Thurston Community Media, the county's sole public broadcast station, will lose its funding at the end of the year, after Olympia, Tumwater and Thurston County issued a letter stating their six-month contracts with the nonprofit corporation would be their last.
It puts the future of the region's four public access channels in jeopardy and the nonprofit's leaders are scratching their heads ask they seek solutions to keep the channels open.
TCMedia's beginnings
Meagan Murphy Ross, TCMedia board president, said TCMedia began as a grassroots effort in the county in 1983. She said folks saw there was a void in Olympia and greater Thurston County when it came to having a local broadcast station. Cities like Seattle have affiliate stations such as FOX and ABC, but there wasn't a broadcast TV license available for Thurston County.
Then in 1983-84, Congress passed the Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act, renewing franchises and allowing the leaders of what was once known as Thurston Community Television to get their foot in the door of the broadcast world. TCTV was then incorporated as a nonprofit corporation.
It was a few years later that the nonprofit scored its first contract with the City of Olympia, after the city acquired a facility and cable access. The City of Lacey and Thurston County both followed suit. Then Tumwater joined in 10 years later.
Murphy Ross said the contracts the nonprofit has had with the jurisdictions have included the operation of a public, educational and government access facility, which is their studio space at 440 Yauger Way SW. They've also included the management of channels 3, 22, 26 and 77. On top of that, TCMedia is tasked with teaching people how to use media production equipment, allow people to check equipment out for projects and more.
It was in 1991 that TCMedia recorded and broadcast its first Olympia City Council meeting.
"About 65% of services we've provided over the years have been to support the community and public access," Murphy Ross said. "Then the rest is for the local government to create programming and manage channels on their behalf."
TCMedia now covers city council meetings, commission meetings, the League of Women Voters events, candidate forums, school official roundtables, faith-based programs and more.
Funding a broadcast station
Murphy Ross said TCMedia's budget for 2023 was about $852,000. She said 38% of that comes from contracts with Thurston County, another 21% from Olympia, 15% from Lacey and 10% from Tumwater. The last 16% is TCMedia-generated money, through equipment and facility use fees, training, services for productions, consulting, tech support, fundraising, grants and donations.
But the nonprofit has to pay Public, Educational and Government (PEG) fees and franchise fees. Each jurisdiction has an agreement with cable operator Comcast to conduct business through public rights of way, allowing the cities to broadcast to local channels.
The PEG fees, which are collected from cable subscribers, are 30 cents per cable subscriber per month, or $3.60 per year, used solely to support capital expenses related to channel operations. The franchise fee is equal to 5% of gross revenue from cable subscriptions. Those funds are used by Comcast to string cable lines and conduct other business in public rights of way, and they could be used for other purposes.
Until 2021, Murphy Ross said TCMedia had been lucky to not have to pay rent for its studios on Yauger Way. Over the last 30 years the rent has been deducted from the franchise fee the cable operators had to pay. But TCMedia had to take on its rent in January 2022 after Comcast said it wouldn't provide space anymore.
Cable TV stations across the country have been losing their battle with streaming services for years. Murphy Ross said a rough estimate is TCMedia has seen a 25% to 35% decline in franchise fee revenue in the past 5 years.
Murphy Ross said TCMedia's contracts have been getting renewed about every six months. All four jurisdictions worked together in the summer of 2022 to issue a Request for Proposals for continuing to provide the broadcast channels into the fall, and TCMedia responded with a plan. It included continuing to provide what they have been for 36 years, and more, including moving to streaming services. The conversation was tabled until the end of the year, and there were whispers of changes to come.
That conversation never came, and instead TCMedia's contract was extended into 2023. Then the nonprofit was issued a letter Aug. 5 from all jurisdictions but Lacey, saying their business relationship with TCMedia would come to an end Dec. 31.
Murphy Ross said she thinks the decision came for a number of reasons, including some of the cities wanting to pull their media fully in house, and because the cities haven't been pleased with some of TCMedia's decisions, including negotiating to stay in their current building. But the nonprofit still has questions about the future of public access in the state capital.
"We have some unanswered questions that we will continue to try to get answers to," Murphy Ross said. "One of those is if they take government programming and production services in house, what happens to the public access channel? Will there be a public access channel?"
For a couple of weeks, CEO Deborah Vinsel said the conversation with the jurisdictions has been a one-way street. TCMedia reached out to local leaders with their questions about the future, and they didn't receive a reply until Aug. 16, when Olympia City Manager Jay Burney contacted them to "discuss the transition," Murphy Ross said.
Murphy Ross is hoping she can talk to Burney about the possibility for financial support to keep the channels running in some form. She said she wonders if there are any grants to support arts and culture that TCMedia might be eligible for.
Either way, she said it's clear there will be changes in the future. Operating hours may have to be adjusted, staffing might have to change, and subscription fees will likely increase.
"Long term, which is 2024 and beyond now, it's evident that in some way, shape, or form TCMedia services and operations will have to restructure," she said.
Murphy Ross said if TCMedia doesn't get to be part of the public access channel, it will transition to solely being on streaming services. But that's not free, nor are streaming services the most accessible. She said the nonprofit will continue seeking alternative funding sources and applying for grants to keep services affordable. And the public can get involved.
Murphy Ross encouraged residents during an informational meeting Aug. 10 to go to tcmedia.org and the page, "Keep TCMedia for the Community" for more information about how to get involved, and to contact local leaders about continuing to support the public access channels. There's information on the page for council and commission members, a template for drafting a letter to them, and a calendar of upcoming meetings.
"We'd like for you to ask the elected officials to continue support for TCMedia, for the community, for public access with a new contract," she said. "We need you to tell them why TCMedia is important to you. We need you to tell them why TC Media is a valuable resource for the entire community."
There will also be a TCMedia event to recognize volunteers and producers Aug. 30 at Yauger Park. Some producers will be recording testimonials from event goers about the importance of TCMedia and keeping public access channels open.
