Adelphia Communications
Public Access
Comcast Communications
Public Access
Rules and Regulations
Version: CT09-21-04
INTRODUCTION:
Comcast believes that a dynamic Public Access policy involving outreach, education and technical support will result in significant benefits to the community.
The public access channel is open to any individual or non-profit organization or agency in the franchise area served by Comcast who wishes to request channel time and equipment resources pursuant to these rules and regulations. This channel provides local non-profit community agencies with the opportunity to inform the public about their agency and the services provided.
The primary purpose of the following access rules and regulations is to encourage community residents to provide local television programming while operating within the stated guidelines. No individual will be denied the use of the facilities on the basis of race, sex, age, physical disability, religion, or political belief. Comcast reserves the right to interpret, implement and amend/modify these guidelines from time-to-time in consultation with the Advisory Council.
DEFINITIONS:
1. An Access Provider is defined as any individual applying for use of the access channel to air programming produced for access either by themselves or with the assistance of another cable company.
2. An Access Producer is defined as any individual, group, or non profit organization applying for use of the access channel or facilities, that has completed the access certification program at Comcast or who provides evidence of certification in public access by another franchise in CT. Those who do not receive certification from Comcast will be required to take a proficiency test and sign a waiver stating they have read Comcast Public Access Rules and Regulations and understand their responsibilities.
3. An Access User is defined as an Access Provider or an Access Producer.
4. A Non-Profit Organization is defined as an organization with a 501 (c) 3 and/or similar tax-exempt organization identification number.
1. Safety First. Keep yourself safe, keep others safe, and keep company property and equipment safe at all times. Endangering the safety of oneself, others, or company property will not be tolerated.
2. Appropriate, professional, and respectful behavior is expected at all times. Violent behavior will not be tolerated. This includes threatening or intimidating language, any form of physical assault such as striking or manhandling another person, or fighting. Weapons, or any objects resembling weapons, are prohibited while on or in Comcast facilities.
3. Respect. Behavior that could be construed as threatening or harassing (including sexual harassment) toward fellow volunteers, customers, vendors, or employees will not be tolerated.
4. Honesty and accuracy. Dishonesty with employees or falsifying records or any other access-related documents will not be tolerated.
5. Be courteous and polite to others, including employees, other volunteers, and guests of the facility.
6. Drug-free environment. Carrying and/or being under the influence of drugs or alcohol at any time while on Comcast property, or while using Comcast Access equipment, is prohibited.
7. Smoking is permitted only in designated outdoor areas.
8. Comcast safety policies preclude cooking of any kind or manner without a properly installed ventilation hood and kitchen hood extinguishing system in both leased and company owned facilities.
9. Company property and facilities are accessible only with proper authorization. This includes, but is not limited to, company e-mail, vehicles, and production and editing equipment.
10. Respect for and appropriate use of, company property and equipment, including vehicles, and production and editing equipment is required.
11. Privileges may be lost for engaging in any other conduct that Comcast deems unacceptable.
EQUIPMENT & FACILITIES USAGE:
1. Comcast will provide and maintain portable cameras and video equipment as well as studio and editing facilities sufficient to produce quality programming.
2. The sole purpose of Comcast’s public access production equipment and facilities is to create PEG Access Programming. Use of equipment for personal or financial gain is prohibited and will result in immediate suspension of access privileges. Comcast reserves the right to view an access project at any time prior to cablecast.
3. Equipment and facilities are available to residents of the franchise and representatives or employees of non-profit organizations and agencies that serve the towns in the franchise on a first-come, first-served, and nondiscriminatory basis. Non-residents formally enrolled in a student internship program at Comcast may use the equipment and facilities.
4. Eligible persons who are minors must have written permission from their parent or guardian to use Comcast facilities. The parent or guardian must sign the Access User Agreement, accepting responsibility for scheduled production equipment and/or program material if the minor is the producer of a program. The parent or guardian shall be responsible for liability resulting from the use of equipment or an appearance by a minor. Minor must be accompanied by a parent or guardian when using Comcast’s facilities. Comcast does not provide supervision for minors.
5. Accepting remuneration from any third party (money, gifts, services, privileges, etc.) related to the use of access equipment will result in immediate and permanent suspension of access privileges.
