Local television channels in jeopardy

Cyndi Ringer, an English teacher and mother, created her public access TV show, Dawning of a New Day, from her book of poetry to inspire other Queens residents to triumph over adversity and make a difference in the community.
For now, Ringer’s show airs every Monday on Queens Public TV (QPTV) Channel 56 at 9:30 p.m., but funding for the group’s stations – four in total – could be slashed after the passage of the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act (COPE) of 2006.
“If the legislation is approved . . . we would seriously be in jeopardy of our funding,” said Daniel Leone, executive director of QPTV.
Ringer’s message could then go unheard, along with hundreds of programs created by an estimated 500 content providers.
Programs including Jean Chong’s global explorations, Passport to the World, Simpson Gray’s prayer series, and Wanda Best-Deveaux’s calls for prison reform could get the axe if funding is decreased. In addition, without adequate funding, QPTV would not be able to air shows in dozens of languages. This week alone, there are shows in 17 languages shown on QPTV – including Arabic, Hungarian, Hindi, Persian and Urdu.
“The programming is very diverse here. Certainly we present more programming in one day than any of the networks out there,” Leone said, explaining that between four channels, 34, 35, 56, and 57, the network has 48 hours of original programming per day.
The networks’ organizers also produce their own series when they feel they need to inform Queens residents of local and national issues. Throughout the recent Medicare Part D reform, QTV has created informational shows, explaining the changes and answering common questions. In addition, the network has also produced shows about Internet safety, child abuse, and substance abuse treatment.
For QPTV, their fear is that a federal franchising system will not be able to adequately access the needs for funding in Queens and in other diverse places.
“You can’t apply the same rules to a place like Queens were we have 400,000 subscribers,” Leone said. “[If funding were slashed], the biggest loss would be the availability of QPTV. Most of our funding is based upon a local franchising agreement between the cable operators and the City of New York.”