KAHULUI - The state Cable Television Division is proceeding with public hearings on a proposal to establish rules for awarding contracts to manage public, educational and governmental access on cable television to comply with state procurement laws.
The move to contract for PEG access by competitive bidding is opposed by current operators, including Akaku: Maui Community Television, which has been operating PEG access in Maui County for 20 years.
Information on Akaku's operations and its reasons for objecting to the proposed procurement process through competitive bidding can be found on the Akaku Web site at www.akaku.org. Akaku says the change in methods for awarding management contracts is counterproductive to the purposes of PEG access.
"When the federal government in 1984 imposed the mandate for public access, it said the cable television model does not support the open access for the public that is needed," said attorney Lance Collins, who represents Akaku in two civil actions on the state decision.
"It is forcing the program into a market-based competitive situation that could defeat the purpose of providing free and open public access."
In Maui County, the hearings are scheduled for:
* Oct 7 on Molokai, from 3 to 5 p.m. at Kulana Oiwi, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and Office of Hawaiian Affairs complex.
* Oct. 8 on Maui, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Cameron Center.
Information on the proposed rule can be found through the Akaku site or at www.hawaii.gov/dcca.
Written comments also may be submitted to the Cable Television Division, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, 335 Merchant St., Room 101, Honolulu 96813; fax (808) 586-2625; or e-mail cabletv@dcca.hawaii.gov. The deadline for comments is Oct. 13. Anyone presenting written comments in person is asked to provide four copies.
The hearings are scheduled to begin Tuesday on the Big Island. On Molokai, the hearing has been publicized as a meeting of the Governor's Molokai Community Advisory Council at which Cable Television Division officials will discuss the proposed rules and accept community input.
The move to amend the Cable Television Division's administrative rules (HAR 16-131) would establish standards for the division director to issue contracts for managing PEG access through a competitive bidding process. Previously, agreements for managing PEG access were awarded through a nonbid process to the nonprofit organizations that were set up in each of the counties to handle the PEG programming.
Akaku challenged the move to require competitive bidding but has been unable to block a decision by the state Procurement Office that PEG management contracts are subject to normal state bidding requirements.
Collins said the suit on the issue remains active, with a decision expected today by 2nd Circuit Judge Joel August on requiring the release of an attorney general's opinion that is the basis for the procurement decision.
While Akaku remains opposed to a competitive bidding process, Collins said the proposed rules are a step forward on the issues since they do establish standards for awarding management contracts.
"Akaku is happy that finally they're going to have standards for some of the kinds of services expected of PEG access. When you have that, you don't have to worry about what you're supposed to be getting," he said.
At the same time, he noted that a task force mandated by a state House resolution in the last session is asking the Cable Television Division to delay action on the rules while the task force continues its review.
Under the proposed rule, the cable division director would be required to consider a number of factors that could favor existing operators, including the technical qualifications and experience of the organization and its staff and the organization's "short-term and long-term plans for PEG access services."
There is a specific provision that the director consider "whether the organization agrees to expand the marketplace of ideas, and is committed to allowing members of the public to express their First Amendment free speech rights."
PEG access is required by federal and state laws providing for licensing of cable television services. Under the state law, a cable television provider such as Oceanic Time-Warner Cable in Maui County must set aside five channels to provide for public access, educational and governmental programming. A cable television provider also must allocate 3 percent of its fees to support an organization to manage the PEG access channels.
In Maui County, Akaku was organized as a nonprofit to manage the PEG access channels, supported by donations and grants when there was very little income generated by the cable user fee. It directly operates programming on three cable channels for public and governmental access, Channels 52, 53 and 54, with Channel 53 designated for governmental programming such as broadcasts of County Council meetings.
Channel 55 is designated for use by Maui Community College, while Channel 56 is designated for use by the state Department of Education.
Under the original contract, Akaku controlled the cable user fees for PEG access, which was the root of a dispute that resulted in the review of the contract awards by the state Procurement Office. MCC, which operates its own media center both as part of its curriculum as well as its distance-learning program, had sought a share of the franchise fees for its own use, demanding a 33 percent share - which had blossomed to more than $700,000 a year with the expansion of the cable service.
The Akaku board had been offering 14 percent but also requiring MCC to provide a full accounting on the use of fees allocated to the college.
In a June 2003 memorandum, board member Jay April - now Akaku chief executive officer - explained that MCC's use of Channel 55 was seen as "a dedicated, institutional and not a true educational access channel. . . . It provides no real access to Maui's educational community at large."
April said Akaku was providing full educational access on its Channel 52, "which for all practical purposes serves as a combination Public Access Channel as well as an Educational Access channel."
The dispute erupted into a sharp division in the Akaku board in 2005, when Chairman Myles Inokuma signed an agreement awarding 25 percent of the cable fee revenues directly to MCC and the state Department of Education's Maui District office. In the board battle that followed, Inokuma was dismissed as chairman while Akaku Executive Director Sean McLaughlin was also fired.
In a mediated settlement overseen by 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza in January 2006, Akaku agreed to the 25 percent allocation to MCC and DOE. In August 2006, the board, unable to resolve other differences, agreed to resign to allow Cardoza to appoint a new slate of board members.
* Edwin Tanji can be reached at citydesk@mauinews.com.
