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City explains Pearland TV funding and why some programming can’t stream on YouTube

City of Pearland · December 1, 2024

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Summary

City communications staff said Pearland TV is supported by cable franchise (PEG) funds for capital equipment and that some syndicated content uses copyrighted music, which prevents simultaneous YouTube streaming to avoid account suspension; staff said they stream council meetings on YouTube as a value‑add.

A city communications staff member described Pearland TV’s funding and programming decisions and explained why some municipal programming is not duplicated live on the city’s YouTube feed.

The staff member said Pearland’s municipal channel is supported by franchise fees routed into a PEG (Public, Educational, Government) fund that can be used for capital expenditures (studio equipment, cameras and editing hardware) but generally cannot be used for staff salaries. "Those monies... are called a PEG fund," the staff member said, adding that PEG funds pay for capital outlays that support the channel.

The communications team produces original content, partners with local cultural organizations and purchases syndicated material (for example, from Texas Parks and Wildlife). The staff member said copyright on syndicated items — particularly music — can cause YouTube to flag and remove streams. If repeated, those flags could lead to account suspension and the city would lose the ability to stream public meetings on YouTube. For that reason some third‑party content is limited to the cable channel or scheduled so it does not interfere with live streams of council meetings.

Staff said they maintain a team of about seven communications employees (with only a portion of their time devoted to the PEG channel), and they audit and refresh channel content quarterly.