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sr-091410-1c ~® City of Santa Monica To: Mayor and City Council City Council Report City Council Meeting: September 14, 2010 Agenda Item: ~ From: Kathryn Vernez, Assistant to the City Manager, Community & Government Relations Subject: Continuation of Pilot County Channel Provided by City TV Recommended Action Staff recommends that City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a contract with Los Angeles County for the City to receive up to $249,500 from the County in exchange for CityTV providing the County with programming, channel operations and video services to maintain the Countywide channel as provided for in the Time Warner franchise. Executive Summary In August 2007 the City Council approved the execution of a Delegated Authority Agreement with Los Angeles County for CityTV to activate a Los Angeles County cable channel as a pilot partnership with Los Angeles County. In July 2008 the channel was activated. In August 2008 the term of the Delegated Authority Agreement was extended for 90 days. In October 2008 the City Council approved an amendment to extend the term of the agreement to August 31, 2010, add additional funding to the agreement and amend the Statement of Work/Deliverables. The maximum amount of the agreement was $305,000. The funding from the County was used to cover on-going City costs to air live and replayed coverage of Board of Supervisors meetings, produce and air programming on the channel and maintain the technical systems necessary to support the channel's operations. Los Angeles County would like to execute a new contract with the City for a term of up to one year. The maximum amount of the agreement is $249,500. Discussion The City of Santa Monica has six cable access channels activated in Santa Monica. CityTV, the City's cable television operation, is responsible for programming four of the six channels. CityTV's main channel is cable channel 16 which runs live public meeting coverage, local news, event coverage and other original and acquired programming. CityTV2, cable channel 20, features repeats of CityN's public meeting coverage. Cable channel 99 currently airs lifelong learning educational programming on CityTV's channel named Forte. In July 2008 CityTV launched the Los Angeles County Channel on cable channel 75. Programming on the County Channel includes live and replayed Board of Supervisors meetings and other programming produced by Los Angeles County departments. It also includes programming of regional interest covering events and topics such as the MTA/Metro-sponsored rideshare program, transportation alternatives and bike path locations, arts and cultural destinations, and programs about County programs and services. Funding is provided by the County via a contract with CityTV. Specifically, the contract conveys funding to CityTV for production and related services provided to Los Angeles County. This allows CityTV to partner with the County to produce programming of interest to both Santa Monica and Los Angeles County cable TV viewers. Santa Monica is the first City in the County to have the County Channel programming. The contract will allow the City to receive the funding necessary to operate and maintain the channel for Los Angeles County. In other words, there will be significant value- added at no additional cost to Santa Monica residents. The term of the agreement will be for one year. During this one year time period CityTV staff will work with Los Angeles County Channel staff to transition LA's playback operations to their own master control center and provide other support to assist Los Angeles County Channel staff with developing their own production and channel operation capabilities. The Los Angeles County Channel will continue to be available to cable television subscribers in Santa Monica. At the end of the term of this agreement it is expected that the pilot project will be concluded. In future years, operations and programming will originate primarily from Los Angeles County. 2 Financial Impacts & Budget Actions Los Angeles County will provide the complete funding necessary to cover the costs of programming and operating the channel. Monthly telecommunications costs are estimated at up to $1,600 per month to provide a live feed from the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration to CityTV. Operating costs are estimated to cost up to $5,000 per month depending on the amount of new programming created and includes preparing programs to air, scheduling the channel, preparation and airing of graphic bulletin board messages and program listing services. Funding is available to jointly produce programming that could be made available to air on both the Los Angeles County Channel and CityTV. The following budget changes are needed to record receipt of the County funds in FY2010-11 and make them available for program use. 1. Establish a revenue budget in the amount of $200,000 at account 01207.407820 for Fiscal Year 10/11. 2. Appropriate the same amount at account 01207.544010 for Fiscal Year 10/11. Prepared by: Robin Gee, Cable TV Manager Approved: Forwarded to Council: Kathryn Vernez Assistant to the City Manager for Community and Government Relations Rod Gould City Manager 3 Reference Contract No. 9270 (CCS).