Massachusetts considers Streaming video tax to support community television | Hacker News Reader

Massachusetts considers Streaming video tax to support community television

niemanlab.org

3 pointsdetourdog3 comments

I assume these community shows will also be streamed in some manner, so will they be exempt from taxes to prevent double taxation? I don't think there is an inherent value to public radio/tv efforts--they're self-selecting for audience and so have limited reach. You cannot now recreate the atmosphere of the 50s/60s when everyone gathered around to watch the moon landing or listen to a public address. Seems like a waste of tax dollars, they're better off raising money for public transportation (the MBTA is ranked worse in the country) by taxing air travel. One benefit of streaming tax will likely be that some people might choose to watch less online programming (including me, I already think MA wastes taxes).

Considering we have a town wide meeting once a year to work our issues out democratically. The local network is the entity that records and broadcasts all the monthly town meetings and works with the house of local history to broadcast to name a few community benefits.

Since they community network doesn't charge money I'm not sure how they would pay taxes. The current funding is from the cable companies as part of the agreement to let them use the municipal space on our utility poles.

I think you have what I'm discussing with PBS or NPR. That is not this network.

This is a broadcast studio in the center of a town or 2,400 households. Staffed by volunteers or overworked employees. This broadcast network has many benefits.

We do actual real time voting at town meeting which could be extended through a municipal network to allow more participation.

Definitely the MBTA needs help but I'm surprised you understand that and not the subtleties of democracy in Berkshire county or that nobody is suggesting some sort golden age of TV nostalgia. Currently streaming is done asynchronously likely email.

The problem with Berkshire County public transportation is the whole population of the country is 140ish people per square mile spread out over about 1,000 sq miles.

I was hoping people would discuss the methods of paying for these networks vs. the current cable company subsidy.

I have our town half-way through the process of Muni-Broadband deployment. One topic we keep discussing is the support of our community television station. I don't know if the Commonwealth tax streaming services is superior to to current plan. I thought we would just tack $5 dollars or whatever the station's budget is.

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