Michigan Public Service Commission to host consumer forums
September 3, 2010

The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) recently announced that it will host a series of utility consumer information and assistance forums throughout Michigan in September and October.

Information regarding the location, date, and time of each forum, as well as topics to be covered, is available in this flyer. For more information visit the Michigan Public Service Commission web site at michigan.gov/mpsc.

HOMTV Alumni Reunion and Tailgate
August 31, 2010

Mark your calendars: this year's Alumni Reunion and Tailgate takes place before MSU's homecoming game on Saturday, October 16th. Reconnect with fellow alumni, network with other interns, and win prizes too! Check out the Alumni page for all of the info!

CAMTV on AT&T
August 5, 2010

CAMTV is on AT&T U-verse. For information on AT&T U-verse please click on the headline above, or click here.

2010 Election Coverage to be Simulcast on HOMTV and CAMTV
July 6, 2010

MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP, MI. – Cable Division of Meridian Township continues its tradition of excellence with award winning election programming. Election 2010, a series of programs helping educate the public on candidates running for office and ballot proposals, will feature candidate interviews, ballot proposal features, live call-in debates and live election coverage.

Primary Election Day is August 3rd and ten contested races including the Governor’s race will be featured. Cable subscribers can view the programs by tuning to Comcast Cable Channel 21, Comcast Cable Channel 30 and AT&T U-verse Channel 99.

Viewers will have the opportunity to ask the candidates questions during the debates by calling (517) 349-1212.

The debates have been scheduled for the following dates and times:

Non-cable subscribers or those who live outside the viewing area will have the opportunity to take part in the debates through a live video stream at HOMTV’s website www.homtv.net. Meridian Township is home to award-winning programming. For more information on Election 2010, please contact Cable Coordinator, Deborah Guthrie at 517-349-1232, or email her at guthrie@meridian.mi.us.

Please click here to download this press release as a PDF document.

Centers For Regional Excellence 2010 Meeting on HOMTV and CAMTV
June 23, 2010

The Centers for Regional Excellence State Wide Conference is being held in the Meridian Township hall today from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm. Governor Granholm should be joining the conference discussion panel around 2:30 pm. HOMTV Station Manager, Deborah Guthrie will be on the panel discussion for the grant that was awarded to Meridian Township for the public access channel. This conference is for those 2008 recipients of the Governor's Centers for Regional Excellence program.

Phone lines will be open for questions from the public at 517-349-1212. You can also email your questions to bermanm@michigan.gov

CAMTV Launches on June 23, 2010
June 8, 2010

Click the link above to download the CAMTV press release.
(This PDF file will open in a new window).

Community Access Preservation Act
May 4, 2010

Click on the link above to go to the American Community Television web site, where you can read more about HR 3745, the Community Access Preservation Act (or the CAP Act).

The FCC Dismisses the Comcast V. Meridian et al suit
April 19, 2010
Written by Mike Watza, Plaintiffs Attorney

Please click on the link above to view the document. It will open in a new browser window as an Adobe PDF file.

SuperGoogleMan cited in official Google blog
March 26, 2010

The good folks at Google are watching! March 26th marked the official deadline for submissions and nominations of test sites for Google's experimental fiber project. Their Official Google Blog post from that day cited efforts by various communities to rally for support, including HOM-TV's SuperGoogleMan video! Sources close to SuperGoogleMan say that he is honored to be 1 of only 4 YouTube videos cited in the blog post!

Keep your fingers crossed Greater Lansing, and please keep watching! Stick with HOM-TV and Greater Lansing 4 Google for updates!

Help Bring SuperGoogleMan to Greater Lansing!
March 18, 2010

There's a new super hero in town, and he's fighting to save us from slow connections! Click here to watch SuperGoogleMan in action!

Click here to see how you can help!

Google Fiber For Greater Lansing
The Capital Area Collaborative Effort for Google Fiber-to-Home
March 11, 2010

Greater Lansing needs your help! Please visit Greater Lansing For Google to learn about the effort to bring Google Fiber to the Captial Area!

