Members of the public are being asked to complete surveys to help Oxford Community Television (OCTV) secure funding that’s needed to keep the local public access station and its programming on the air.

Between now and Nov. 1, residents of Oxford and Addison townships, along with the villages of Oxford and Leonard, can participate in a “needs assessment survey” that consists of six yes-or-no questions.

Copies are available at both township halls, the Oxford Village office and the Oxford Township Parks and Rec. administrative office in Seymour Lake Park. The survey can also be found on OCTV’s Facebook page.

OCTV staff members and volunteers will be distributing the survey at high school sporting events and community events.

The survey asks folks how important the following things are to them: local news and information, local school sports and events, local health and education news and local government decisions. The survey also asks people point-blank, “Do you wish to keep OCTV as your local television station for our community?”

Charter/Spectrum is requiring OCTV to conduct this survey to “justify” paying PEG fees as part of its new franchise agreement with the two townships and two villages, according to OCTV Production Manager Teri Stiles. The communities had requested PEG fees be paid, but the cable provider declined to include them in the new agreement, she explained.

“Charter has given each community until Nov. 1, 2019 to return the results of the survey,” Stiles said.

PEG stands for public, educational and governmental. It refers to the channels used by stations like OCTV to air programming containing local content.

PEG fees are restricted in that they can only be used for capital expenditures related to PEG channels. They can be up to 2 percent of a cable provider’s gross revenues as defined in the franchise agreement. Subscribers typically pay PEG fees as cable providers usually pass these costs along to them via their monthly bills.

Due to recent changes at the state and federal levels, the franchise fees which have been funding OCTV are “in jeopardy,” according to Stiles. Cable operators will be allowed to assign a monetary value to the PEG channels they’re required to set aside for local use and any other in-kind contributions they make, such as free service to schools and municipal facilities, then deduct that amount from the franchise fees they pay to communities.

Franchise fees are what cable providers pay municipalities for use of the public right-of-way. These fees are passed along to cable subscribers on their monthly bills.

Stiles said since franchise fees, which are OCTV’s “sole (source of) revenue,” are “in jeopardy,” the station is “asking for PEG fees” to help “offset” this potential loss of critical funding.