Community Video Report (Winter 1974)

HARDWARE, cont. The problem with this technology, as usual, is price. You can get one of two systems on the market for about $9,000. The CVS 504 (Consolidated Video Industries) combines the time-base correction and processing amplifier functions in one module and will correct Portapak, capstan servo (like the 3130, etc.) or one-inch tape. The CVS 500 will correct only one-inch. Microtime, Inc., has a corrector for black-and-white half-inch for about $5,000, that includes no proc. amp., and will not correct all formats. Since the cost is high for these units, shared access makes a lot of sense. When a CATV system exists, that is the logical focus perhaps. Groups working in communities where no CATV system yet exists should pressure the franchise authority for inclusion of TBC to insure cablecastability of half-inch. If groups are working on_ broadcast access, the knowledge of these new technologies will completely deflate the arguments of broadcasters that communityproduced programming is non broadcastquality. Or, if a number of video groups can pool meagre resources, one unit might be used by many folks, difficult as that is to work out. But, the reality is now here for much higher quality half-inch production for training, electronic journalism, documentary, and other use. As usual, it comes down to finding the money to make it happen. Our thanks to Telemation East, Jim Fairbaurs of Panasonic, and Jack Goldman of Technosphere in N.Y. COALITION, cont. Two functions are being served: FIRST— CITIZENS NOW HAVE ACCESS TO INFORMATION FROM THE SEMINAR UPON REQUEST. Second, but no less important, is the establishment of an inner-city distribution system for video at the community level. The DCVC _ has received a pledge from Jim Alexander, a close aide to Mayor Washington and program director for the D.C. BiCentennial Commission, for aide in further developing a video distribution system and to find support for its expanded use within the District government. Other groups interested in joining the Coalition for purposes of expanding this citywide effort should contact any member. The Home Rule tapes are now available from. Larry Molumby at the D.C. Public Library. Call: 727-1186. Project Accountability (727-2540), CAFAM III (667-1300), Anacostia Neighborhood Museum (889-1301‘), and Washinton Community Video Center (462-6700). RT L. STEINER & Week at Howard March 10-16 has been designated ‘“‘Comcomunications for Freedom Week’ at Howard University. The week will feature a variety of sessions and workshops on different aspects of using communications in the Black community. One major section of this will be the “Black Careers in Communications Conference,’” which will bring together recruiters from various industries in the field of communications, as well as many prominent Blacks in the professions. The keynote speaker for the Freedom Luncheon at noon on the 14th is the Hon. Benjamin Hooks, FCC Commissioner. At 8 p-m. on the 15th the Rev. Jesse Jackson, director of People United to Save Humanity (P.U.S.H.) will speak at the Liberation Awards Banquet and dance. For further information and free registration forms, call the conference HQ, at 636-7945. N.C.C.B. re-organized The National Citizen’s Coalition for Broadcasting (NCCB) has been re-organized and expanded with some funding and a new staff headed by former FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson. NCCB wants to become a. national resource for non-profit, community ‘service, and-public interest groups who want to make the most open and effective use of the media. They will do this by spending the first year trying to ascertain the jobs that groups around the country think are priorities, as well as th publish a manual media action, begin a newsletter, and plan conferences. But mostly this first year, they are looking for ideas and asking you for input. If you would like to plug into this new and important network, call Chuck Shepherd and rap at (202) 466-8407, or write to be a contact at 1914 Sunderland Pl., NW, Washington, 20036. N.C.T.A. in Chicago The annual convention of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) will be held at the Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago on April 21-24. This is the trade association that brings together just about everyone interested in cable television and related issues. As was done last year. a Public Access Environment featuring tapes and workshops by video people working in access will be set up, although no details have been finalized yet. If you are interested you can call Nick DeMartino at the WCVC or Brian Owens at the NCTA (202) 466-8111. Le Community Video Report Volume 1, Number 3 Winter, 1974 A quarterly publication of the Washington Community Video Center, Inc., 2414 18th Street, NW, and P.O. Box 21068, Washington, DC, 20009. Phone: [202] 462-6700.Staff Collective: Nick DeMartino, Ray Popkin, Grady Watts, Gerardine Wurzburg. Other staff people: Vicki Costello, Marc Mannes, Steve Moss, Karen, O’Brien, Carol Hodes, Ed Johnson. Community Video Report Editor: Nick DeMartino This newsletter is produced by staff and friends of the Video Center, but we want it to be a forum for the communications community and the readership. If you have news or opinions to share with our readers, please sent it in. The deadline for the next issue is April 1. Communications for Freedom New reconsideration of F.C.C. cable rules? When the FCC enactged the current cable television rules, they concurrently established two committees, one on technical questions, the other on the touchy — issues involved in determining regulatory jurisdiction between the federal, state, and local authorities. This committee, almost entirely comprised of CATV industry people, submitted to the FCC a series of recommendations in a report last fall. This report has been