6. Use of access equipment and facilities are provided to Access Producers on a first come, first served non discriminatory basis. All requests for equipment check out, edit time and studio time should be made at least 48 hours in advance. However, at no time will an Access Producer be allowed to schedule equipment or facility usage more than thirty days in advance. In the event of heavy scheduling of equipment or facilities the following restrictions may apply.
a) Portable camcorders can not be reserved for more than two consecutive weeks in advance by an individual or organization.
b) Edit and studio time cannot be scheduled for more than two hours on any given day.
c) Any individual or organization may not schedule more than two editing or studio sessions within one week.
d) Only one portable camcorder will be allowed to be signed out per event or program.
7. Portable equipment checked out Friday must be returned by 6:00PM on Monday, unless prior arrangements have been made. Monday through Thursday equipment is checked out on a 24-hour basis. This can be extended by up to 24 hours with confirmation by staff as long as no other reservations have been made for that equipment. An Access Producer must pick up and return equipment unless prior arrangements have been made.
8. The Access Producer agrees to use equipment only on land, at no time taking equipment on airplanes or boats. The producer further agrees not to use equipment in poor weather such as rain snow or other adverse conditions. Continued use of equipment in environments such as heavy smoke or dust may result in usage restriction.
9. Only certified Access Producers will be allowed to operate equipment. Any other people present on a production must be cleared ahead of time by designated staff.
10. All portable equipment must be returned in a neat and orderly manner. Staff will inspect all returned equipment to ensure proper operation and order. First violations will result in a written warning. Subsequent violations will result in a 30-day suspension of portable equipment privileges.
11. Cancellation of scheduled equipment and facilities must be made 24 hours in advance. In the event of unexpected circumstances cancellation must be made as soon as possible. Any Access Producer canceling more than 2 appointments in a given month may be subject to scheduling restrictions. Failure to pick up reserved equipment twice in a one month period will result in a 30-day suspension of portable equipment privileges.
12. The Access Producer is required to sign an agreement at the time of check out accepting full responsibility for any loss or malfunction of equipment and/or damage to equipment or production facilities due to negligence on the part of the Access Producer.(In addition a deposit may be required.) In the case of damage, Comcast management will determine charges. Until such time as complete restitution of funds owed to Comcast is made, all privileges will be suspended.
13. There is no smoking, eating or drinking allowed in studio, control room or editing areas.
14. Anyone found to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs or carrying a weapon of any kind will be removed from the premises and subject to disciplinary action.
15. There will be no use of phones or other office equipment without the prior consent of Comcast staff.
16. Access Producers using Comcast equipment or studio and post-production facilities will not change wiring, patch bays, or components without staff permission or supervision. No attempt should be made to work on or repair equipment. Any damage caused in this manner will be charged to the Access Producer. A loss of privileges will result from such equipment abuse. Access Producers should report any defects or problems to the staff.
17. Access Producers that are found to be misusing or abusing the equipment may be asked to repeat training, testing and/or be subject to loss of privileges.
18. Staff may waive certain equipment and facility rules at their discretion.
ACCESS CHANNEL USAGE:
1. Use of the access channel is provided first to Access Producers, second to Access Providers residing within the Comcast franchise area and lastly to all other Access Providers. Access Providers from outside the franchise area will not be allowed to air regularly scheduled programming, only one tape from any organization or individual and PSA’s will be permitted.
2. All Access Users submitting programs for air on the access channel will be required to sign an Access User Agreement taking full responsibility for program content. No contract may be signed for a period of more than 13 weeks.
3. Educational institutions should utilize the educational access channel in their franchise area, if one is available, prior to utilizing any other access channel. Ask Public Access Manager for details on scheduling.
4. All tapes submitted for air on the access channel must include a label or sticker indicating the show title, total running time and airdate. Failure to obey this rule may result in programming not being shown in its entirety.
5. Any tape may be shown over the access channel a maximum of two times. If programming schedule permits, additional airings will be allowed upon request. Tapes that have been aired and retrieved by an Access User may not be returned for repeat cablecast unless prior arrangements have been made with the Access Manager.
6. All tapes left at the access facility more than thirty days after last scheduled cablecast become the property of Comcast and may be recycled.
7. Comcast reserves the right to use designated access channels for other purposes, where time on the designated channels has not been scheduled for designated access purposes in accordance with Comcast’s PEG access programming operating procedures.
