CC Resolution No. 1784 34
RESOLUTION NO. 1784
A RESOLUTION OF CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN,
TEXAS, ADOPTING A MUNICIPAL CABLE CHANNEL POLICY FOR THE
CITY OF BAYTOWN; AND PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVE DATE
THEREOF.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN,
TEXAS:
Section 1: That the City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas, hereby adopts a
Municipal Cable Channel Policy for the City of Baytown, which is attached hereto as Exhibit
"A" and incorporated herein for all intents and purposes.
Section 2: This resolution shall take effect immediately from and after its passage by
the City Council of the City of Baytown.
INTRODUCED, READ and PASSED, by the affirmative vote of the City Council of the
City of Baytown this the 23`d day of March, 2006.
------ CALVIN MUNDINGER, Mayo
A EST: j
2
LORRI GOODY, ity Clerk
APPROVED
AS TO FORM:
T ACIO RAMIREZ, SR City Attorney
RtARarenAFllesVCity Counci1AReso1utionsA2006Warch 23\MunicipalChannelCablePolicy.doc
MUNICIPAL CABLE CHANNEL POLICY
I. PURPOSE OF THE MUNICIPAL CABLE CHANNEL
The goal of the municipal cable channel shall be to provide information to the community about
the municipal government and facilitate the community's participation in local decisionmaking.
The municipal cable channel is neither a public or limited public forum.
Il. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this policy are as follows:
A. to make public proceedings and events more accessible to Baytown residents by
providing live coverage and re-broadcast of City Council meetings and coverage of
various commission and board meetings via cable television;
B. to increase community awareness of City services, activities,policies and programs;
C. to provide program coverage of municipal events, such as cultural, recreational, and
historical events;
D. to provide more extensive information on selected City topics and activities not fully
covered by existing communications tools;
L. to supplement public safety and disaster preparedness activities/information pertaining to
the City of Baytown and surrounding communities;
F. to assist with the internal training of City employees;
G. to provide general announcements of current municipal-sponsored events and job listings;
and
11. to assist with providing information to the public during emergency conditions.
IIL TYPES OF PROGRAMMING
Municipal programming shall be established to provide direct, non-editorialized information to
the citizens of Baytown. It will consist of the following:
A. Live cablecast - The televising of an event while it is happening. Live coverage of City
events may include, but is not limited to, the cablecast of City Council meetings and
work sessions, special meetings (as requested by City Departments only), and events of
general community interest.
B. Delayed or re-broadcast cablecast - A program or event that is video recorded for
cablecast at a later time. Some meetings, such as the City Council meetings, shall be
cablecast both live and by video recordings at set times during the week.
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C. Locally produced programs - A video recorded program that is produced by the City to
illustrate the mandates, programs, services and deliberations of City government. These
include, but are not limited to, video recorded tours of municipal facilities, such as parks
or the library; programs that highlight City departments, City recreational and cultural
programs, and programs about specific City issues, such as traffic improvements and the
City budget.
D. Community Bulletin Board - This consists of character-generated information related to
City activities, programs, events and services that the City sponsors or co-sponsors.
Messages may include, but are not limited to, current information concerning the City
such as job openings, arts and cultural activities, parks and recreation department
activities, road closures, and agendas of public meetings. Such character-generated
listings shall be available to all City departments, City-funded events, and City
commissions, committees, and boards. This service may be active whenever video
programming is absent from the air.
F. Outside resource programs - Pre-recorded material on a variety of topics produced by
entities other than the City and the topic is generally related to municipal government,
and may be considered for cablecast at a later time.
F. Public service announcements — Video recorded spots announcing events or issues of
importance to citizens of Baytown that are produced by the City or obtained from outside
sources. These may include, but are not limited to local, regional, state, and national
issues that affect the City of Baytown.
G. Training and informational tapes - Instructional videotapes used to discuss, outline,
and/or summarize departmental functions or techniques. Training and informational
recordings may be produced by the City for internal use by City departments. Training
video recordings can be cablecast on the City's channel when appropriate.
IV. CONTENT RESTRICTIONS
All content of the municipal channel shall be under the sole responsibility of the City of
Baytown. All content on the channel shall be subject to approval by the City Manager or his/her
designee. The following content guidelines shall be adhered to:
A. Political Use of Municipal Channel - The channel may not be utilized for the promotion
or "use" of any elected official or candidate. Specific advertising messages on behalf of
or opposing any political candidate or measure on a ballot shall not be permitted.
Candidates for election or re-election to any office shall not be permitted to "use" the
municipal cable channel, except as may be part of a formal public meeting from the time
of their legally qualified candidacy until after the election. The municipal channel is
exempt from providing equal opportunities to a candidate under Section 76.205 of the
Rules and Regulations of the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") for time
incumbents spend on the channel when performing the routine duties of their position,
including participation in regular and special sessions of the City Council, and other
public meetings. Notwithstanding the above, political candidate forums, where all
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candidates for a particular office have equal opportunity to participate or public forum
on a ballot issue where all sides have equal opportunity to participate may be cablecast.
B. Position Advocacy -Any direct advocacy messages including specific promotional
messages on behalf of or opposing any ballot initiative, measure proposal, or items under
consideration of the City Council or its boards, commissions or advisory bodies shall not
be permitted. Factual information on any ballot issue affecting City, County, State, or
Federal government services may be presented as long as it is done in a fair and equitable
manner.
C. Commercialism - There shall be no commercial advertising or other information which
promotes the sale of any product or service offered, except for promotional
announcements for City-sponsored or co-sponsored events.
