35 September 22, 2026
Honorable Mayor and City Council
City of Long Beach
California
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation to authorize the City Manager, or designee, to allocate Public, Education, and Government (PEG) fee revenue to two of the three categories of cable access providers, “Education” and “Government”, receiving $163,243 and $326,486, respectively, of the total available; and,
Increase appropriations in the General Services Fund Group in the Technology and Innovation Department by $489,729, offset by PEG fee revenue. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
The enactment of the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 (DIVCA) marked a change in the regulation of video service providers in California. DIVCA replaced the local franchising process with a State process under the authority of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Changes in DIVCA included the creation of a PEG fee to be permitted under the federal Communications Act, while at the same time eliminating the requirement that local cable operators provide Cable Access facilities and support. DIVCA states that video franchises issued by the CPUC are for a ten-year term.
In 2007, the City Council adopted an Ordinance (ORD-07-0041) setting the City of Long Beach’s (City) PEG fee at 1.04 percent of the cable providers’ gross revenue. Since the ten-year term of video franchises expired, a reauthorization to collect this PEG fee was required. On August 14, 2018, the City Council adopted an Ordinance (ORD-18-0021) reauthorizing the City’s existing PEG fee for public, education, and government channel facilities, collected from State-issued video franchise holders operating in Long Beach. Under the federal Communications Act, the fee is required to be used to support PEG channel facilities and is restricted to spend on capital items only. The fees cannot be used for operational expenses such as staffing, or any other reoccurring costs. If PEG funding is used for any activity other than purchasing capital items for PEG access facilities, the local cable/video providers may deduct that amount from franchise fee payments made to the City.
PEG Fee Revenue Allocation
In past years, the City Council approved an equal distribution of this PEG revenue to all three cable access categories: (1) Public (“P”), to Long Beach Community Action Partnership (LBCAP) that operates Public Access television (PADNET); (2) Education (“E”), to California State University Long Beach (CSULB), Long Beach City College (LBCC), and Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD); and, (3) Government (“G”) to City cable channel, LBTV. The City has Technology and Innovation
411 West Ocean Boulevard, 7th Floor, Long Beach, CA 90802 (562) 570-6455
Honorable Mayor and City Council
September 22, 2026
2 3
7 0
received reports from the recipients on how the funds were spent and has determined that the expenditures met the federal guidelines. The funds allocated to the City will enable LBTV to continue to purchase up-to-date video and audio production equipment, audio support equipment for field meetings and town halls and upgrades in the studio for the restructured set design, upgrades which include studio broadcast LED lighting and audio. The funds will assist with providing professional grade field production video equipment and audio/visual equipment for City events, Public Service Announcements (PSA) and City department videos.
A recommendation to authorize the City Manager to allocate Public, Education, and Government (PEG) fee revenue was presented to the City Council for approval on August 18, 2026. During the meeting, the City Council instead asked for City staff to complete an audit of the public and education categories of spending over the past few years and return that information to the City Council. Staff requested financial reports and current fund balances from partners at LBCAP, LBUSD, LBCC and CSULB to review how the PEG funds were spent. City Staff also audited the City’s current fund balance of PEG funds. Based on the reports, the following fund balances exist:
Public (“P”) Cable Access category: LBCAP has a fund balance of $1.8 million and receives one-third of the total PEG revenue.
Education (“E”) Cable Access category: The educational entities LBUSD and CSULB have zero fund balance and LBCC has a fund balance of $315,000. These three educational institutions split one third of the PEG revenue equally amongst themselves. Government (“G”) Cable Access category: LBTV has a fund balance of $2.1 million and receives one third of the PEG revenue.
The total PEG revenue collected in 2025 was $489,729 and based on the results of this audit and the existing fund balances, the City recommends the following:
Distribute $163,243 to Education (“E”) as planned.
Not distributing $163,243 to Public (“P”) for one year, and redistributing it to the City, for a total of $326,486 to use for existing eligible needs.
The City is planning several large upgrades for the Council Chambers over the course of the next several years with the anticipated costs to be around $1,600,000. The planned Chamber upgrades for the coming year include replacing the two video walls, the video and audio distribution system, the agenda/voting panels, and the audio system. In addition, the LBTV Studio upgrades for the coming year include installation of a video wall and lighting upgrades.
In future years, additional upgrades to existing equipment are planned to ensure reliability and efficiency of the equipment to support City Council and other meetings in the chambers.
This matter was reviewed by Deputy City Attorney Adam Jacobs on July 27, 2026, and by Budget Analysis Officer Greg Sorensen on July 31, 2026.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action is requested on August 18, 2026, to ensure a timely disbursement of PEG funds to the PEG access television providers.
Honorable Mayor and City Council
September 22, 2026
2 3
7 0
FISCAL IMPACT
The City received a total of $489,729 in PEG funds during calendar year 2025. These funds are reserved in the General Services Fund Group in the Technology and Innovation Department (TID). Approval of this recommendation would allow TID to distribute the 2025 PEG funds to “E” and “G” types of cable access providers. As a recipient of the distribution under the “Government” category, the City will be allocated $326,486 for various council chamber, studio and equipment upgrades. As these funds are currently unbudgeted, an appropriation increase in the amount of $489,729 is necessary in the General Services Fund Group in the Technology and Innovation Department to distribute across the three categories.
This recommendation has no staffing impact beyond the normal budgeted scope of duties and is consistent with existing City Council priorities. There is no local job impact associated with this recommendation.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully submitted,
Meredith Reynolds
Acting Director
Technology and Innovation