UPDATE: Missing Millions, A T & T , PEG Cable-Video Channels

DAVID R. HERNANDEZ

President Los Angeles Public Access Coalition

www.savepublicaccess.wordpress.com

Los Angeles CA The Los Angeles Public Access Coalition members who attended the February 3, 2009 City Council meeting are reporting the closed session resulted in a unanimous vote to delay legal action against A T & T for thirty days, while negotiations continue regarding delivery of City Public Educational and Government (PEG) channels.

MISSING FUNDS NOT ALWAYS LOCATED?:
The missing AT &T Franchise Fees, reported by Full Disclosure Network last week, have been located, according to the Information & Technology Agency. The funds had been transferred to the wrong city account but have purportedly been located. A recent City Controller audit of LA Government run channels 35 and 36 found reimbursment for production costs provided from proprietary agencies such as DWP, CRA, LAPD Commission, Harbor Dept. had "not always transferred" to the ITA account, with no mention of final disposition (see page 37 audit report)

VIDEO: MISSING MILLIONS IN FRANCHISE FEES?
Watch Video news report (six min) revealing public concern and distrust ABOUT City use of multi-millions in cable-video franchise fees.

PUBLIC CHANNELS MANDATED:
Franchise fees paid for 25 years to the City by cable operators are now collected from ATT, Verizon and other telecom companies who are competing for video delivery to consumers. Fees come from gross revenues collected from monthly subscribers paying for cable and video channels, that by law are to include public access (PEG) channels.

L A City Channels 35 & 36 CENSOR Full Disclosure Public Access Cable Programming? (6 min Video Here)

Los Angeles, CA Will the First Amendment rights of independent television producers be jeopardized when city govenment controls all the public cable channels in January 2009? Is it possible that the political appointees serving on an oversight board will be disposed to protect those rights? .......Even if the programs cover issues not favored by government? You be the judge by looking at the record........

MAYOR'S HEAVY HAND?

For the past three years, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's four political appointees who serve on the Municipal Access Policy Board (MAPB) have steadfastly refused to investigate or hold a formal hearing into the unusual circumstances whereby Emmy Award-winning Full Disclosure Network® was removed from the LA City Government channel (Cityview 35) after having provided public affairs programming, to that channel since 1992, as a public service at no cost to the City. Now the City has adopted a plan developed by this same oversight (MAPB) body for the government to take control of all 14 public access channels and studios provided by Time Warner Cable for the past 25 years.

OVERSIGHT OR CONTROL?

Full Disclosure host Leslie Dutton and a number of citizens made a plea to MAPB oversight board, on July 27, 2006 during the "public comment" portion of the meeting. asking them to conduct a investigation and public hearing into the circumstances surrounding the removal of the program from Cityview channel 35. Here is a six minute video news blog of that meeting.

CORRUPTION CANCER SPREADS

Now, three years later, the L.A City funded Educational Channel, LA36, has removed Full Disclosure from their channel line up by claiming "technical problems", only on the Full Disclosure program, are preventing them from showing on the channel. In a series of meetings and exchange of correspondence, LA36 Channel refused to produce any "official" guidelines and technical standards for ALL content producers when requested by an Audio Engineering firm retained by the Full Disclosure program. However a recent "AUDIT" performed by the City Controller's Office released on December 17, 2009, claims that both channels are satisfactorily performing.

REVEALING VIDEO

Full Disclosure Network® is re-releasing a six minute Video News Blog featuring a chronology of events leading up to the abrupt termination of the Emmy Award winning public affairs program from the L. A. CityView Cable Channel 35.

COMMUNITY OUTCRY?

Appearing in this video news blog are community leaders who testified in support of the Full Disclosure Network® at the MAPB meeting. The video features clips of their requests for a full investigation and hearing.

• Don Schultz, past president Van Nuys Neighborhood Council, & Homeowers Association
• David Hernandez, North Hollywood Neighborhood Association
• Dave Bradford, Silverlake/Echo Park Resident
• Gil Wong, member Lakeview Terrace Improvement Assn.
• Leslie Dutton, Producer/Host of the Full Disclosure Network®.

PROGRAMMING PROVIDED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE

Since 1992 the Full Disclosure®. program has been featured on CityView Channel 35, without cost to the City, as a public service at the request of various City Departments, agencies and Council members. The Full Disclosure Network®. is an educational, non-profit organization. In 2002, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presented host Leslie Dutton with a public affairs Emmy Award for the series entitled “L.A.’s War Against Terrorism”, featuring LAPD Chief Bernard Parks, LAPD Lt. Ken Hillman, L.A. Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas and L.A. County Sheriff Leroy Baca, covering how government agencies would work together following 9/11.

CONFLICTING TERMINATION LETTERS?

This June 14, 2006 termination letter clearly states the immediate termination was due to “contentious content” while an Email sent by Councilman Bernard Parks to Producer Leslie Dutton contradicted the letter, stating he had not pulled his sponsorship of the program. The Full Disclosure Network™ can be seen on over 40 cable systems and the Internet. Billed as “the news behind the news” programs feature critical issues rarely addressed in depth on the regular news media.

VIEWERS URGED TO HELP

At the conclusion of this video news blog the Full Disclosure Network®. requests viewers to call the following people and ask why the program was removed from the channel.
Tony Ighani Station Manager at 213-485-7561
Bernard Parks, Council District 8 at 213-473-7008

PROGRESS IN FIGHT TO SAVE PUBLIC ACCESS: CITIZENS & PRODUCERS WIN ROUND #1

Los Angeles, CA Faced with strong opposition from prominent and influential independent producers, the L. A City Council retreated from their plan to seize public cable channels and studios to consolidate the operations for government use. The fight to save public access cable operations gained momentum when the City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday December 3, 2008, to refer a controversial proposal to a second committee rather than call for a full Council vote. That vote would have allowed the City government control of all the public channels in Los Angeles.

Following the Council hearing, Full Disclosure® interviewed Mr. Vin Di Bona, four time Emmy Award-winning and Peabody Award winning Executive Producer and creator of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” , who is also the former Chairman and currently Co-Chair of “The Caucus” http://www.caucus.org/ a prestigious organization representing Producers, Writers and Directors and the New Media in Los Angeles. The Caucus is calling for the preservation of the public access cable operations in Los Angeles. (Watch 5 min video here)

On a motion by Councilman Bill Rosendahl, that was passed unanimously, the council referred to the matter to the Budget Committee. That Committee, chaired by Bernard Parks, will now be charged with the task of re-evaluating whether or how an approximately $30 million dollars in cable operators franchise fees to the city can be used for a public channel.

Although Council President Eric Garcetti called for six minutes testimony from each side, there were no requests from the public to support the Council’s proposal.

David Hernandez, President of the Los Angeles Public Access Coalition said “If the Council's plan to kill public access is approved, the public would be limited to one or two minutes on the government access Cityview Channel 35, provided they were granted permission to speak"

Full Disclosure Network® will release a full and complete video report covering the entire hearing, with testimony is to be aired on public access cable channels throughout the state and on the internet soon.