The Committee on Finance voted Oct. 16 to refer to the full City Council an order to establish a Cable Television Public Education and Government access stabilization fund that would receive a transfer of approximately $4,859,000 from the prior cable revolving fund balance.

What the proposal does: Director Bob Ekstrom and cable access director Jim Marshall explained that a long-standing cable revolving fund was converted to an enterprise fund under state guidance in 2018, which left a multi-million dollar fund balance that could not transfer automatically. The administration closed out the prior revolving-fund balances into the general fund and proposed setting up a stabilization fund inside the general fund, labeled for cable access, to preserve those resources for cable subsidies and capital needs.

Jim Marshall told the committee the stabilization fund is intended to stabilize cable access operations as subscriber-based revenue declines. “The whole point is this money is supposed to keep us going for the future,” Marshall said, noting national trends of falling cable subscriptions and the possibility of future revenue from streaming-related legislation if it proceeds.

Legal context and protections: City staff and the solicitor’s office said the stabilization fund would be a general-fund stabilization account, which requires a supermajority vote of the City Council to expend. Solicitor Peter Winters said the label provides “double protection”: the enabling legislation limits use to the cable access purposes and the supermajority requirement gives the council additional control.

Vote and next steps: The committee voted to refer the order to the full council for approval; the item will appear on the Oct. 23 meeting agenda for final action. City staff said the money will become available for transfer once free cash is certified and the council approves the appropriation from free cash; Ekstrom said the fund could be operational within days after council action and free-cash certification.

Ending: Marshall and Ekstrom said the stabilization account is intended to preserve subsidy and capital funding for New Bedford’s PEG operations as subscriber revenue declines and the media landscape shifts toward streaming.