lodged in the Cable Bureau for months. Sources in the Commission tell us that a staff report recommending to the Commission various rule-making procedures will be completed and ready to be placed on the Commissioners’ agenda by the time Chairman Burch leaves in March or April. This could mean a major reconsideration of the 1972 cable rules, and could result in the first opportunity for public input into the rules since the June 1972 reconsideration. One area which may be considered is the area of utilizing a percentage of cable operators’ gbross revenues for funding public access by non-profit grfoups, an idea being pushed by Thea Sklover of New York’s Open Channel. Whether the new and admittedly anti-cable Chairman Wiley will choose to put the cable report on the agenda is problematical..But keep your eyes open in the trade press for this major development. REVIEWS, cont. counter-insurgency issues. The Network Project, which is a collective of ex-Columbia radicals,has a different purpose in mind—to expose the soft white underbelly of the communications system. Needless to say, the NSF doesn’t fund them. You can buy their work directly: 104 Earl Hall, Columbia University, New York 10027. In the same spirit as the Network Project’s work is a new book by Herbert Schiller, author of the excellent analysis of the global U.S. communications system, Mass Communications and the American Empire. The new volume, The Mind Managers (Boston: Beacon, 1973), focuses on the purposes, methods, and structures of the consciousness-manipulation industries. At the opposite pole from theorists like McLuhan who claim it is the technological medium which is the content, Schiller explains how the system of information control works in a post-industrial imperialist system. The analysis is sophisticated, proceeding from an examination of the kinds of myths (the content) which the manipulators use to make the system work, to the precise methods utilized in the various components—the knowledge industry, the government, recreation and entertainment, polling industry, advertising, publishing, radio and TV. He concludes with a provoative essay questioning whether new communications technologies will be democratizing force in a society which is dominated by the mind managers. Highly recomniended. Final items: the best, cheapest, and most fun way to sum up the year in communications is the Variety annual. Studded with those absurd headlines, this newsprint compendium sells for a buck (!), from 154 W. 46th St., New York 10036. local news: 7 Metro cable round-up In updating the Metro-Cable Round Uy in the last issue of the Newsletter, we havi found some new developments in a fev areas, and the situation relatively un changed in most. In Montgomery County five task force: have been formed in the fields of education health, commerce, community affairs anc government. The council has held severa public forums and hearings and a1 educational program on WETA-TV Malarkey-Taylor and Associates was chosetr as consultant, and will issue a final report by March 15. The county is considering variou: forms of ownership, with municipal ownership not yet ruled out. In Rockville, according to Asst. City Mgt. Larry Blick, the issue is ‘‘on the back burner” right now, mostly because of < narrow vote in the council to delay drafting an ordinance. Mitre was hired as consultant in 1973, and found the economic feasibility of a cable system ‘‘marginal.”’ College Park is in the process of drafting an ordinance, with three applications stil! pending from a city request for applications last summer; the three groups involved are Fred Ford’s group, College Park Cablevision, Inc. and Prince George’s Community Cable. There seems to be a conflict of interests between College Park and Prince George’s County which is ‘‘trying to keep its 28 self-governing municipalities with a country system.” The country has hired Checchi and Co. as consultant, and expects to receive their 2-22 month report soon. In Ann Arundel County, Amvideo, Inc. has won the franchise and is presently in ““make-ready” stages of building the system, which should be in operation by early summer. The system will have 30 channels and cover 200 miles, with a 25,000 subscriber potential. It has not yet been determined how much programming will be of local origination, and how much will come from Annapolis. Some facilities will be available for access, but, again, to what extent has not yet been determined. In March 1973, Arlington Country awarded a franchise certificate to the Arlington Telecommunications Corporation (ARTEC) but has not as yet received a Certificate of Compliance from the FCC. Objections have been filed by local television stations, and other objections’ to the provisions of the ordinance have delayed FCC processing. It is yet to be ascertained whether the delay is damaging to ARTEC which may in fact benefit from delayed construction. Alexandria, in keeping with its schedule, will be holding a public hearing on its regulatory ordinance which they call ‘‘a good one, a strong one.” Final reading and Passage is expected March 23. There is some feeling that cable is not economically feasible in Alexandria although a legislative framework will probably be provided for potential franchisers. One group, led by former FCC commissioner Fred Ford, have expressed interest. Fairfax County's ordinance will be reviewed by the County Attorney’s office until the end of the month, to be sure it complies with the FCC’s rules. In Baltimore City, Office of Telecommunications Chief Marvin Rimmerman_ is working primarily on radio frequency allocations, and the staff is preparing a booklet on cable for the public. Another cable TV bill has been introduced into the Maryland legislature to give the state jurisdiction over franchising, but stands little chance of passage. Carol Hodes Karen O’Brien Ed Johnson