Sec.16-331a-11. Standards for determining adequacy

The Department shall employ the standards in this section to determine, on a case-by-case basis, the level of support which each CATV company shall make available to the public to facilitate meaningful community access. The department shall review each company's support taking into consideration the factors in section 16-331a-12. The Department considers that community access support which comprises the following components would be adequate to facilitate meaningful community access:

(a) Personnel:

(1) Personnel sufficient to accomplish the following:

(A) Coordinate all access programming functions and efforts, including coordinating efforts and communicating with the Advisory Council, and

(B) Administer all efforts made by the company for community access;

(2) Any company which has 20,000 or more subscribers shall designate one employee, at a minimum, as the access coordinator who has as his or her sole responsibilities those identified in subdivision (1) of this subsection. Any CATV company which has less than 20,000 subscribers shall designate one full time employee, at a minimum, as the access coordinator who has as his or her primary responsibilities those identified in subdivision (1) of this subsection;

(3) Technical personnel to assist the access coordinator and to assist the access users, as required;

(4) Additional personnel assigned to supplement the access coordinator's efforts in coordination and administration when the absence of such supplementary efforts would unreasonably hinder the development of community access;

(5) An annual assessment, performed by the company and based in part on recommendations solicited by the company from access users and the Advisory Council, of whether the number of personnel assigned to community access, and the amount of time spent by such personnel on community access, are sufficient to facilitate meaningful community access.

(b) Training:

(1) A training program, offered at no charge to trainees or their organizations except as specified herein, designed and operated by the company to train interested persons to handle equipment safely and to produce community access programming, including, but not limited to, the following: (A) preproduction planning, (B) portable field production, (C) studio production, (D) editing, and (E) post-production tasks. Classes held for the training program shall be a reasonable size, as determined by the material presented. Classes shall be offered regularly outside of business hours, including evenings and weekends, in addition to the sessions offered regularly during business hours. The training program shall be offered first to residents of the franchise area and then to members of private, nonprofit organizations located and operating in the franchise area;

(2) The availability of a proficiency test, which individuals may pass instead of the successful completion of the training program;

(3) Advanced level courses, as determined by demand, offered solely by the company for cooperatively with other companies or organizations.

(c) Facilities and Equipment:

(1) Facilities and equipment, at no charge except for the cost of gasoline for the use of a van or for tapes, sufficient to enable access users to produce and show live and taped productions of commercial broadcast quality, as more fully defined below:

(A) For systems with fewer than or equal to 3,500 subscribers, equipment, including, but not limited to, the following equipment, all of which shall be portable except for the character generator and cable casting equipment: a color, self-contained camera package having a minimum of 350 lines of horizontal resolution, video tape recorder, microphones, microphone mixer, tripod, lighting equipment, carrying cases, cablecasting equipment, and a sixteen-page character generator,

(B) For systems with more than 3,500 subscribers, but fewer than 25,000 subscribers, equipment and facilities, including, but not limited to, the following: an equipped studio of not less than 200 square feet, and the portable equipment identified in subparagraph (A) of this subdivision,

(C) For systems in excess of 25,000 subscribers, facilities and equipment including, but not limited to, the following: an equipped studio of not less than 400 square feet, and the portable equipment identified in subparagraph (A) of this subdivision,

(D) For each 25,000 subscribers or fraction thereof in excess of 50,000 subscribers, an additional camera package and portable equipment as specified in subparagraph (A) of this subdivision;

(2) Reasonable procedures, established in consultation with access users and the Advisory Council, for the following: (A) Making equipment and facilities available when the company's offices are closed for business, (B) Handling the tardy return of equipment and return of damaged equipment by users, (C) Properly maintaining equipment and facilities.

(d) Channel Capacity:

Channel capacity sufficient to support meaningful and productive community access by meeting the demands for channel time for community access, including, at a minimum, one specially-designated community access channel, with additional channel time made available as required by section 16-331a-2 of these regulations.

(e) Promotion:

(1) In addition to the promotional techniques specified is subdivision (3) of subsection (f) of section 16-331 of the Connecticut General Statutes, promotional efforts undertaken in consultation with the Advisory Council and access users, which are sufficient to promote the use of community access channels, facilities, and training programs through mechanisms which may include, but are not limited to, the following:

(A) A bill insert or brochure mailed to all customers at least annually, describing the purposes and accomplishments of community access and the procedures for becoming involved in community access.

(B) A check-off provision on customers' bills which enables customers to donate money to community access;

(2) Promotion of the community's involvement in community access, including specific efforts to involve minority groups;

(3) Publicity about programming through announcing schedules for community access programming in the newspaper, in public service announcements on television and radio, and inserts in the company's program guide,

(4) Efforts to coordinate the Advisory Council's and access users' promotional activities with the company's promotional activities;

(5) A mechanism by which the company shall obtain an annual financial report, from any individuals or groups who receive any direct monetary contribution from the company, identifying what funding was received and how and by whom it was spent.

(f) Funding:

Money provided to fund the components of adequate community access, as specified in this section, in lieu of providing the specific components of support, when such finding is sufficient in amount to enable the achievement of the standards set herein and when the provision of funding, in lieu of a specific type support, does facilitate the development of community access.

(g) Evaluation and Assessment:

(1) The company's establishment of specific goals for community access, set in consultation with the Advisory Council, and a periodic assessment of the achievement of those goals;

(2) An annual evaluation by the company, submitted to the Department, completed after soliciting, receiving, and incorporating comments from the Advisory Council, access users, community members, and subscribers, of the effectiveness of the company's community access program, and the achievement of the program's goals.

(Effective September 26, 1996)