Programming Policy/Scheduling
A membership to Denver Community Media is not necessary to submit content for air. Colorado residents who want to submit programming content to the Denver Community Media Access Channels are required to sign and submit a Programming Agreement Form.
Submit a Program Online!
Priorities
Priority for scheduling is given to programs produced by Colorado residents. Among these programs, priorities for cablecasting are based on date of submission.
DCM reserves the discretionary right to schedule programming of community interest and relevance and also to preempt programs for live or special event coverage for timely activities happening in the community. Any schedule conflicts will be announced to Producers via email notification.
Compensation for Channel Time
Members are not allowed to barter or sell channel time nor receive compensation in exchange for allowing others to participate in their projects or appear on DCM. Blatant violation of this policy warrants an immediate suspension of a member’s privileges.
Time Slots
While Denver Community Media cannot guarantee dates and times for cablecast, Producers may request certain days and times for their programming to air. Denver Community Media will prioritize these requests, but it will remain within the sole discretion of DCM when to air these programs.
In the interest of ensuring diversity of programming and equitable distribution of channel time, submissions from a single program provider shall not include more than one Series. Individual programs of all lengths and genres can be submitted as the schedule allows. DCM has discretion to schedule submitted content in a time slot that is appropriate for its content and target audience.
● Series time slots are reviewed quarterly.
● A regular time slot can be requested by a member when their content is fully prepared to be submitted.
● If made in advance, a request for a timeslot change can be considered as the schedule allows at the time of the review.
● Staff is responsible for notifying program providers about their confirmed timeslots.
Safe Harbor Scheduling
Denver Community Media will support all forms of expression on cable television in accordance with FCC regulations and other relevant laws. Therefore, Denver Community Media will ask producers to identify if the submission contains adult content as defined by the FCC online at fcc.gov/consumers/guides/obscene-indecent-and-profane-broadcasts. Such identified programming will air between 10:30 p.m. until 5 a.m. Failure to properly identify submissions may result in a disciplinary action, including the permanent suspension of member privileges.
Disclaimers
DCM reserves the right to place a disclaimer before, during, and after any program that, as indicated by the program provider or in the best judgment of DCM staff to advise viewers discretion for the program and will indicate that responsibility for the content of the program lies with the program provider and not with DCM or the cable provider.
Political Campaigning
Everyone in the community has equal access to DCM facilities and channel time. There is no equal time rule for cable television. It’s the responsibility of the political candidates or those working on their behalf to become DCM members, submit programming, and if interested, produce programs to be shown on DCM’s channels.
It’s DCM’s responsibility to provide an open political forum. DCM considers election programming to commence with certification of candidates for the ballot and to end on Election Day.
DCM has no responsibility to produce programming for candidates simply because another candidate requests resources.
Political Programming:
● DCM will not endorse political candidates.
● A candidate who appears in a program will be considered a guest of that program and the candidate’s appearance does not represent an endorsement by DCM.
● A candidate who wishes to produce their own program on DCM is subject to the same operating procedures as all DCM content providers. Political candidates may express partisan views and opinions on DCM, but candidates cannot use a DCM program as a fundraising solicitation.
Technical requirements:
Producers may submit their content via common file transfer services: Hightail, Wetransfer, etc. Producers may also share links from cloud storage services like Dropbox or Google Drive. Please send share requests to info@denvercommunitymedia.org. An alternate method may be to drop off an external drive to our location during normal DCM business hours. The programs will be transferred at a later time and the media will then be made available for a return to the Producer, by arranging a pick-up time for the external drive. DCM does not accept links to streaming services (Youtube, Vimeo, etc.), DVDs or videotape.
Denver Community Media will not pre-screen the content of any submitted program(s), but may view portions of a show to ensure that technical standards are met.
Denver Community Media reserves the right to reject any program that does not meet minimum technical standards outlined on the Programming Request and Agreement form. Should the submission not meet technical requirements, Denver Community Media will notify the producer of the reason the submission could not be accepted.
Content Restrictions:
Video Content shall not contain the following restricted content:
- Solicitation, advertising, bartering, or promotion of commercial products, services or transactions;
- Material that is slanderous, libelous, an invasion of privacy, incites violence towards an individual or group or is otherwise unlawful;
- Material concerning lottery information, gift enterprise, or similar scheme;
- Unlawful use of material requiring union residual, or other payment including but not limited to talent and crew;
- Unlawful use of material that is copyrighted or subject to ownership or royalty rights, right of publicity, or other payment; or
- Material that the City reasonably believes contains obscene content, including but not limited to sexual intercourse, sodomy, masturbation, sadism, masochism, excretion, or lewd exhibition of genitals.