Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 12-12-06 ‎(regular)‎ — reading text

channel on its lowest cost digital tier for noncommercial government access Communications also agreed to provide program. Pursuant to the franchise agreement, Cox the City with a grant of ten thousand dollars ($ 10, 000) and video production equipment valued at a minimum of forty 40, 000). Cox Communications also agreed to provide. thousand dollars ($ at no charge, one hundred ( 100) video production training hours to City staff. The City received the ten thousand dollar ($ 10, OQO) grant from Cox in August 2006, but has yet to receive any equipment or training hours. In a letter dated November 7, 2006, City staff notified Cox Communications of its intent to launch its new television channel, Fort Walton Beach Television ( FWBTV) ,in the January/ February 2007 time frame. staff has ordered television equipment using the ten City thousand dollar ($ 1 O, OOO) grant. The equipment will be used to begin recording City Council meetings and workshops, as well as certain pOlicy making boards and other City sponsored activities, for playback on FWBTV. Discussion: FWBTV must outline its Policies and Procedures for programming to air on the channel. The Policies and Procedures contain information on the organizational structure, the mission, to production requirements and program policies. The Policies and Procedures are necessary define what is eligible to air on FWBTV. FWBTV is not a public access channel and is only open to noncommercial, nonpartisan, government programming. Recommendation: Staff respectfully requests that the City Council approve the Policies and Procedures as submitted by staff. Submitted By: Kb-ttl\  I 4 I If) & Date r 2 City of Fort Walton Beach Television Policies and Procedures Created By; The City of Fort Walton Beach Public Information Office  1 FWIii 2 POLICIES AND PROCEDURES 3 SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION 4 The City Council of Fort Walton Beach, pursuant to Ordinance No. 1702, adopted a new 5 Franchise Agreement with Cox Communications to include the creation of a television 6 channel managed by the City of Fort Walton Beach. Fort Walton Beach Television 7 FWBTV) is a 24- hour, 7-day- a- week government access channel programmed and 8 operated by the City of Fort Walton Beach, Florida. FWBTV consists of programming FWBTV is available to Cox 9 primarily produced by the City and its employees. 10 Communications subscribers in the greater Fort Walton Beach area. 11 12 SECTION 2. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 13 The Public Information Officer, under the supervision of the City Manager, will operate 14 FWBTV. FWBTV provides production support and leadership to the Departments of Fort 15 Walton Beach Government within the scope of its resources. The staff works closely City 16 with City departments to produce informational programs and other video applications 17 for use on FWBTV. 18 19 SECTION 3. MISSION 20 The mission of FWBTV is to promote and to enhance the City of Fort Walton Beach by 21 informing and educating citizens on City issues, services, events and activities by 22 providing informational, consistent, professional quality programming through the 23 television medium. 24 25 SECTION 4. PRODUCTION GOAL 26 The production goal is to provide the highest quality technical, educational and creative 27 programming to the citizens of Fort Walton Beach. FWBTV will service the Fort Walton 28 Beach City Government' s departments and, with the approval of the City Manager' s 29 Office, other governmental organizations to produce cost- effective and informative 30 television programs. Subject to conditions in these policies and procedures, 31 FWBTV does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, physical disability, 32 religious or political beliefs. 33 34 35 SECTION 5. PROGRAMING GOAL 36 The programming goal is to provide citizens with accurate, relevant, interesting and Walton 37 timely information about the programs and services provided by the City of Fort 38 Beach. This will be done in a manner that encourages trust, a sense of accountability Page 1 of 6 FWBTV Version 1.0 12/1/ 06 39 and appreciation of the value of the services provided by the City of Fort Walton Beach. 40 The programming will serve to identify, explain and facilitate the use of government 41 services and provide a better and more informed interaction between the City of Fort 42 Walton Beach and its citizens. FWBTV is !!Q!a public access channel. Access to 43 airtime on FWBTV is restricted to governmental functions and operations. The City of 44 Fort Walton Beach will be the sole and exclusive scheduler of all FWBTV programming. 