WATERTOWN – Watertown Cable Access Corp (WCA-TV) and the City of Watertown will be holding a Public Ascertainment Hearing on Monday, May 19 at 6:00 PM in the City Council Chambers at City Hall. This hearing will take place in advance of formal negotiations with Comcast regarding the renewal of the city’s 10-year cable license, which is set to expire in October 2025. Comcast, City officials, and WCA-TV’s Board of Directors will be present to hear from the community directly and gather feedback on the following topics: 

• Comcast’s compliance with its currently existing cable license
• The city’s future needs are related to cable access
• The impact of WCA-TV and why local television is such a vital resource for the city

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Why This Matters:
A cable license is important because it delivers programming to cable TV subscribers, offers free cable TV connections to the city, schools, and community locations, and provides essential community media funding support. For WCA-TV, cable funding makes up about 98% of their annual revenue, which is the case for many other community media stations across the country. Without a cable license, community media stations would cease to exist.

While WCA-TV currently receives the maximum percentage of Comcast’s gross annual revenue allowed by law (5%), a top priority for this renewal is securing increased capital funding. These funds support necessary upgrades to equipment and facilities. With a 6–8% annual drop in cable subscribers in recent years—and no alternative revenue stream—additional capital support will be vital to sustain WCA-TV’s abilities to cover local events, offer multimedia training, upgrade aging equipment, and maintain production quality.

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Participation:
For those planning to attend the hearing, please consider the following questions:

• What public locations would benefit the most from live broadcasting capabilities?
• Where would additional equipment (e.g. cameras, microphones, lighting) enhance coverage?
• What are some accessibility needs (e.g. closed captioning, translation services, ASL interpretation) that are not already being addressed?
• What other resources can WCA-TV provide or expand on? (e.g. coverage or posting of additional meetings, live broadcasts of more events)
• What other PEG resources can Comcast provide or expand on? (e.g. HD channels, program guide)
• What are some comments or concerns that you have about Comcast’s current services? (e.g. cable access in public buildings, cable service availability, rates, customer service)

Speakers will be limited to three minutes to allow as many voices as possible to be heard. The hearing will also feature a series of short video presentations created by WCA-TV.

For those unable to attend in person, remote participation will be available using the following link: https://watertown-ma.zoom.us/j/84156955733

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Contact:
To ask questions, learn more, or submit written testimony, contact:
Andrea Santopietro, Executive Director
Email: [email protected]

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About WCA-TV
Watertown Cable Access Corporation (WCA-TV) is a public access media center dedicated to empowering the diverse residents of the vibrant city of Watertown, Massachusetts, to tell their own stories. WCA-TV is a welcoming space where all voices can be heard, offering its members the opportunity to build state-of-the-art multimedia skills and broadcast-quality content through affordable education and access to equipment. WCA-TV also informs Watertown residents about issues that affect them through public, educational, and governmental (PEG) programming.

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