It doesn’t seem possible that another year has passed. My oldest daughter just turned seven years old, and she was born just a few days from the incorporation of VCAM. So VCAM is now seven. It really does -- pardon the cliché -- seem like only yesterday. But there’s no denying it. It really is 2008, and it’s a different world from the one VCAM was born into. Nobody in 2001 had heard of YouTube. If you said “TiVo” to someone back then they might look at you strangely. “Viral” video was maybe discussed in small circles, but certainly not in mainstream media as it is today. Political candidates ignore the web at their peril. So what does this “new media” landscape mean for access centers in 2008, and more importantly, what does it mean for 2013?

That’s the big question, isn’t it? As president of VAN, I get to work with access centers across the state, the Public Service Board, the Department of Public Service and the cable companies. From my view, it is evident that Vermont will soon be engaged in a vigorous dialogue about what community media will look like in the coming years. Cable access stations began proliferating widely in the U.S. over 20 years ago and the regulatory structure and legislative language governing PEG access reflects the time it was written. But it’s a whole new world now and we have to look at community media from today’s point of view.

The cable companies are also trying to figure out what the years ahead mean for them. 2007 was the year that Digital Video Recorders and “On-Demand” became a part of my own family’s media consumption – actually more than just a part – digital media has become the primary mode of TV watching in our household. I know that one day in the not too distant future, I will have a conversation with one of my daughters about how we used to have to be in front of our TV at a certain time to catch our favorite program. And I know that on that day my daughter will look at me in disbelief and wonder how we ever tolerated such a thing. My kids will grow up watching their programs whenever and wherever they want. It is imperative that we strive – and even fight, if necessary – to ensure that community media is alive and kicking in this new media paradigm.

Just one example of this shifting television paradigm is the interactive program guide that has become a ubiquitous part of digital TV services. For 20 years the cable companies in Vermont have been paying for PEG access channels to have their programming listed on the "electronic programming guide". This meant that cable subscribers could tune in to channel 2, the TV Guide channel (formally the Prevue Guide channel), and wait for their local access channel to scroll up on the listings that Adelphia paid for the channels to have. But technology has shifted and most cable subscribers now use interactive program guides that they can access with the touch of a button. These program guides allow subscribers to scroll through the schedule and select programming from a menu rather than having to wait for a scrolling list to get to the channel the subscriber is interested in. Cable companies know this is how most people get their listings and Comcast, in the Burlington area, has buried the all-but-obsolete TV Guide channel up at channel 182, no longer part of the basic analog tier. This means that fewer people are able to find out what’s on their local access channels. It would seem the answer would be to just have local programming listed on the digital interactive guide along side all of the other channels’ programming. However, Comcast has told us that they are unable to add PEG channels to the interactive program guide for technical reasons. So what happens is that all those cable subscribers who want to TiVo their local select board meeting, or want to find out when there favorite public access show is on, are out of luck. Because PEG listings are not available in the interactive program guide, they are virtually invisible to most cable subscribers. In this way, PEG access channels are being left behind the in the shift to digital media consumption.

That can’t happen. We have to partner with the cable companies and the regulatory entities to ensure that the last 20-30 years of developing a vibrant and engaged community media environment continues – not for the benefit of the few who have the control of the digital media but for the broader public. Whether that means PEG access listings on the interactive guides, access programs on-demand (either cable or internet-based), access channels in HD or simply a digital camera in the hands of some engaged citizen, it is something that we will have to make happen. We play too important of a role in our communities for us to just allow access to die with analog. We must grow into the new media landscape and embrace these digital technologies as opportunities to further democratize media and amplify the voices of the local community. I hope that you will join with us in this endeavor. Together we can ensure that the voice that community media gave to my peers and me will be there for my daughters when they need it.