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WinCAM is moving.
Winchester Community Access & Media’s (WinCAM) board on June 17 voted 5-1 not to renew the lease at its 32 Swanton St. location, where the local cable access station has been housed since June 2014 and instead relocate to the Parkhurst School on Emerson Road.
David Gauthier, WinCAM’s executive director, framed the move as a “new chapter” for the station.
By relocating to Parkhurst, he said, “WinCAM can continue providing the town with the same level of services and remain true to its mission” of free public access to information and ideas. Members will still have a space to create and distribute content.
Details, including a move date, are still being worked out, but Gauthier said WinCAM will try to replicate as much as they can at the Parkhurst location, including a public meeting space.
He said they are working on having their own entrance, and he appreciated the School Department’s flexibility throughout the process.
WinCAM will still pay rent, but at a fraction of the cost of the current location. Parkhurst also has the benefit of already being on the town’s fiber optic system, meaning the move won’t require significant infrastructure investments.
In the longer term, the idea of incorporating a space for WinCAM into a new Muraco project has been discussed, but has not gone beyond the idea stage at this point.
Gauthier emphasized that no one at WinCAM wanted to move, but the station has been running a structural deficit for several years now, and in the face of an increasingly difficult financial situation, the board determined it was the responsible decision.
As revenues shrink and expenses grow, the move will “relieve some pressure,” said Gauthier.
WinCAM and other stations like it are funded primarily through a franchise fee based on cable television revenues. As people switch from cable to streaming, that revenue has been declining rapidly. Statewide, cable subscriptions have dropped nearly 50% since their peak in 2013.
Despite WinCAM’s concerted efforts to reduce costs — including cuts in staff and staff hours — falling revenues combined with rising expenses have put the station in a tough financial spot. Last year, the station experienced a $50,000 operating loss, and that number is expected to be even higher this year. For a budget just over $400,000, such losses are not sustainable.
Gauthier said he and the board were “touched by the generosity of the community” after news of WinCAM’s financial situation spread, and the station received a few thousand dollars in new donations over the past few weeks.
“It means a lot that people care,” he said.
Legislation needed
But it will take legislation to make a true dent in WinCAM’s financial picture. Without a change in the funding formula, community access stations across the state will continue to see their revenues drop.
That’s because, in Massachusetts, streaming revenues are not counted when calculating the franchise fee — even though streaming services use the exact same public infrastructure as cable television.
Pending state legislation would incorporate streaming revenues into the franchise fee and boost revenues for community access stations. However, that legislation has been pending for three years, and when and whether it might pass remains very unclear.
The current legislative session ends July 31.
How to Help
Community cable stations across Massachusetts face the same funding challenges as WinCAM. To help support these local access stations and their critical role in government transparency, Massachusetts residents can call or write their state legislators and ask them to advance H106 or H91 in the House and S2556 in the Senate.
Gauthier and others continue to advocate for the new funding formula. Residents can help by asking their state senators and representatives to advance and approve proposed legislation that would include streaming revenues when calculating franchise fees.
On the Senate side, the bill is S2556. On the House side, there are two bills that would change the current funding formula. H106 contains the original language and is WinCAM’s preferred bill; it also includes some benefits for municipalities. H91 is a rewritten version of H106 that involves some concessions.
Though H106 is preferred, Gauthier noted that advancing either bill would be welcome progress. For, without a significant increase in revenues, a move won’t be enough to keep community access stations in business over the longer term.
Jennifer Haefeli is a Winchester resident.
