INTRODUCTION

The purpose of Community Access Programming is to provide Dubuque residents, interest groups, organizations, and subcommunities the opportunity to express themselves and share information and resources with each other and with the public via cable television at little if any cost.

This opportunity is made possible by the Dubuque Cable Services Franchise, Ordinance No. 42-8 1, which was agreed upon by Teleprompter Corporation and the City of Dubuque, and approved by voters in a 1981 Referendum. Public, Educational, and Governmental Access programming opportunities are also endorsed and protected by the U.S. Congress in the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 and the Cable Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992.
In passing these laws, Congress and the City Council each recognized the power and pervasiveness of the electronic media in out everyday lives, the tremendous transmission capacity of cable, and the benefits of the unimpeded flow of diverse opinions and information to individuals and to our democratic society. In accordance with the Cable Act and the local franchise, Mediacom and the City (through its staff, the Cable TV Regulatory Commission, and the Cable Community Teleprogramming Commission), have jointly established operating policies and procedures for the use of community access facilities, equipment, training classes, and channel time. The purpose of these policies and procedures is to provide residents of Dubuque fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory use of access equipment, facilities, channel time, and training programs.

ACCESS RESOURCES
The equipment, facility, and channel components provided by the cable operator in the Dubuque franchise consist of the following:
1. a television production studio at the Mediacom office at Asbury and Carter,
2. a mobile production van,
3. an FM radio community access studio at the same location,
4. portable audio and video recording equipment & accessories,
5. videocassette editing stations (I /2 inch VHS, SVHS and 3/4 inch videocassette formats),
6. two channels of television (15 and 16) for the use of the public,
7. one channel of television (17) for the use of the educational community,
8. 1 channel of television (8), for the use of local government,
9. 1 audio frequency (FM radio 101.3 megahertz),
10. separate bulletin board character generators for channel 44 and channel 45,
11. additional commitments for community programming equipment and facilities to be specified by the community programming agent of the city, and,
12. certain access-related equipment and transmission channels for public and private institutions on the B-Cable Institutional Network as detailed in the cable franchise.

WHO CAN USE COMMUNITY PROGRAMMING?
Free access to Dubuque community programming facilities, equipment, training and channel time is made available for non- commercial nonprofit cablecasting to:
1. Any person who lives within the Dubuque city limits.
2. Any institution, club, or organization whose local headquarters mailing address is within the Dubuque city limits.
Mediacom reserves the right to refuse temporarily the use of the facilities and equipment to any person apparently under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or otherwise not under full control of his/her senses or actions. The same applies to anyone who abuses or endangers the equipment or facility. Mediacom shall report to the Cable Franchise Administrator any incident where the use of facilities and equipment has been refused under this rule. Mediacom may continue the ban for as long as such person, in Mediacom, poses imminent danger to the safety or security of equipment, facilities, or personnel, until the Cable Community Teleprogramming Commission has been given the opportunity to review the incident at a regular meeting. If deemed necessary to protect the equipment, facilities, or personnel, the Commission may, with proper notice, take action to extend the period of the ban or to impose conditions upon the reinstatement of permission for the person to use access facilities and equipment.

OPERATING HOURS
Regular operating hours during which residents may obtain access to facilities, equipment, training and other assistance shall be posted by Mediacom after approval by the Cable Community Teleprogramming Commission.

FREE TRAINING
Free training is available in the operation of community access equipment and in basic production techniques, Classes include:
Portable Video Equipment
Videotape Editing Equipment TV Studio and Control Room FM Radio Studio
Mobile TV Production Van
Access users may progress at their own pace through the entire series of courses or may sign up for specific training in only one or two areas as desired. Certification classes in specific production areas may also be completed on an appointment basis.

CERTIFICATION TO OPERATE EQUIPMENT
To use Community Access equipment and facilities, a user must:
A) Complete the appropriate training for the equipment or facility, or
B) B) Demonstrate production capability to the Access staff.
This user will then be certified and provided with an Access user ID card. Any Dubuque resident, certified or not, may participate in the programming or appear and speak on the air. Only certified users may operate equipment.
Each user must have been certified for the operation of any equipment he/she is going to operate personally.
REQUESTING EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES
A user may contact community access staff in person, in writing, or by
phone to request the use of equipment and facilities. A "Community Access Equipment/Facilities Use Form' shall be completed for each use. All scheduling of the studios and equipment must be confirmed by the access staff.
If necessary, more than one community access facility and equipment item may be reserved and used simultaneously. The "Community Access Equipment/Facilities Use Form" should clearly reflect these needs.

CARE OF EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES
The user assumes full legal and fiscal responsibility for the use and care of access facilities and equipment including any abuse, loss, theft, or unusual damage caused by negligence while under the user's care. Any user who refuses to abide by or does not follow the rules and procedures will forfeit his or her right to use the facilities and equipment. Any certified user who is under 18 years of age must have an adult guardian or representative of a recognized institution or organization co-sign the user agreement.

FINDING CREW MEMBERS
While the studio facilities are managed by cable company staff, users are responsible for obtaining production crews. The access manager or other access staff will assist the user in assembling qualified production crews where possible, but the responsibility remains with the user. The staff will also assist with production advice and technical trouble-shooting, but is not generally available to perform as a production crew.

