Falls Area Community Television is a non-profit Access Management Organization (AMO) dedicated to serving the public, educational and government sectors of the greater Bellows Falls region. Our studio is located at 1 Hospital Court in the Health Center at Bellows Falls.
The mission of Falls Area Community Television is to provide all community members the opportunity to produce and view local programming on the PEG access channels. We are committed to serving the Public, Educational and Government sectors of the community on a first-come, first-serve, nondiscriminatory basis. Furthermore, we aim to advance democratic ideals by ensuring that people have access to electronic media and by promoting effective communication through community uses of media.
Goals and Objectives
· To provide 24 hour access on channels 1082 & 1083 on Comcast and channels 172 & 173 on Vtel cable. seven days a week.
· To encourage community use of the facility and equipment.
· To encourage community involvement in creating programs.
· To provide instruction in the proper use, care and maintenance of equipment.
· To encourage student programming and use of equipment.
· To provide a proper site and equipment for programming.
· To provide 5-6 daily hours of live or taped programming.
· To provide for sponsorship and PSAs on the community bulletin board whenever programming is not running.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q) What is PEG access television?
A) As indicated by the Mission Statement above, the purpose of PEG (public, educational and government) access television is to provide equipment, training and airtime so that members of the community we serve are empowered to produce local television. The channel is available to any cable television subscriber residing in our area of coverage. Anyone may become a member of the station and contribute programming, whether they are a cable subscriber or not.
Q) Who makes all of these programs?
A) With the exception of municipal and school boards from which FACT receives funding to cover their meetings as a service to the community, all programming on Falls Area Community Television is produced by volunteers. FACT as an organization does not produce programs for cablecasting; we are here to provide people the means of creating community media, not to dictate the content ourselves.
Q) How do I get involved?
A) There are a number of ways you can get involved in creating a television program at FACT. If you simply want to host an in-studio talk show, there is no need to take any camera or editing classes; you can simply schedule a recurring day and time to record your program at the FACT studio, and a technician will take care of the camera switching. If you wish to record a program outside of the studio, you will need to take our orientation and training classes before you can sign out FACT camera equipment, or sign up for editing time. (Note that you will be responsible for editing your final program, as well as shooting it!) If you have your own video equipment, you are welcome to produce your program independently and submit it to us. For more information, see the Get Involved section.
Q) How much local "airtime" can my program have?
A) Your program will air a minimum of two times per week. In order to keep all programming balanced, we will adjust the number of weekly airings in accordance with how often the show is produced (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc).
Q) Are there restrictions on my program's content?
A) As PEG access television is non-commercial, there must be no commercial content in any program you submit (no blatant advertising, no promotion of services with prices, etc.) Also, the content cannot be slanderous against another person, nor can it break any state or federal laws. For content that might be inappropriate for young audiences, FACT reserves the right to air the program at a later time, out of consideration for the viewers.
Q) I saw a program on FACT that offended me, will FACT pull it off the air?
A) Unless a program is inappropriate for PEG access broadcast in some way (see the above question), FACT will not censor its volunteer producers. If you disagree with the viewpoint of a FACT producer, why not create your own program to express your own views?
Q) How long will it take before my program gets on the air?
A) Unless you are routinely producing and submitting a program on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, it will take up to two weeks before your program is scheduled for cablecasting. This is to give us time to review the program, and to place it in the weekly schedule, which is put together one week in advance.
Q) How long can I keep FACT camera equipment, after signing it out?
A) As a general rule, equipment is due back the next day. If signed out on a Friday, it would be due back on Monday due to the station being closed over the weekend. If you need to keep camera equipment for a longer period of time, you will need to make arrangements with FACT in advance. Note that we cannot guarantee the availability of video equipment for extended periods of time; please keep in mind that other producers are routinely using the equipment as well.
Q) When submitting a PSA for the Community Bulletin Board, what are the guidelines?
A) For events or announcements to be posted on the Community Bulletin Board, please provide only the essential information (no more than half a page) ... do not submit full press releases, like you might send to a newspaper, as we cannot post so many words to the screen and have them readable in a short span of time. If you have a graphic image you'd like to use, please make sure that it is 640 by 480 pixels in size, and saved in either the JPEG or PICT format. For more information, see the Submit a PSA section.
Q) My business would like to sponsor FACT, how does this work?
A) Falls Area Community Television allows for local businesses to have a sponsorship page on our Community Bulletin Board, similar to the sponsorships you see on public television. A sponsorship page costs $50 per month can contain an image of the business, contact information and a slogan. Prices, sale promotions, "coupons" or other ad content are not permitted ... this is non-commercial television, and advertisements are not allowed. For more information, feel free to contact us.