8. Programming must meet minimum technical standards for cablecast.
a) Tape formats include VHS, S-VHS and ¾”
b) Videotapes must have a stable, unbroken control track throughout the entire program. A break in the control track can result in a program not running in its entirety or at all.
c) Audio quality of all videotapes must be constant and of sufficient level to permit adequate reproduction on Comcast transmission equipment.
9. A Community Bulletin Board consisting of text information is available, free of charge, to non-profit organizations providing public service announcements and/or event information for the area. All other rules regarding limitations on content for programming apply to bulletin board announcements.
SCHEDULING OF PROGRAMS:
1. Regular Access Programming includes 30 and 60-minute time slots. Other tapes varying in length require a special time slot to be determined on a case-by-case basis. Programming hours may vary.
2. All Access Users will be asked to submit two choices for playback dates and times. Comcast will make every effort to schedule programming within two hours of the requested time. Scheduling preference will be given to programs which have not previously run on the access channel. All renewed contracts will be filled on a first-come first-served basis.
3. Any one individual or organization may have a maximum of two programs on the air during any given 13-week period. If an Access User wishes to have additional programs on the air, arrangements may be made with the Access Manager.
4. All tapes must be submitted one week prior to airdate to secure a scheduled time slot unless prior arrangements are made with the Access Manager.
5. Comcast reserves the right to make scheduling changes without notice due to special events/programming or technical difficulties.
6. Comcast reserves the right to limit the hours during which viewer sensitive programming may be scheduled.
7. All producers granted a regular weekly timeslot will be required to provide at least two new programs per month or they may lose their timeslot. Producers with a bi-monthly timeslot will be required to submit at least one new program per month.
8. Except for live and series programming, channel time will generally not be scheduled until a program is complete and all the information pertaining to the program is supplied to the staff for scheduling.
PROGRAM CONTENT:
1. By law, Comcast may not exercise any editorial control over Public, Educational or Governmental use of Access Channels. Not withstanding the foregoing, Comcast hereby reserves the right, but not the obligation, to refuse broadcast of any program material prohibited by these Rules and Regulations. Access Users are fully responsible for the content of all program material and have the following program rights and privileges:
a) Ownership of rights to all original material.
b) To play or distribute the videotape, for non-profit purposes only, provided Comcast is given graphic credit within the videotape at each cablecast date or play.
c) Most FCC regulations applying to political candidates and issues do not apply to public access. Public Access Users are under no legal obligation to show any viewpoint other than their own.
2. The following material is prohibited: (If something is questionable, Access Users are encouraged to ask for clarification to avoid possible suspension of access privileges).
a) Advertising material designed to promote the sale of a commercial product or service (including advertising by or on behalf of candidates for public office).”Advertising Material” includes but is not limited to the following:
i. Commercial programming material designed to elicit a profit-making response.
ii. Mention of prices or solicitation of monetary donations or contributions of any kind.
iii. Mention of commercial profit-making activities for which the viewer will eventually be charged a fee for the service including, but not limited to, concert and club dates, professional seminars and lectures or consultations.
iv. Mention or displaying commercial business phone numbers, addresses or websites.
v. Program guests will be allowed to introduce themselves and where they work, if necessary, to establish credibility as a subject matter expert. Further discussion of the specific business is prohibited.
b) Non-profit organization may be allowed to mention prices, solicit donations and mention events in which the viewer will eventually be charged as long as 100% of the proceeds go to a non- profit organization (a copy of the non-profit organization’s tax-exemption may be required).
c) Obscene material is not permitted on cable television by federal law including rules specified by the FCC.
d) Material which constitutes libel, slander, invasion of privacy or publicity rights, or which might violate any other local, state or federal law.
e) Programs containing material that violates copyright or trademarks. Use of such material generally requires obtaining appropriate rights from music licensing organizations, publishers, representatives, copyright holders, broadcast stations, networks and any other persons as may be necessary for cablecast. Access Users may be asked to furnish written authorization for use of such materials.
f) The direct or indirect presentation of lotteries or lottery information, except for announcements pertaining to state-sponsored lotteries.
3. If Comcast makes a good-faith determination that the subject material in a program may offend some viewers and/or may not be appropriate for children, Comcast may require that the following announcement be added to the beginning of the program: “The following program may contain sensitive material. Viewer discretion is advised.” Failure to notify Comcast of potentially offensive material prior to a program or episode airing may result in suspension or termination of access privileges.