RESERVING PORTABLE EQUIPMENT
The.usual time frame for reserving and checking out video cameras, recorders, and accessories is as follows: (a) weekday: 6-24 hours per loan; (b) weekend: 72 continuous hours per loan. Requests for longer loan periods must be made at the time of the reservation and may be honored as the schedule permits.

RESERVING A STUDIO FACILITY
A production studio facility may be reserved up to two months in advance, provided the user consistently utilizes the reserved time for production of bonafide community access presentations. If reserved time is not used, access staff may require the user to reconfirm future reservations a few days before the scheduled dates of use.

RESERVING THE PRODUCTION VAN
The production van should be reserved at least 30 days in advance through the access manager. This is suggested because of possible scheduling conflicts related to use of the van by other access users or by Mediacom local origination staff. A pre-production information kit is available at the Mediacomstudio for van-users, and is especially recommended for first-timers. A pre-production consultation with the Mediacom van technician (in person or by phone) is required one week in advance of the production.

CANCELLING A RESERVATION
Whenever possible, cancellations should be made at least 24 hours in advance. The earlier a notice of cancellation is given, the more likely the time and/or equipment can be utilized by someone else.

CARE OF STUDIO AND CONTROL ROOM FACILITIES
Certified users and other participants are asked to keep the control room clear of nonessential personnel during production. Smoking, food, and drinks are not allowed in the control rooms and studios without the expressed permission of Mediacom staff on duty at the time.

BLANK VIDEOTAPES FOR ACCESS USE
Access producers are encouraged to purchase and use new blank videocassettes whenever possible in their productions, to assure that their master programs are recorded on the highest quality tape. Your own tapes may be reused as many times as you like, as long as they don't risk damage to access production or playback equipment.
Mediacom maintains a supply of blank videocassettes in VHS, S-VHS and 3/4" U-matic formats which producers may borrow and use, (but only for access productions) at no charge.
It is important that Mediacom's supply be continually recycled to meet the needs of all producers, and not be tied up for long periods with rough footage or unfinished programs. Therefore, two general limits apply to the borrowing of Mediacom-furnished tapes:

1. As a rule, no more than four hours (at standard recording speed) of blank videotape in any format or combination of formats may be borrowed at a time. Additional tapes may be borrowed as earlier ones are returned.
2. A producer should not keep a particular tape on loan for more than 90 days without authorization from Mediacom's access manager. After 90 days, and upon receipt of written notice from Mediacom, the producer shall have 30 days in which to return the overdue tapes, or replace them with a comparable brand, quality, and length of blank tape to Mediacom's satisfaction, or pay Mediacom the full cost of replacing the tape.
The access manager may waive both of the above standards in unusual cases where it is clear that the borrowed tapes are being used in access productions and regular progress is being made toward completion of programs for cablecasting.

PROGRAM CREATION, SUBMISSION AND PROMOTION
A program will be submitted for cablecasting no later than 90 days from the date of initial equipment use. If programming is not submitted, a notice will be sent to the access user by Mediacom. A consultation with the Mediacom staff as to the program status must then be arranged within 30 days.

Programs submitted for cablecastng on one of the public access channels should be provided to Mediacom at least I week prior to the cablecast date, to facilitate appropriate promotional efforts, newspaper schedule listings, etc. The user may also specify additional of alternate dates and times for cablecasting. Multiple airings of a particular program are encouraged. When timeliness of a program is essential, the scheduling and advance tape submission time may be waived. It may not be possible however to adequately promote a program schedule for airing on short notice, or to correct newspaper channel listings set for publishing on that date.

HOW LONG SHOULD A PROGRAM BE?
There are no required lengths or standard "time slots" which users must fill in a programming schedule on either community access television or radio. A program or message can be as long or as short as it needs to communicate the desired message.

FORMAT FOR RECORDED PRODUCTIONS
It is helpful to include an identification "slate" for 15 seconds at the beginning of each tape, followed by 5 seconds of video black, to reduce playback errors and to accommodate automatic playback equipment. At the end of the program, The user may want to include appropriate production credits. These credits may list the producer, director, writers, talent, etc., and should include the standard community access logo to fill time past the next half hour. Accurate program length in minutes and seconds should be noted on the tape label. Incorrect running times on tape labels can cause errors in cablecasting. For example, if a submitted program for 40 minutes of reserved air time turns out to be a 55-minute program, it might be terminated at 40 minutes to allow the next user's program to begin on schedule. If the title of a program is so obviously different from the tape label that staff has reason to believe wrong tape has been supplied, they might not air it as scheduled until they can contact the user who submitted the tape, for verification.

TECHNICAL QUALITY
Programs must meet minimum video and/or audio technical standards and be intelligible to the subscriber. Those programs which cannot be clearly seen and heard might not be aired as scheduled. Community access staff are available to teach and advise users on the proper techniques and cautions to use to assure a stable recording, and will assist in troubleshooting and correcting technical problems.

