Producer Rules & Regulations

Avon Lake Community Television Rules and Regulations

General
1. The use of Avon Lake Community Television’s Public Access facility and equipment is limited to Avon Lake residents 18 years and older, and Avon Lake groups, organizations, clubs, businesses and enterprises to produce noncommercial, informational programming for viewing by the general public. Television opportunities for those Avon Lake residents under 18 years of age may be available with the responsible direction of a parent or guardian.
2. All community producers must provide their driver’s license or state ID as proof of residency.
3. Before using the public access designated facilities and specified equipment, all community producers and ALC-TV volunteers must complete a required remote, studio, and editing training session, and show competency in the handling and operation of all equipment.
4. Studio equipment use is designated by a first come, first serve basis. An “Equipment Use” form must be completed by the community producer, and must be signed out and checked in by staff.
5. Community producers using the access equipment may identify themselves as “community producers,” but not as staff members or representatives of ALC-TV in any manner.
6. All community producers are responsible for the repair or replacement of any equipment that is damaged or lost. Producers are also responsible for any injuries to themselves and their crew members.
7. The producer of each community produced program must complete the “ALC-TV Community Producer Agreement Playback Application” for each program aired. Community producers agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the City of Avon Lake, Avon Lake Community Television and their respective officials, directors, representatives and employees from liability and legal fees and expenses incurred as a result of the production and airing of all programs.
8. Programs submitted for playback must clearly identify the person or organization submitting the program at the end of each program.
9. All programming produced for Avon Lake Community Television must conform to all current FCC rules and regulations.
10. All programming submitted will be reviewed by staff for conformity with these rules and regulations.
11. Nonresidents requesting the airing of a program on the Public Access Channel that was not produced using ALC-TV staff, equipment, or facilities must have an Avon Lake sponsor.
12. ALC-TV cannot guarantee program airdates, time slots, post-production completion or airing frequency for any program or community producer. These criteria will be determined solely by ALC-TV. 
13. ALC-TV reserves the right to run disclaimers before programming informing viewers of content.
14. ALC-TV reserves the right to not rerun a show. 
15. ALC-TV accepts no responsibility for media or program material. We take precautions, but cannot accept responsibility for lost, erased or damaged media.
16. A staff member must be on site when a member of the general public is using the public access studio and facilities. 
17. All playback and bulletin board equipment is to be operated by staff only.
18. Copies of programs can be provided for a dubbing fee.
19. ALC-TV has the discretion to stream or not stream public and government shows or portion of shows on the Internet.

Copyright and Ownership
21. Producers maintain ownership of the content of the programming they produce.
22. ALC-TV has the right to retain copies of any programming aired on the access stations. Shows may be re-aired without producer’s permission indefinitely.
23. The public/viewers may purchase copies of any and all recordings of community producers that are aired on ALC-TV with the funds going solely to ALC-TV. If requester or organization is not featured in the video, then the requester cannot purchase a copy unless a blank authorization has been signed by the producer and/or featured guest.
24. All copyright laws regarding subject matter, trademarks, logos, and music must be strictly observed. Any copyright releases must be in writing from the holder and in possession of ALC-TV. Community producers assume full responsibility for any disputes arising from any unauthorized use of copyrighted materials.
25. All government, school and community meetings, events, concerts, etc. are considered public. Therefore, all persons in attendance may be taped and broadcast on ALC-TV.

Censorship / Screening
26. Community producers are required to alert ALC-TV staff to programming that may be inappropriate for younger viewers.
27. ALC-TV staff is not qualified nor authorized to advise community producers on the legality of material.
28. ALC-TV reserves the right to have Avon Lake’s legal counsel review programming content for compliance within these rules and regulations and the rules and regulations of the FCC.

Underwriting /Program Sponsorship
29. Community producers may seek monetary and non-monetary sponsorship to help defray production costs.
30. Producers must follow strict underwriting and sponsorship guidelines as outlined in the “underwriting guidelines” form.
31. Underwriting must be limited to direct costs associated with the production.
32. Sponsorship proposals must be submitted to ALC-TV in advance.
33. ALC-TV reserves the right to approve or disapprove of funding proposals.
34. Underwriting credits may appear before and after the program and must be limited to the sponsor’s name, address, phone number, e-mail and web page.
35. Producers must solicit sponsorship as individuals and not use ALC-TV or the City of Avon Lake as a partner.
36. ALC-TV accepts no liability for disputes between community producers and underwriters/sponsors.

Financial Gain
37. The equipment ALC-TV makes available to community producers may not be used to produce materials for sale or profit.

Political Programming
38. Political speech is encouraged providing producers and guests abide by all rules and regulations on the Public Access Channel.
39. Political programming will be subject to all channel space rules.

Public Bulletin Board
40. The Public Access Channel bulletin board is for Avon Lake community event/public service announcements only. These must be submitted two weeks prior to airing in a “who, what, when, where, and how” format including a contact phone number. Messages will not necessarily appear verbatim when aired.

Government Access Channel
41. Information pertaining to Avon Lake government activities, events, issues, legislation and meetings will be aired on the Government Access Channel. The primary objectives are:

  • To provide governmental information to the residents of Avon Lake.
  • To increase awareness of the activities and deliberations of the legislative and other governmental bodies.
  • To increase the residents’ awareness of governmental functions.

42. Programming aired on the Government Access Channel must originate from a federal, state, county or local governmental entity.
43. Issues before the voters and candidates for elected office shall not be included on ALC-TV Access programming during the time period fourteen (14) days before an election with the exception of official government meetings and regularly scheduled governments programs.
44. The ALC-TV Manager has the right to quantify coverage of an incumbent’s candidacy in comparison to the other candidates.

For copyright information: Library of Congress, Copyright Office 101 Independence Ave. S. E., Washington D.C. 20559; or www.loc.gov/copyright; or (202) 707-3000.
BC/2017

Producer Agreement