4. Comcast reserves the right to include the following notice before a program: “The views expressed on the following program are those of the individual producer and do not necessarily reflect those of the management or employees of Comcast and its subsidiary companies. Comcast is not responsible for the production or quality of the tape being cablecast.”
5. If requested by Comcast the following credit shall be added: “The preceding program was made possible through the television facilities of Comcast.”
6. FCC Regulations concerning equal time for political candidates do not apply to public access programming and Access Users.
7. Access Users are under no legal obligation to show any viewpoint other than their own in their program. Members of the community with diverse viewpoints are encouraged to use public access to express those ideas.
8. In order to meet annual state public access reporting requirements, Access Producers of programs featuring legally qualified candidates for office are responsible for notifying the Public Access Manager in advance of the nature of the programming and of the candidates involved.
OPERATING GUIDELINES:
1. Sponsorship or financial assistance to public Access Producers by a business, individual or non-profit organization is prohibited.
2. Courtesy credits at the end of a program which acknowledge “in-kind” contributors to the production (such as “hair by” or “food donated by”) are allowed. The in kind services or donation of goods provided by a business or enterprise must be evident during the actual production and may be displayed as part of the end credits as a scroll only. Only the entity’s name and city in which it is located, no addresses or phone numbers can be displayed. Any description or discussion of the contributors business or function within any part of the production will be construed as commercialism and will be in violation of these guidelines.
3. Access Users must obtain in writing, and produce upon request, all the necessary approvals, clearances, licenses, etc. in order to cablecast any program material that includes, but is not limited to, broadcast stations, networks, music licensing organizations, performer’s representatives, and any and all other persons as may be necessary for authorization to cablecast the program material. Failure to provide proof of the necessary clearances, rights, licenses, etc. will result in the suspension of the particular program, series, or episode in question until such proof is produced. - See Program Content Section 2 (e)
4. All Access Producers will be under the supervision of Comcast staff when working at Comcast Public Access facilities.
5. All Access Producers bringing children under the age of 18 into the studio will be held responsible for damages caused by the children. Access Producers will be limited to 5 children per adult supervisor. Supervisor in this case must be someone not involved in the show production.
6. Comcast will offer free certification classes to members of the franchise community in portable camera operation, editing and studio techniques. Minors under the age of 18 will be required to have a parent or guardian present. An individual must attend all required certification classes in their entirety or pass a proficiency test to be declared certified. Upon certification an individual will gain Access Producer privileges.
7. All Access Producers upon certification will be asked to sign an Access User Agreement stating they have read and understand Comcast’s Public Access Rules and Regulations and take full responsibly to comply. This agreement will be kept on file at Comcast and will be used for liability of damaged equipment while using Comcast’s equipment or facility.
8. Access Producers will identify themselves as Public Access Producers when making arrangements for productions. At no time whatsoever are they to imply that they are “working for” Comcast.
9. It is the responsibility of the Access Producer to put together the necessary crew for each production. Staff will assist in assembling production crews from among trained and qualified volunteers. Comcast’s staff is not available to serve as production crew to make programs or cover events for volunteer producers except in extraordinary circumstances.
10. At no time can an Access User publicize the airing of their program via radio, television, newspapers, flyers or pamphlets without prior review by Comcast. Comcast shall not unreasonably withhold consent to the program promotion discussed here. Review is necessary to verify the correctness of information
11. Additional materials for productions, beyond those supplied by Comcast (i.e. sets, props, graphics, etc.) must be supplied by the Access producer and must be removed after the production.
12. Access producers are responsible for supplying videotapes for their shows. Tapes may be available for purchase from the Access Manager.
13. An Access Producer may dub up to two (2) copies of their program at Comcast facilities.
14. If an Access User’s tape is damaged while in the possession of Comcast, Comcast is only liable for the replacement of the tape with a blank.
15. An Access User has the right to appeal any disciplinary action handed down by the Access Staff. The procedure for appeal is as follows:
a) Access User must submit in writing to Comcast’s General Manager and the Chair of the Cable Advisory Council the reason for the appeal within thirty (30) days of the disciplinary action.
b) The Access Staff member responsible for the disciplinary action will be required to review the violation with Comcast’s General Manager.
c) If the situation cannot be resolved between the Access Staff member, Access User and Comcast’s General Manager, the Advisory Council will be asked to review the appeal at their next regularly scheduled meeting.