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Message from Leadership
Dear Members and Supporters,
We are writing to update you on the noteworthy changes our organization is working to accomplish during these transformative times. At the heart of our commitment is the principle of openness and transparency, it is with this spirit that we share important insight into CAN TV's journey.
CAN TV has undergone intentional changes over the past 10 years, driven by external forces necessitating a re-examination of our organization's engagement strategies. These include:
- A 35% decrease in Community Producer Memberships between 2018 and 2022
- An 83% decrease in the number of non-profit hotline programs since 2019
- Rising use of video-rich platforms like Tik Tok, YouTube, Instagram
- Decrease in traditional cable subscriptions, resulting in both shrinking viewership and a 27% reduction in cable revenue, CAN TV’s primary revenue stream. This trend continued during the first quarter of CAN TV’s current fiscal year, with cable revenue falling 32% lower than budgeted projections.
- Several PEG (Public Educational Governmental) organizations closed nationally due to a lack of funding and support.
- Lingering impact of the global pandemic, which closed CAN TV studios to the public for four months.
In response to these challenges, CAN TV's management, staff, and board collaborated for over six months starting in March 2021 to develop our strategic plan, a roadmap for growth and development. It was a rigorous and collaborative process conducted under the challenging constraints of the pandemic. Together, we refined our mission statement and vision and committed to CAN TV's becoming the leading PEG, locally and nationally.
In our collaborative effort to implement the Strategic Plan, we acknowledge the solutions we have conducted as an effect of the necessary changes.
Infrastructure Investment
In the last year and a half, CAN TV invested approximately $500,000 in studio technology and infrastructure upgrades. This includes new computers, faster network switches for our staff, and advanced production equipment like the Tricaster Video switching, Allen & Heath audio mixing board, and Sony HDC-100 studio cameras. We also plan to provide media software upgrades to increase our training and production capabilities.
Community Hiring
We hired local Chicago company Big Shoulders Digital Video Production for a three-month period to provide essential support. They assisted in maintaining CAN TV’s production capacity while we recruited and onboarded new technical staff.
Union Relations
The Executive Director’s first day started with a collaboration to close on an agreement between our leadership team with the NABET-CWA Union, our staff’s labor group organization. The Union ratified this agreement, ensuring fair terms, including salary raises and benefits for our valued staff. It is also important to note that the 2024 budget represented a year-over-year expense increase of $1M, $750K of which was devoted to staff raises and the hiring of additional staff.
Community Studio Availability
Since the expansion of studio reservation time in March of 2023, including the reopening of the studio for the first time since the start of the pandemic, there have been several positive responses from the community producers indicating their appreciation of CAN TV’s effort to address the previous issue of difficulty reserving studio time. We will continue working on increasing our effort to actively support our community producers with additional investment in producer training and media production education.
CAN TV Original Programs
CAN TV Original programs were created to serve as the ‘North star’ that can be assertively marketed to bring new viewers to the network and ensure that CAN TV is actively and consistently addressing the issues and concerns of Chicago’s historically, systematically and intentionally underserved communities. The Original programs have resulted in exponential increases in viewership for ALL programs at CAN TV – 6.4 million viewers off CAN TV programs in the month of January 2023 alone. It is worth noting that Original programs account for a measurably small percentage of total program hours. For example, for August 2023, Original programs represented 222.5 hours of programming, whereas community producer and content creator programs represented approximately 2,800 hours of programming.
Community-Produced Program Accountability
As stated in the Community Producer handbook, it is the Community Producer's responsibility to provide documentation, check for copyright infringement, and ensure compliance with Illinois State’s Dual Consent Law. Intentionally or inadvertent violation of these will result in the program being pulled from the air post haste. The producers are reminded that using the CAN TV facilities is a privilege, not a right. We treat our community producers professionally and encourage respect for the laws governing our media production operations.
Throughout this process of growth and evolution, CAN TV remains committed to honoring its mission to Chicago and doing so under the full light of openness and transparency. While we may have differences on our individual decisions, it is abundantly clear that the Board, Staff, and Community Producers deeply care about, and are dedicated to CAN TV’s long-term success and its potential to be the nation’s premier Community Television Network. Together we are setting the stage for CAN TV’s next 40 years of incredible service and incredible success.
While change is a constant, we remain steadfast in our commitment to CAN TV's mission and success. As we continue on this journey, we appreciate your trust and support. Thank you for your continued commitment to CAN TV.
Anna Ninoyu
Chair
Board of Directors
Darrious Hilmon
Executive Director