45 46 FWBTV encourages eligible government and community based organizations to submit 47 programs for air that adhere to the mission and conform to both technical and production 48 standards. Only organizations that have established a partnership arrangement with the 49 City or other government organizations shall be authorized to submit eligible 50 programming requests. All requests for airtime should be submitted to the Public 51 Information Officer. 52 53 SECTION 6. PROGRAM POLICIES 54 A. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS FOR AIRING PROGRAMS ON FWB- TV: 55 All requests for airtime shall meet the following policy guidelines: 56 i. Localgovernment entities located in and around Fort Walton Beach or 57 Okaloosa County for use in connection with their official government 58 activities that affect the interests of the citizens of Fort Walton Beach 59 ii. State and federal government bodies and agencies for use in connection 60 government activities that affect the interests of the with their official 61 citizens of Fort Walton Beach 62 iii. Officials and representatives of state and federal government for use in 63 their official government activities that affect the interests of the citizens of 64 Fort Walton Beach, including state and federal legislators who represent 65 the districts in and around Fort Walton Beach and Okaloosa County. 66 B APPROPRIATE PROGRAMMING INCLUDES: 67 i. Live, un- edited gavel - to - gavel coverage of public meetings/ workshops 68 for government policy- making boards/ commissions 69 ii. Un-edited tape- delayed public meetings and other government 70 sponsored activities 71 iii. Instructional informational programs or on various government agency 72 services and functions 73 iv. Emergency and public safety information regarding hurricanes, tornadoes 74 and other natural disasters, as well as terrorism, first aid, etc. 75 v. Announcements of current government meetings, sponsored events and 76 employment opportunities 77 vi. Coverage of government events such as facility ribbon cuttings, 78 recreational and cultural events sponsored or co- sponsored by the City 79 and meetings of government boards and committees Page 2 of 6 FWBTV Version 1.0 12/1/ 06 80 vii. Educational and training programs appropriate for public viewing 81 viii. Election result coverage that is non- biased, non- partisan, and neutral in 82 nature 83 ix. Public Service Announcement ( PSA) Bulletin Board with 84 graphics/ alphanumeric information of government events or services 85 x. PSAs and general announcements of government events and services 86 xi. Promotional and station identification announcements 87 xii. Shared programming with another organization ( PBS, Cox 88 Communications, etc.) 89 C. RESTRICTIONS ON PROGRAMMING: 90 Programming is prohibited that contains: 91 i. Advertisement of a specific commercial service or product 92 a. Exception: It is recognized that grants and/or other 93 types of support may be available to entities for the 94 purpose of underwriting the cost of production. In 95 such cases, a standard acknowledgement may be 96 placed at the end of the production ( i.e. " This 97 program was made possible by a contribution/ grant 98 from XXX Corporation.") 99 ii. Information concerning any gift enterprise, promotion or lottery offering 100 prizes based in whole or part upon lot or chance 101 iii. Direct solicitation of funds 102 iv. Material that would violate any city, county, state or federal statute or law 103 v. Material that promotes religious beliefs or religious philosophies 104 vi. Obscene, indecent, or defamatory material 105 vii. Appearances by or on behalf of candidates for DubUc office with the 106 purpose of gaining interest or attention to their campaign within 90 days 107 of an election ( primary, general, special or otherwise) 108 viii. Endorsements of DroDOsed issues or ballot items ( Sample ballots and 109 ballot listings may be permitted) 110 ix. Editorial Droarammina concerning the operations and deliberations of 111 local government 112 x. Candidates who have announced and/ or qualified for election/ re- election 113 to any elective office shall not be permitted to make individual statements 114 on FWBTV 115 xi. Current elected officials who have announced and/ or qualified for 116 election/ re- election to any elective office will be shown only in the 117 performance of their official duties - that is, conducting official business at 118 meetings or incidental