College Cable TV Policy

The Volunteer State Community College Cable TV access channel shall operate on Comcast Channel 19 and AT&T Uverse Channel 99, and shall use the designation Volunteer State Community College TV, Comcast Channel 19, Uverse Channel 99. It shall be the goal of this channel to provide educational and public access programming to the citizens of Gallatin and other Gallatin Comcast and AT&T Uverse System customers. Live and recorded programming will be utilized when available during weekdays. Network programming or an Alpha-Numeric Information Service will run during all other hours.

Objective

The fundamental purposes of the educational and public access channel are as follows:

• To promote the education of citizens by presenting educational and cultural programs beneficial to the citizens served by the system.
• To promote the education of the College's citizens concerning local government by cable casting public meetings of interest to the community as deemed appropriate and beneficial to the College's citizens.
• To inform the citizenry at large about programs and public services provided by College departments and College-sponsored events. And departments and/or agencies or events sponsored by said departments and/or agencies.
• To explain the opportunities for citizen participation in programs and services.
• To provide information on public health, safety, and welfare issues.
• To provide public access to the Gallatin community for various subjects.

Policies and Responsibilities

• The Vol State Cable Channel, facilities, and programming operate under the jurisdiction of the Volunteer State Community College. Responsibility for programming lies with the college president and/or his designee.
• The Volunteer State Internal Instructional Assessment Committee shall periodically review the programming, policies, and operations of the Vol State Cable Channel and make recommendations to the college president and/or his designee.
• The educational and public access channel and facilities are for the use of Volunteer State Community College as an instructional facility for students and are available to citizens in the college service area for a fee.
• The use of the educational and public access channel shall be reserved solely for informational and educational programming created by college departments or agencies of the Tennessee Board of Regents or provided by another municipality or government agency.
• Non-municipal agencies may participate in programming or announcements if approved by the Coordinator of Media Production.
• Selection and scheduling of broadcasts shall be the responsibility of the Coordinator of Media Production and/or his designee.
• When the material is determined to be unsuitable for use on the channel, appropriate notification will be made in writing to the submitting agency, giving the reasons for the decision.
• The department producer or source of programming over the educational and public access channel shall be identified both proceeding and following its presentation.
• Use of College video equipment shall be restricted to the Vol State Cable Channel activities, by College employees and/or students/interns under the supervision of College employees. Loaning or rental of said equipment for personal use is strictly prohibited.
• The College shall be held harmless from any and all claims and demands, which arise as a result of programming submitted by outside sources.
• It shall be the general policy to retain recordings of public meetings for a period of two (2) weeks. Recordings of public meetings may be requested during this period at the Distance Learning offices. At the end of that time, the recordings will be deleted. Any request for longer retention of recordings must be made in writing, prior to the end of the two (2) week period. Recordings shall not be considered an official public record and there shall be no liability incurred for inadvertent erasure or omissions.

Prohibitions

• Any advertising messages on behalf of a political candidate or measure on a ballot. EXCEPT THAT: This shall not preclude the presentation of official materials or programming produced by the cable channel which includes the opportunity for all candidates for a particular elective position or proponents of all sides of any issue to appear in an equitable manner.
• Programming policy shall be to provide direct non-editorial information to citizens concerning the operations and deliberations of the College. The cable channel is not intended as a political or religious forum, nor as a mechanism for building support for a particular policy, program or religious doctrine, issue, party or individual.
• Any promotional material concerning products or services presented solely for the purpose of any non-college-related solicitation of funds or other things of value.
• Any information concerning any non-authorized lottery, gift, enterprise, or similar promotion offering prizes based upon lot or chance.
  Any material which constitutes libel, slander, invasion of privacy, violation of trademark, or copyright, or which might violate any local, state or federal law, including FCC regulations.
• Programming produced outside of College production facilities without prior approval of the college. This does not apply to announcements.

