By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
With the start of the Minnesota State Legislative session this week, one group that will be advocating for more funding from the government is community television broadcasters, including Northfield Public Broadcasting. The Station Manager of NPB Sam Temple, noted that public media is an important part of every community in the state:
“Everyone is getting less and less local stories being told and recorded and less transparency locally is what that ultimately Leads to and when you have less transparency at the local level, that filters up to the leaders that you eventually get regionally, nationally, statewide. So people are feeling that all across the state. Red District Blue District all over the map.” – NPB Station Manager Sam Temple on the KYMN Morning Show
Temple serves on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Association of Community Telecommunication Administrators, which represents community television in the state capital. He noted that they are advocating for a change in how they are funded and that the current funding model is “out of date”:
“Right now, we’re funded specifically through when cable companies come to town and they put the wire in the ground, and then for putting wire in the ground, they give a little bit of money, and they give a community one station. The law in the 80s was written so narrowly that it was only about cable, which means Internet is not included.” – NPB Station Manager Sam Temple on the KYMN Morning Show
Temple noted that oftentimes, the exact same companies, through a similar process, install ground wires for the internet, and as more people “cut the cord” from cable to streaming services, funding for community television goes down.
Temple expressed some optimism for getting a funding bill passed, noting that there has been bipartisan support for the issue in the past.