What You Can Do To Help

To convince Google to come to Greater Lansing, we need a very broad-based, grassroots effort in support of a highly coordinated and well-executed municipal effort. The municipalities are doing a fantastic job of working together; it now falls on the rest of us (Individuals, Chambers of Commerce, Educational Institutions, Parent-Teacher Groups, Neighborhood, Community, and Faith-Based Organizations, Civic and Service Clubs, Commercial Associations, Fraternal Organizations, etc) to carry the region across the finish line. Here’s what we need everyone to do:

1. Nominate Our Communities:

Visit www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options. Fill out the “Nomination Form” on the right. You will be responding in support of Greater Lansing’s regional effort.

2. Ask Other Organizations for Support and Nominations:

Local community organizations, universities, road commissions, etc., need to show their support! Visit www.acceleratelansing.org/google to sign up to do outreach!

3. Become a Greater Lansing Google Advocate:

• Sign up to be on the team at www.greaterlansing4google.com (or www.GL4G.com)
• Join the Facebook group at: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=336478496672&ref=ts
• E-mail us with any questions or ideas at acceleratelansing@gmail.com

Watch Brian and Deb on Office Morning Chatter, and follow the show on

Local cable not available to all AT&T customers
by Tracey Cohen special to the Oakland Press
January 15, 2010

AT&T U-verse subscribers in Farmington and Farmington Hills do not receive local access channels, even though they pay for them. Cable customers pay monthly Public, Educational and Governmental access fees to support local programming.

Despite paying these fees each month since the enhanced U-verse service became available in 2007, AT&T U-verse customers in Farmington Hills are still not receiving local PEG channel programming because of technical difficulties.

Read the full article in the Oakland Press.

Legal Defense Fund Status
December 14, 2009

Meridian Township has received over $50,000 in Legal Defense money in 2009. This shows the continued support to keep PEG channels accessible to all subscribers, not just those who can pay more to see them. The Michigan Municipal League, with their donation of $5,000, has pushed the legal defense fund raising efforts a little over half way to its goal. HOMTV, access users, and other PEG facilities around the country thank everyone who has supported the efforts to keep PEG visible to all.

Contact Station Manager Deborah Guthrie at 517-853-4380 for information regarding the case or to donate to the fund.

Announcement from Comcast
Updated December 9, 2009
Note: the following letter has been duplicated verbatim.

This morning, Comcast and General Electric ("GE") announced a transaction that will combine the broadcasting, cable programming, movie studio, theme park, and online content businesses of NBC Universal ("NBCU") with the cable programming and certain online content businesses of Comcast in a new joint venture controlled by Comcast. The details of the new business venture appear in the attached press release.

As a company that is 100 percent focused on the communications, information, and entertainment business, Comcast is excited to have the opportunity to manage these great assets.

NBCU is an iconic American media, entertainment, and communications company with a storied past and a wonderful future. It has outstanding cable programming assets, two national broadcast networks (NBC and Telemundo) a motion picture studio with a library of several thousand films, and an international theme park business.

We are especially proud to take responsibility for one of the crown jewels of NBCU -- NBC News -- and the two highly regarded cable networks that draw on its capabilities, CNBC and MSNBC. NBC News is a national treasure whose independence we all value and we will always respect.

We are also very proud of Telemundo, one of the nation's major Spanish-language broadcast networks, with substantial Spanish-language production facilities in the United States.

We believe this venture represents a natural evolution in the world of communications and entertainment, a marketplace that becomes more open, more competitive, and more global every day. The opportunity to combine these assets makes possible some innovative programming opportunities that will permit the new company to better serve the interests of many key segments of the viewing audience, including local viewers in the markets served by NBCU's owned-and-operated stations, and the particular interests of Hispanics, African Americans, children and families, and other key audience segments. This combination also permits us to hasten the arrival of the multiplatform, "anytime, anywhere" future that Americans want.

