and wants shows with broader appeal.

“You don’t get a reflection of what’s going on in the community,” Yas said.

Committee members are considering a transfer of power from TCI to a yet-to-be-created board of directors who would oversee a paid professional staff. They hope to gather a staff from people who live and work in the Conejo Valley and would not be employed by TCI.

Yas said he would like to present a study of the proposal to the city’s media services office by fall. However, he noted that committee members will have to meet two or three times a month to meet the deadline, rather than their current once-a-month schedule.

The study would be submitted to city media service staffers, who could make changes before submitting the proposal to the City Council this fall.

“There’s more interest in local programming,” said committee member Bernard Adinoff. “The public access channel is really meant for the expression of local views. Just importing a film that was made nationally is not accomplishing that.”

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Advisory committee members want more mainstream programs, such as broadcasts of local youth and adult sporting events, art shows, sociopolitical discussions on current events that affect the area, a show for residents who commute and a locally hosted cooking show.

“It should be an academy-like environment which encourages people to come in and use the equipment,” Yas said. “Support and training are mandatory.”

Yas has already produced one current affairs show, as well as segments discussing the American family and a lecture on why America should focus its economic and political interests on Pacific Rim countries.

Although city staffers would not comment on the quality of programming, Caroline Milton, city media services coordinator, said TCI already provides a valuable service to the community.

Program producers, she said, can utilize a fully staffed studio for up to 90 minutes of on-air time for only $35.

Alan McDaniel, who oversees all community access programming for TCI’s 11 cities in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, said the channel was never necessarily designed to be mainstream.

“It’s been called ‘the electronic soapbox,’ ” he said. “That’s what public access is intended to be.”

McDaniel said he has no problem with the committee’s desire for mainstream programming, as long as they are additions to the current schedule, not replacements.

“I wouldn’t want to see it restrictive,” he said, citing the 1964 Federal Communications Act, which outlined public access programming policy. “All cable companies must remain totally neutral in the programming content. It’s whatever the community wants it to be.”

McDaniel added that for a program produced by a nonresident to air, it must first be requested by a local resident, so there is at least some demand for current programming.

TCI’s franchise agreement has a clause allowing an independent body to operate Channel 8, if the city chooses.

Such a move would not result in any layoffs because those working for Channel 8 would be reassigned to public access channels in the other cities under the management of TCI of Ventura County, according to McDaniel.

“We’d have to be there to meet the obligations of the other cities,” he said.

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Yas said about 90% of all public access programming is produced by people living outside the Conejo Valley. Committee members want to increase the ratio of locally produced shows, he said.

As part of TCI’s franchise agreement with the city, the company provides at no cost a video production truck and three mobile cameras to film events outside the Agoura Road studios.

“The basic thrust of the committee is to encourage the community to take great advantage of the capability that’s available,” said committee member Jerry Lewi.

TCI does not keep track of viewer ratings for public access channels, said Teri Scott, director of franchising.

GTE and Falcon Cable TV also provide cable services to Thousand Oaks. But with public access TV underutilized--on-air time is from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and repeat shows are broadcast throughout the week--there is only one channel. The other two companies pay fees to TCI based on the number of cable subscribers each has.