BronxNet wants more from Cablevision

By N. Clark Judd

Gary Axelbank, Baron Ambrosia (also known as Justin Fornal), and Handal Gomez Abdelrahim — a borough hall observer, an extravagant epicure and a hip-hop historian — have two things in common: They live in the Riverdale/Kingsbridge area, and they use BronxNet to get their message out.

That’s why the three public-access stars attended a hearing at the Bronx County Building on Oct. 15 about Cablevision, the borough’s main cable provider, which is beginning negotiations with the city about the renewal of its cable franchise contract. Part of the company’s obligation thanks to the deal is to provide funding for public-access television that keeps BronxNet, an independent non-profit, afloat.

The continued support is critical for the borough, said Mr. Axelbank, a Van Cortlandt Village resident and host of BronxTalk, the primetime public affairs program for 15 years.

To allow funding to be cut or reduced, Mr. Axelbank said, would choke off a vital borough resource and hasten a “regression into the scourge of drugs and poverty.”

BronxNet Executive Director Michael Max Knobbe wants city officials to ensure that any new deal will bind Cablevision to providing levels of funding similar to what Verizon agreed to pay — Mr. Knobbe says that’s about $1 per subscriber per month — in a similar franchise agreement it reached with the city last year.

“What we’re asking is that Cablevision match the public interest obligations of Verizon, which would meet the community needs of the Bronx,” Mr. Knobbe said. “And that would also provide for a level playing field.”

He said Cablevision is paying towards BronxNet’s cost at the same rate it’s been using since its contract was last negotiated in 1998.

“While cable revenues have soared, Cablevision’s support for public access in the Bronx has not even met the cost of living,” he said.

At the hearing, Cablevision executives touted the network’s contribution of free Internet access to schools, said Bronx residents had access to the fastest connection speed in the United States, and said the company was the only corporation that was willing to invest in cable in the Bronx when it first received its franchise in 1983.

BronxNet provides training programs, equipment and studio space as well as a public forum for Bronx residents. When Mr. Abdelrahim was putting together his music video documentary on hip hop, Graffiti Nation, he spent a lot of time in the organization’s basement studios at Lehman College. Riverdale Neighborhood House places interns at BronxNet.

Mr. Knobbe says increased funding from Cablevision would be used to expand facilities at Lehman, allow BronxNet to build studios in the South Bronx, and bolster its training programs. He’s building programming for a new channel he hopes will provide content created by young Bronx residents, for young Bronx residents, and wants Cablevision to pony up the six channels Verizon has offered BronxNet to make room for that content. Cablevision currently provides four channels to the public-access network.