News » Cablecast Lottery Returns for New Season

The lottery for the next season is Saturday, June 30th from noon to 4pm in the conference room at Access Tucson. Applications are due Wednesday, June 27th by 9pm. The new season starts Monday, July 30th.

Lottery Rules and Channel Grids pdf (5 pages, 125KB)

Lottery Application Form pdf (49KB)

The City of Tucson and Cox Communications recently finished the three year renewal process for the cable TV license which started in 2004. Toward the end of the negotiations, Access Tucson decided to extend the cablecast times that were scheduled during the lottery for the Fall 2006/Winter 2007 season knowing major changes were coming.

When all was said and done, Access Tucson faired pretty well in the renewal process due to the strong support of the City Council. Access Tucson will continue to operate three channels (a combination of both analog and digital channels) plus we gain a new opportunity with video-on-demand (VOD). With VOD, digital viewers will be able to watch your show anytime they want at no additional cost.

These changes affecting PEG channels will happen in two phases. The first phase will occur on Monday, July 30, 2007. Access Tucson analog channel 97 Cox (72 Comcast) will become a digital channel. The channel number will be 120 on Cox but only digital subscribers will be able to receive it. Channel 72 will remain the same for Comcast subscribers.

The two remaining channels, 98 and 99 Cox (73 and 74 Comcast) will continue to be analog channels until Cox reaches 65% penetration of digital subscribers. Cox estimates that they will reach this percentage anytime between July 30, 2007 and December 2009. When this second phase happens, Access Tucson will end up with 2 digital channels, 1 analog channel and up to 2,000 hours of video-on-demand.

For the first phase starting in less than two months, the decision was made to make as few changes as possible. Operations and production will remain the same. The only difference will be that channel 97 will become a digital channel for Cox subscribers. Since the second phase (2 digital channels, 1 analog channel and up to 2,000 hours of video-on-demand) is probably at least a year away, Access Tucson will use this time to investigate all possible programming options and opportunities.

To this end, Access Tucson has created a programming and public relations committee comprised of staff, board members and member producers to discuss all the issues and changes involved with the second phase. We are very concerned with creating a fair balance of programming on both analog and digital channels, keeping in mind that Access Tucson serves three major constituencies: members, non-profit organizations and viewers.

Although the next year or so may be a little challenging for us all, remember this transition from analog to digital is happening all over the country because of the Federal Communications Commission’s mandate for all broadcast TV stations to transmit shows digitally by February 17, 2009. I am personally very excited by the new possibilities that are coming our way as viewers and media producers. More and more of us are preparing for the future, embracing the digital revolution and relishing our freedom from the constraints of the TV schedule. We watch the shows we want to watch when and where we want through the technology of digital video recorders (DVR and TiVo), digital cable’s VOD service, devices for putting Internet content on TV like Apple TV and mobile devices like the iPod and V-cast phones.

In the short run during the transition from the first phase to the second phase, you may feel like you are losing part of your audience but in the long run, we as a whole will increase our audience exponentially, improve our quality and continue to remain relevant within the on-going digital revolution.

Access Tucson will continue the cablecast lottery system in order to fairly determine cablecast timeslots for all current and new series. The lottery for the next season is Saturday, June 30th from noon to 4pm in the conference room at Access Tucson. You will notice a few changes put in place to help balance the opportunities for producers to take advantage of both analog and digital channels.

Producers are strongly encouraged to make their own promos to cablecast on the channels to alert viewers of their cablecast times. Access Tucson will be providing some production slots and assistance through the PromoDaze service. If you have any questions regarding PromoDaze production preparation, please contact a facilitator. Sign up for a PromoDaze slot at the Front Desk.

Please review the channel grids and the lottery rules pdf document above before you fill out your lottery application (above as a pdf). Applications are due Wednesday, June 27th by 9pm. If you have any questions about the lottery or the upcoming changes to the channels, please do not hesitate to call me at 624-9833 or come to the Lottery Workshop: Discover Your Digital Destiny on June 23rd at 2pm in the conference room to have your questions answered.

Sincerely,
Vikki Dempsey
Program Manager