BEVERLY HILLS NEWS OPINION November 3, 1994
Council threatening right to free speech
Letters to the editor
My name is Roger Martin, and I am on staff at Beverly Hills Community Access television station which airs over Century Cable on Channel three in Beverly Hills. I began with BHTV in Spring of 1990 to launch a new adventure, and I have not been disappointed! Less than a year after I began on staff, Jim Lichnerowicz and I began producing a TV series entitled
Out & About with Roger Martin,
whereby we would travel around Southern California and the Southwest to explore, educate, and entertain the viewers.
Since we went on the air on June 18, 1990 with our first programs, BHTV has been there to bring the community of Beverly Hills together! To give free air time to anyone who had a voice and who wanted to be heard. The City established a Board of Directors to govern this million dollar facility, and citizens in 1990 waited in line to be the first ones to produce their programs and air their views. Somewhere along the line, there was a big misunderstanding just who would maintain this community showcase! Board of Directors? Or funding from the City?
Many access facilities throughout the country designate their franchise fees obtained from the cable company to be strictly for the operation of the people's access channel. This is the case in the City of West Hollywood, and those fees support that channel for our neighbors to the east. There was an oversight by the Beverly Hills City Attorney, in that he did not see that significance when the franchise agreement was first drawn up. It may have been more convenient to throw those dollars into the General Fund for even being in Beverly Hills; A percentage of their profits belong to BHTV, and we want it!
A sad truth I have personally learned about Community Access vs. the local cable companies, is that Government Access always ends up with control of the dollars. Government gets the better television equipment. Something of course controlled by the Council of our city governments. The people always get only the bare minimum of funding for their facilities. Now, isn't that nice! The same people who elect the council get...the short end of the stick and have to constantly fight for their rights...again.
Nowhere but through our Community Access Channel 3 in Beverly Hills do the Citizens of Beverly Hills have total freedom to speak without influence or censorship from Corporations or Government. Here is the key to just how important maintaining BHTV really is! Now, our bastion of free speech stands threatened by the Cable Companies and City Governments of this nation. And Beverly Hills, a leading City of this nation, indeed the world, is considering tampering with our rights, and setting a dangerous precedent for the rest of the country.
Roger Martin
Reprinted from BEVERLY HILLS NEWS November 3, 1994