In connection with our applications to federal regulators for approval of this venture, we intend to make a number of affirmative commitments for how we will use these assets to better meet the entertainment, communications, and information needs of the American public. These commitments expand on the strengths that Comcast and NBCU have built over the years, and the new opportunities that this combination makes possible.

While we believe that this transaction is, and will be determined to be, pro-competitive, pro-consumer, and strongly in the public interest, we recognize that competitive concerns will be raised about the combination of such significant multiplatform assets in a single company. Therefore, we also intend to make a number of affirmative voluntary commitments in our applications for approval that we believe will effectively address any such concerns.

Below, we outline some of the key commitments we intend to include and expand upon in our public interest filing with the Federal Communications Commission and with the relevant antitrust agency as appropriate. We look forward to the opportunity to make our case to the agencies in detail in the near future.

Public Interest Commitments

Building on the strengths and histories of Comcast and NBCU in children's programming, diversity, and local programming, and reinforcing the combined companies' commitment to broadcasting, the companies make the following commitments:

We are glad to have the opportunity to share our news with you, and we invite your questions or comments.

Attachment

Community Access Preservation Act
October 9, 2009

The Alliance for Community Media applauds Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin for introducing the Community Access Preservation (CAP) Act of 2009 to address the challenges faced by public, education, and government (PEG) TV channels and community access television stations.

Nationwide, many community access television stations have been forced to shut down or severely limit their operations as a result of a combination of state law changes and FCC decisions, which cable television operators are claiming permit them to eliminate funding and important in-kind support they have traditionally provided to local community access television channels.

In addition, several video providers have begun to carry PEG channels differently than commercial channels, broadcasting them in reduced resolution and in a way that makes it impossible for subscribers to select or record them like other channels. In some cases, customers must now pay extra fees in order to receive PEG channels, which were intended by Congress to be available to everyone in the community. In other cases, operators are refusing to pass through PEG closed captioning unless a special request is made.

This treatment undervalues PEG channels and their viewers. "Local access channels bring unique voices, perspectives, and programming to television," said Congresswoman Baldwin. "The nature of television programming is changing, as are the methods in which that programming is delivered. These changes should not come at the expense of the diversity and vibrancy of local voices," Baldwin said. "Our office has asked the FCC to address some of these issues immediately. However, while we continue to urge the FCC to act, the FCC cannot address all the immediate problems, and it is important for Congress to do so."

PEG channels connect residents with their local government in much the same way C-SPAN connects people to activities in Congress. Local school districts operate channels to reach the community with school board meetings and forums, interviews, lectures, and sporting events not otherwise seen on television. Additionally, community public access stations provide a place where residents can learn video production, check out equipment, and create their own programs. According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, religious programming represents 20-40% of the content appearing on local PEG channels.

While the mistreatment of PEG is being challenged in the courts and the FCC, many communities and PEG stations are not in a position to protect their interests effectively.

The Community Access Preservation (CAP) Act addresses four immediate issues facing PEG. The CAP Act would:

"Decisions at the state and federal level have combined to create a crisis for PEG. With the CAP Act, Rep. Baldwin effectively addresses the most immediate problems and opens the door to the future by preserving support for PEG while the FCC conducts its study. This bill is critical to us. Wisconsin's rich community access heritage is on the line," said Mary Cardona, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Association of PEG Channels.

"Community Media has a four decade history of connecting communities with their governments, schools, churches, friends and neighbors. The future existence of community media is being threatened against the intent of Congress for localism and diversity of voices in media. With the CAP Act, Rep. Baldwin addresses immediate needs to preserve and protect the important role PEG channels play in advancing democratic ideals through community uses of media," said Matt Schuster, Chair, Alliance for Community Media.

Baldwin's legislation is supported by the Alliance for Community Media (ACM) and the National Association of Telecommunication Officers and Advisors (NATOA).



Summary of the Community Access Preservation (CAP) Act

Public, educational and government ("PEG") channels permit schools, governments, individuals and groups to provide and receive information about local events, emergencies, and issues. The channels encourage creation of local programming by civic groups and non-profits, cover government and school meetings, and promote localism and civic engagement. The CAP Act responds to four immediate threats to PEG and these critical local communications.