ACCESS PROGRAM CONTENT
Dubuque residents' freedom of speech in using Public Access channels of the local cable system is provided for and protected by both local and federal laws in accordance with the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution. Therefore, except for obscenity (as determined in a court of law), the specified content or views expressed in a community access program are not subject to prior censorship by an office of government or by the cable company.

The cable company may air periodic disclaimers that views expressed in community access programs do not reflect the position of the company. The company may not require individual access users to include such disclaimers in their own programs, although producers of controversial programs may wish to include a disclaimer voluntarily as a matter of courtesy.

However, as with other forms of free speech, there are significant legal and ethical responsibilities associated with the use of community access facilities and communication channels. For example, the speaker or producer of any community access program shall be held fully liable for any programming which violates the law or legal rights of another person, such as copyright violations, libelous or slanderous material, etc. It is the responsibility of the individual user to obtain the appropriate copyright and talent releases for any material used in production and cablecasting on community access channels.
The user of portable access equipment should be aware of the legal and ethical rights to privacy afforded any person, particularly when production is occurring on private property. In making his or her identity known, the access user shall not identify himself as an employee or representative of Mediacom of Dubuque or of any other group or organization he or she is not officially representing. The access user should make every effort to clearly and honesty disclose all pertinent aspects of the taping and how the recording will be used. Any liabilities arising out of clandestine recording or subsequent out-of-context editing shall rest entirely with the user.

OBSCENITY
No program, production, or presentation shall include any obscene material; such determination to be made in a court of law upon request of Mediacom, the Dubuque County Attorney, or any other concerned party.

NOT FOR COMMERCIAL OR FOR-PROFIT USE
Neither federal law nor Dubuque Cable Franchise Ordinance 42-81 provide for the free use of community access facilities, equipment or support services for any purpose other than the cablecasting of community access programming. Neither the equipment nor the services available through community access are intended to be used for private commercial gain, or in direct competition with local businesses who offer production services or video equipment rental to the public as their livelihood.
As a condition of using Mediacom's community programming facilities and equipment free of charge, no access user may solicit or accept payment for his or her production skills or time while engaged in an access production, unless that person is a bonafide employee of a legitimate nonprofit organization, working on that organization's production.

This policy does not prohibit the reimbursement of or assistance with out-of-pocket expenses, such as the cost of blank videotape or other materials, out-of-town mileage, etc. where the access user's time and expertise are donated on a volunteer basis.
The direct soliciting of monetary contributions on public access channels is prohibited. Advertising of a for-profit business or enterprise, conducting or promoting of a lottery or other illegal enterprise, or offering of any product or service for sale on the public access channels will be considered a violation of the conditions under which access facilities and equipment are made available at no charge for citizen use. Any access user found in violation of this policy forfeits all rights and privileges to use access equipment, facilities, and services for a period not to exceed one year.

UNDERWRITING CREDITS
Commercial programming or the promotion of a product or service for sale is contradictory to the purpose of community access programming and is strongly discouraged. However, a producer may use underwriting credits similar to those used in public broadcasting, to acknowledge any grants, production assistance, or donation of time or property used in the production of the access program. The access staff can suggest ways to appropriately acknowledge underwriting support without crossing over the boundary into commercialism.

ACCESS USE LOCAL
The access channels are to be used for local Dubuque produced programs. Nonlocally-produced programs may be cablecast content is of local interest and local presence is incorporated into the program. For example, the program could be introduced, interrupted, and/or followed by a taped or live discussion by local citizens. Also, written consent of the original producer of such a nonlocally-produced program should be obtained before including all or part of the program in an access cablecast.

WHO OWNS PROGRAM RIGHTS?
In the absence of any legal agreement to the contrary, the rights to a community access program remain with the producer. After the program has been cablecast, the producer may use it for any noncommercial purpose. However, Mediacom shall retain the right to use the program in the public interest for repeat cablecasts, training, promotion, and archival purposes. Apart from short clips which might be used for promotion, no program will be edited or revised by community access personnel except with permission of the producer or of a responsible representative of the producing organization. All video and audio tapes, except those purchased by the user, remain the property of Mediacom.

PRESERVING A COPY OF YOUR PROGRAM
A user must notify Mediacom within two weeks after the last scheduled cablecast if he/she wants to obtain a personal copy of the program. An access producer is entitled to a single videocassette dub of his or her program, (in addition to the master copy), provided that the producer supplies Mediacom with an equal quantity of new blank tape. Mediacom staff will also make no more than than two copies of each program for recognized archival purposes, i.e.: public and campus libraries, etc., when blank tape is supplied by the producer.

Mediacom shall not be held liable for damage or loss to any tape, program, or personal property. The user may wish to submit a high quality videotape copy rather than an original master for cablecasting.

ACCESS POLICY REVIEW
The general trends of use of these facilities and this equipment will be reviewed periodically by the Cable Community Teleprogramrning Commission. Policies will be adopted or altered as the commission feels necessary to preserve and promote the rights of all citizens for equal access to the cable medium, Citizen recommendations and concerns may be directed to:

CABLE FRANCHISE ADMINISTRATOR City Hall Annex, 1300 Main St., Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4732. Tel. (563) 589-4181