3. Assessing Community Needs
A key step for those communities that lack PEG channels (and for those looking to upgrade these operations in the course of cable franchise renewal negotiations) is the ascertainment of community needs, a formal process that identifies future cable-related community needs and interests, determines how those needs can best be met, and evaluates the performance of the cable operator under the existing franchise. Normally, the local franchise authority (LFA) engages a consultant to conduct these surveys, but there is plenty of opportunity for community involvement as well. The Buske Group is one of the leaders in the field, and has prepared an overview of the needs-assessment process (PDF). Examples of successful assessments, such as that of Los Angeles (Executive Summary, Full Report, PDFs) can be found online. One community need that is often overlooked is the "institutional network" (I-Net), which cable operators can be asked to provide, and which connect government agencies, schools, and other public and nonprofit entities. For further information on the public-service possibilities of I-Nets, see The FAQs about Institutional Networks, prepared by the Baller-Herbst Law Group (400kb PowerPoint), as well as the Institutional Networks PowerPoint presentation made by the Columbia Telecommunications Corporation at the 2000 Alliance for Community Media Western Regional Conference.