D. Lotteries - Advertising or other information concerning any lottery, gift, enterprise or
similar promotion is prohibited.
E. Promotion of Religion - Programming which directly promotes religious beliefs or
religious philosophies shall not be presented on the municipal channel.
F. Promotions - Promotional announcements for City-sponsored or co-sponsored events will
be permitted on the City of Baytown Municipal Cable Channel. However, promotional
announcements for events, charities, or outside organizations in which the City has no
official interest or sponsorship shall not be permitted.
G. Defamatory Material - Subject matter which is defamatory (slander or libel) towards
individuals or organizations in nature shall not be presented on the municipal channel.
H. Indecent or Obscene Content - There shall be no presentation of programming content,
which, in the opinion of the City Manager or his/her designee, is indecent, obscene or
illegal.
I. Copyright Restrictions - Programs containing copyrighted materials will not be telecast
without proper copyright authorization. Outside agencies submitting programming for
telecast are responsible for obtaining all necessary copyright clearance and shall hold the
City, its officers and agents, harmless in any case of copyright infringement.
J. Liability - The City of Baytown and/or its agents and assigns, will not be responsible for
the accuracy of any information cablecast over the Municipal Cable Channel that was
submitted by outside sources.
V. PROGRAM EDITING
All programming, with the exception of City Council meetings, is subject to editing. Coverage
of City Council meetings shall be gavel-to-gavel or as otherwise directed by the City Council.
City Council meeting coverage shall not be edited or subject to editorial comment. Editing of
breaks or technical difficulties of such meetings is permitted. Editing of other programming
shall not alter the factual content or overall intent of the material being cablecast. Character-
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generated information shall be edited to provide clarity and to maximize use of the memory
space available.
VI. SCHEDULING
Selection of programming will be dependent upon time allotment availability, personnel,
financial resources, and similar practical considerations consistent with this policy.
VIL USE OF CITY PROGRAMMING AND EQUIPMENT
All programming produced by the City, its officers and agents shall be deemed property of the
City. Programs produced by contract agents of the City shall be the property of the City and
shall not be sold or commercially distributed without written authorization of the City. Use of
City-owned equipment and related production facilities and equipment shall be restricted to City
use and operation thereof to City employees, officers or approved agents of the City. Loaning of
equipment shall not be permitted or authorized.
VIIL PROGRAM RIGHTS/COPYRIGHT ACCRUAL
The master video recording of all programming produced using City-owned equipment and/or
City personnel and/or agents of the City performing at the specific request of the City shall be
the property of the City of Baytown for such use as administratively deemed appropriate (e.g.
submission in award competitions). Copyright(s) for creative property (original scripts, music,
artwork, etc.) shall accrue to the owner/creator of said property. Agreements between the City
and creators/owners should contain the following assurances:
A. Owner/creator shall grant the City of Baytown copyright clearance for the use of the
property in an agreed-upon manner;
B. Each party agrees to notify the other of any distribution of the program; and
C. Programs will not be sold or commercially distributed without express authorization of
the City.
IX. PROGRAM SPONSORSHIP
The City of Baytown will accept sponsorship of programming which meets the desired goals and
objectives of the municipal channel. Any program sponsored (in full or in part) by a
commercial, civic or private entity may carry a brief sponsorship statement at the beginning, end
or beginning and end which states the following: "This program is made possible through a grant
from Video footage during sponsorship acknowledgment may include a logo,
name, and address of a sponsor.
X. RETENTION OF RECORDED EVENTS AND PROGRAMS
Recorded City Council meetings will be kept for a minimum of two years and thereafter in
compliance with the Local Government Records Act. Notwithstanding this policy, said
recordings shall not be considered the official records of the recorded council meetings, and
there shall be no liability for inadvertent erasure or omissions. All recordings shall be considered
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the property of the City of Baytown, and may be copyrighted as such. Recordings may be re-
used after final cablecast. City-produced programming may be retained for repeat cablecasting
at the discretion of City staff in accordance with this policy, except for public meetings which
shall be handled as outlined above.
Programming accepted for cablecast from other sources may be retained for repeat cablecasting
at the discretion of the City. Upon request, recordings will be returned to the owner/producer
after final cablecast The City will not be liable to those responsible for such outside
programming for the cablecasting of same, nor shall the City be liable for damaged, lost, or
stolen recordings.
Typically, public service announcements will be retained and cablecast on the municipal channel
for as long as the subject matter is timely. For recordings of public service announcements
submitted by outside sources, such recordings should be made available to the owner/producer
after final cablecast.
X1. RECORDINGS DUPLICATION GUIDELINES
Requests for duplication of recordings shall be submitted in a reasonable length of time prior to
the requested completion date. The City shall charge a reasonable fee consistent with Section 2-
616 of the Code of Ordinances, Baytown, Texas, and the rules promulgated by the Texas
Attorney General.
XIL USE OF MUNICIPAL CHANNEL DURING EMERGENCIES
Government use of the municipal channel during emergencies and disasters declared by the
Mayor of the City of Baytown or his/her designee has absolute priority over other programming.
During such emergencies or disasters, the municipal channel shall be permitted to accept live,
video recorded, character-generated and audio information from other governmental or non-
governmental entities when such announcements are deemed by the Mayor, City Manager or
their designee to provide important public information pertaining to the emergency or disaster or
other conditions requiring protection of the public health, safety and welfare.
XIIL TECHNICAL STANDARDS
Operating standards for technical quality of live or taped programs will be determined by the
Director of Information Technology Services or his/her designee. Such technical criteria may
include tape size, audio/video quality and other relevant "cablecast-ready" criteria.
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