NORTHBOROUGH – Northborough Cable Access Television (NCAT) Director Dana Volke said during the Financial Trend Summit on Aug. 1 that the department may go before Town Meeting to have the town subsidize its budget.
According to Volke, in NCAT’s history, the department has not been funded by tax dollars, but instead through 5% of Charter and Verizon cable TV revenue, called a PEG fee, plus a fixed capital amount per contract. The contracts with Verizon and Charter expire in 2027 and 2033, respectively.
According to his presentation, the number of cable subscribers has fallen from 5,016 in 2017 to 3,259 in 2023 as customers pursue other options like Hulu and YouTube TV. As a result, the total cable payments from Carter and Verizon have decreased from $265,620.27 in 2017 to $193,198.79 in 2023.
On average, Northborough Cable has lost 4.5% of revenue a year, which translates to about 300 subscribers.
“There’s no way that we can get any kind of internet revenue from these cable providers,” said Volke. “All of the other people in this industry have been going to the state to get that to happen, and it just hasn’t happened.”
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His projected budget for fiscal year 2026 is $319,532.76, and most of this projection is the cost of the employees. The department has two full-time employees and three part-time.
Volke said he did have funds built into his budget — about $12,500 — to fix or replace equipment.
As for the difference between the budget and revenue, Volke said the department has been dipping into its savings over the past several years. He estimated that by fiscal year 2027, the department will not be able to sustain its budget and current level of service.
He proposed going before Town Meeting at that time to help subsidize the difference between the revenue and budget to help the department maintain its level of service.
Northborough cable’s goals and projects
As the new director, Volke hopes to modernize the department over the next three to five years and move away from the “old school” stigma of public access.
“I really wanted to really focus on communications and relevant marketing for our town departments and our nonprofits and the town in general,” he said.
Volke is also interested in improving the quality of meeting coverage, use more podcasts, consolidate NCAT’s YouTube and social media presence and install permanent equipment in high coverage areas, such as the library and Algonquin Regional High School auditorium. He also wants to collaborate with ARHS, hold AV camps with the Recreation Department, work on digitally archiving their legacy media, install closed captions for live broadcasts and distribute NCAtv Streaming and VOD apps.
He said there are several capital projects that will be imperative to focus on in the coming years, including replacing the TelVue broadcast server ($55,000) and implementing closed captions ($11,000) in fiscal 2026; installing AV equipment in the ARHS auditorium ($50,000) in fiscal 2027; installing equipment in the ARHS library ($40,000) in fiscal 2028; and installing equipment in the meeting space at Lincoln Street School ($65,000) and library meeting room ($85,000) in fiscal 2029.