Editing Policy

• Public Meetings -Any public meeting cablecast shall not be edited or subjected to editorial comment. Meeting coverage shall be from gavel to gavel. Insertion of alphanumeric or computer graphic information visual aids pertaining directly to the council or other meeting agenda is allowed.
• Departmental Programs -Any programming prepared by or provided by an individual College department may be modified or edited as appropriate to the policies governing channel use, or as dictated by scheduling and manpower requirements.
• Announcements -Informational messages programmed for use on the alphanumeric bulletin board shall be edited for clarity and to maximize the capacity of the system.

Program Sources

College access cable television programming will come from the following sources:

• Delay Cable casting -Some public meetings, College functions, and special events will be recorded for cable casting later. Repeat presentations at times more convenient to the public will be given for publicly desired meeting coverage and other public meetings and events.
• Announcements -College, Gallatin Municipal, and Sumner County information, messages and press releases for inclusion on the Video Bulletin Board and/or Calendar will be edited to conform to the space and technical limitations of the character-generated system.
• College Produced Programming -Programs will be produced by college staff, illustrating the functions or operations of some unit of the College. Any College department may submit requests for programming development. Such programming must be consistent with the intent of this policy statement and will be integrated into the overall public information purposes of a cable television channel. Programming of this type is subject to the approval of the college administration.
• Outside Source Programs -Some cable television programs will come from sources outside the College. Such programming will be integrated into the overall public information purposes of cable television channel and must have prior approval by the Coordinator of Media Production and/or his designee. Scheduling for this program is at the discretion of staff, depending on resources. All programming shall be provided via a downloadable file or flash drive.

Program Priorities and Scheduling

Scheduling the use of the educational and public access channel time shall be the responsibility of the Coordinator of Media Production and/or his designee. Scheduling shall be performed on an equitable and non-discriminatory basis. Scheduling will be in accordance with channel use priorities (listed below) and the availability of equipment and resources.

• Emergency Override Notification -To provide citizens with information and procedures in the event of emergency situations (severe weather, civil emergencies, failure of local municipal or county service or systems, hazardous waste et al.).
• Educational instructional programming related to Volunteer State Community College offerings and programming arranged and received through an affiliation with network (s) determined by the college.
• Function and Operation of College Services -To illustrate and describe the functions, operations, and services of some units of the College in order to increase citizen understanding of the college and its services.
• Public Meetings -To help increase and encourage citizen awareness and participation in public policy decision-making. Local government and other various College meetings will be given first priority.
• Topics of Interest to Gallatin and surrounding Communities -To provide an outlet for discussion of issues that bear upon Gallatin and Sumner County or upon specific audiences or neighborhoods, including the impact of regional, state, and federal policies on the College and its residents.

Video Bulletin Board (Announcements)

• To provide calendar or informational messages to citizens about programs and public services offered by College departments.
• Alphanumeric information and messages in the form of a Video Bulletin Board (VBB) shall be programmed on the cable channel at predetermined times and intervals designated by the Coordinator of Media Production and/or his designee.
• The objectives of providing these VBB messages are identical to those stated in the OBJECTIVE section of this policy.
• Information submitted to Cable Channel 19 is subject to editing as defined in the EDITING section of this policy.
• Sources for information or messages displayed on the VBB shall be limited to those generated by:
  1. Departments of the College or of Gallatin City government.
  2. Request of Departments of Sumner County government.
  3. Request or publication of the State of Tennessee government.
  4. Those government agencies in which departments or sections of the College are affiliated.
  5. Promotional information about College functions or College-sponsored special events.
  6. Request of the Sumner County School systems.
  7. Other entities approved by the Coordinator of Media Production and/or his designee.
• It shall be the general policy of the cable channel to exclude all other information on its VBB not described above, except in the following circumstances:
  1. Emergency notification (severe weather, civil emergencies, failure of local services or systems, hazardous waste, et al.).
  2. Providing public notification for area educational institutions, employers, childcare providers, public events or community activities in the event of severe weather conditions.
  3. Information not described in this policy as demonstrated by the documented inability to secure other public or private print or electronic media. These requests must have prior approval from the College.

VSCC SOURCE: April 12, 2004, President's Cabinet, September 22, 2021, President’s Cabinet