1. Unnecessary Limits on the Use of PEG funds.

Issue: Under federal law, a cable operator and a local community may negotiate for support for PEG use in addition to the franchise fee payments for use of public rights of way. The FCC recently ruled, subject to some important exceptions, that this PEG support may only be used for facilities and equipment, and not for PEG operating expenses.

Effect: Some communities are closing PEG facilities because there are no funds to operate them.

Solution: The bill amends the Cable Act to ensure that PEG fees can be used for any PEG purpose.


2. Discriminatory Treatment of PEG channels.

Issue: The Cable Act provides that PEG channels should be free from cable operator interference and generally available to all cable subscribers. Accordingly, operators historically have provided local commercial television signals and PEG in the same manner, to all subscribers, and without additional charges. Some operators are now providing PEG channels that are less accessible, lower quality, missing basic functionality and more costly. Three complaints about mistreatment of PEG are before the FCC, but PEG is suffering in the meantime.

Effect: PEG is less accessible to all subscribers, and the most vulnerable viewers may lose access to basic local information altogether.

Solution: The bill reaffirms that operators must deliver PEG channels to subscribers without additional charges, and via channels whose quality, accessibility, functionality, and placement is equivalent to local commercial television stations.


3. Preservation of PEG Support and Localism.

Issue: Federal law envisioned that PEG requirements would be established on a community-by-community basis. Several States, while intending to preserve PEG, adopted statewide video franchising standards without regard to local needs and interests.

Effect: Statewide standards are resulting in widespread elimination of PEG.

Solution: Immediate action is needed to preserve PEG to permit Congress to review the impact of these changes on local programming. The FCC is directed to investigate and to report to Congress on the impact of State video service franchising laws since 2005 on PEG. To ensure PEG is preserved, each cable operator must provide the channels and critical facilities it had been providing historically. Operators must make ongoing PEG support payments equal to the greater of the cash payment required under State law, or the value of the PEG support it historically provided.


4. Definition of Cable System.

Issue: Entities that provide video services via wired facilities in the rights of way are intended to be subject to Cable Act rules, regardless of the transmission protocol used to deliver service, but some claim that the law is unclear, creating doubt as to where the rules apply.

Solution: The Act is amended to ensure it is technologically neutral. Providers using wired facilities in the rights of way are treated similarly and are subject to similar PEG requirements.

Make Cable Better.org

HOMTV is still battling a lawsuit with Comcast regarding the digitization of PEG channels. Right now the case remains in front of the FCC as both sides await for them to make a decision on 7 questions before them. While those questions are pending, HOMTV thanks everyone for the donations in support of their case to keep PEG channels visible to all who subscribe to cable and not a select few who can afford it. If you would like to donate, click on the Save PEG tag on the main page.

The Township began a lawsuit in December 2007 with the Cities of Dearborn, Warren and Bloomfield Township in the fight to stop Comcast from moving public, educational and governmental (PEG) access channels to the 900 digital tier and away from the basic tier of services.

If Comcast had been allowed to do this, some 400,000 basic cable subscriber families in the state of Michigan would have lost all of their access channels. Those channels would have went black. But Federal District Judge, Victoria Roberts (Michigan Eastern District) agreed with the Township’s position by ordering an injunction and temporary restraining order stopping Comcast’s attempt which remains in place today.

HOMTV is well respected among industry leaders, news directors, and alums for the quality programming they provide and the invaluable internship to work opportunities that have afforded hundreds of alums their ‘foot in the door’. In order to maintain this fight, HOMTV has suffered financially. The department has incurred almost $400,000 in legal bills. The value of the service HOMTV provides students and residents, and the value other PEG stations provide is not a service that should ‘go black’ nationwide.

