Under the terms of the cable franchise agreement between cities of the Miami Valley Communications Council and the cable operator, channel capacity has been made available to provide direct, unbiased information to the citizens of the member cities concerning the operations and deliberations of their city government.

The primary objectives of the Government Cable Channel are:

1. To provide public service information to the citizen of member cities.
2. To increase awareness of the activities and deliberations of the legislative and advisory bodies of the member cities.
3. To increase the citizens' knowledge of their cities' various functions.
4. To assist in internal and joint training of employees.
5. To assist in internal information distribution between and amongst the member cities.

Refer to the public and educational policies and procedures for rules about training, equipment, and program content and submission.

GENERAL GOVERNMENT POLICIES
1. Public Meetings
A. All Public meetings of city legislative bodies or advisory boards and commissions are authorized for cablecasting. All meetings shall be covered from gavel to gavel and shall not be edited, subjected to editorial comment, or disconnected until completion. The camera operator will make every effort to focus on the person speaking or, during a discussion, show a wide shot of the councilor panel involved.

B. All regularly scheduled city council meetings shall be cablecast live, with two recasts scheduled within the same week. All other public meetings may be cablecast live, depending on location and scheduling constraints. Recasts will be scheduled as soon as possible after the meeting.

C. If a regular council meeting or other public meeting is rescheduled, every effort will be made to cover the meeting, although the Cable Council will not guarantee that the meeting will be aired live or that it will be cablecast on its regularly assigned channel.

D. Whenever possible, the Cable council should be notified of any changes in meeting schedules two weeks in advance.

E. If there is a need to reschedule a recast of a city council or other public meeting, the Cable Council will, if possible, notify the city clerk two weeks in advance.

F. The Cable Council will be responsible for arranging for coverage, live and/or tape, of all city council meetings. The Cable Council will arrange coverage of,' "other public meetings as requested on a first-come, first-served basis. When possible, such requests should be made two weeks in advance.

G. The Cable Council will retain tapes of a city's previous three council meetings. At the end of that time, the tapes will be recycled. Requests for copies of a city's council meeting tapes should be made before the fourth meeting. There will be no charge for copies of a city's council meetings. The city, however, will provide a tape for the copy. If a tape cannot be provided, the Cable Council will bill the city for the cost of the tape.

H. The Cable Council will not make copies of a city's council meeting tapes for any other person or organization without the permission of the city manager the city.

2. Character Generated Announcements
A. Information for character-generated announcements submitted by any of the member cities. Requests for announcements should be submitted two weeks in advance of the desired air date, except in the event of emergency announcements. Messages should be submitted on the Council's Public Service Announcement form.

B. Character generated announcements will be limited to information about government services, resources, issues, and city-sponsored or co-sponsored events and activities

C. The Cable Council may edit announcements to provide clarity and to maximize the use of the character generator.

D. Emergency messages will be given priority over all other announcements and programming.

E. Requests for emergency announcements must be made by the city manager or his/her designee.

3. Internal Employee Training
A. Requests for pre-recorded tapes to air on the government channel for employee training purposes may be made by submitting the tape with a "Request for Cablecast" form and using the guidelines outlined on page 14, section 7.B. of this manual of the public and educational policies and procedures manual.

B. The Cable Council can produce training programs for the member cities on a first-come, first-served basis. If more than one request is received at the same time, priority may be given to those programs involving more than one member city. After that, preference will be given to first-time users.

C. Training programs may be produced by the member cities using Cable Council equipment and facilities according to the public and educational policies and procedures manual.

4. Public Information Programs
The Cable Council staff will produce public information programming for the member cities. Requests will be honored on a first-come, first-come basis. If more than one request is received at the same time, priority will be given to those programs involving more than one member city. After that, preferences will be given to the first-time user.

Informational programs about government services, resources', issues, and city sponsored or co-sponsored events, may be produced by the member cities using Cable Council equipment and facilities, according to the public and educational policies and procedures manual.