In more recent action, the Court has issued new orders; rejecting claims by Comcast that cable operators could transmit PEG channels in any format, and denying a motion filed by Comcast to immediately certify questions to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for review. The Court has submitted questions regarding the change of PEG channels to a digital format to the FCC for resolution rather than having certain legal issues resolved by the Sixth Circuit first. This is where the suit remains, awaiting a response from the FCC.

Without the money we have raised in support of the suit, we would not be able to keep our staff level and the programming and internship our community expects and enjoys. Supporting efforts to keep PEG on basic, supports HOMTV and all other access operations. Please find it within your hearts to give a little back to an operation that gives so much in return. Any amount of donations are welcome and appreciated. They are tax deductible and can be paid three ways:

1. Pay through our PayPal account on www.homtv.net
2. Mail a check to: HOM-TV 5151 Marsh Road, Okemos, MI 48864
3. Stop in and drop it off. We would love to see you!

DTV Transition help

Winners in the following categories:

You're My Dog
Music Video Professional
Producer and Post Producer: Brian Dumont

Senior Living #8
Seniors Non-Professional Division
Host, Producer, and Post Producer: Brandie Hansen

DTV Transition
PSA Non-Professional Division
Producer and Post Producer: Anthony Grinblat

For a complete list of award winners please visit http://2009.acmhometown.org

Join Brian and Deb for
Office Morning Chatter
LIVE at 9:30am daily.
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Legal Defense Fund Donations
June 2, 2009

Thank you HOMTV alumni for giving back to the station for the Legal Defense Fund.

CALLING ALL ALUMNI!

We are still accepting donations to the station through the rest of 2009. We appreciate any give back to keep us strong. Just choose our paypal link to donate. Its that easy.

Michigan Public Service Commission
April 17, 2009

The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) has amended its standardized form for uniform video service local franchise agreements. The changes address the dispute resolution process for customers, franchise entities, and providers.

To assist customers, the MPSC also issued a consumer alert on the dispute resolution process for cable television complaints. It covers the MPSC's role in handling customer cable television complaints, how to file an informal complaint, and the requirements for filing a formal complaint. The consumer alert is available on the MPSC's web site: michigan.gov/mpsc

On April 2, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm signed into law Public Act 4 of 2009, amending the Uniform Video Services Local Franchise Act (Public Act 480 of 2006).

Meridian V Comcast: the Fight Continues
April 13, 2009

The Township began a lawsuit in December 2007 with the Cities of Dearborn, Warren and Bloomfield Township in the fight to stop Comcast from moving public, educational and governmental (PEG) access channels to the 900 digital tier and away from the basic tier of services.

Why is this important?

If Comcast had been allowed to do this, some 400,000 basic cable subscriber families in the state of Michigan would have lost all of their access channels. Those channels would have went black. But Federal District Judge, Victoria Roberts (Michigan Eastern District) agreed with the Township’s position by ordering an injunction and temporary restraining order stopping Comcast’s attempt which remains in place today.

Why should you care?

HOMTV is well respected among industry leaders, news directors, and alums for the quality programming they provide and the invaluable internship to work opportunities that have afforded hundreds of alums their ‘foot in the door’. In order to maintain this fight, HOMTV has suffered financially. The department has incurred almost $400,000 in legal bills. The value of the service HOMTV provides students and residents, and the value other PEG stations provide is not a service that should ‘go black’ nationwide.

In more recent action, the Court has issued new orders; rejecting claims by Comcast that cable operators could transmit PEG channels in any format, and denying a motion filed by Comcast to immediately certify questions to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for review. The Court has submitted questions regarding the change of PEG channels to a digital format to the FCC for resolution rather than having certain legal issues resolved by the Sixth Circuit first. This is where the suit remains, awaiting a response from the FCC.

For details on the case, visit www.millervaneaton.com

HOMTV Legal Defense Fund

HOMTV is driving a legal defense fund campaign. Without the money we have raised in support of the suit, we would not be able to keep our staff level and the programming and internship our community expects and enjoys. Supporting efforts to keep PEG on basic, supports HOMTV and all other access operations. Please find it within your hearts to give a little back to an operation that gives so much in return.