DCTV Community Bulletin Board Guidelines |
General Information
The DCTV Community Bulletin Board is available for the purpose of promoting community events, and providing public service information. As a non-profit public access cable channel, the content of the messages must be non-commercial. DCTV cablecasts the Community Bulletin Board on channel 15 continuously when between our regular programming. Each message runs 10 to 15 seconds, and the entire system loops repeatedly.
Who Can Use the DCTV Community Bulletin Board
Any individual or group may submit messages which promote or publicize an event that is open to the public, in accordance with the policies that follow: Non-Profit Groups:
- may promote events that are open to the public and are free.
- may promote events that are open to the public and for which a fee is charged, assuming fees collected benefit the non-profit. DCTV will not post the fee amount, except to say that a fee is required. A phone number will be posted for fee information. Fund raising events for 501 (c)(3) organizations qualify.
For-Profit Groups or Individuals:
- may promote events that are open to the public and are free.
may not
- submit messages which promote an event that requires or requests entrance fees, or promotes the purchase of products or services. Fund raising for commercial, for-profit groups is prohibited on public access channels.
Candidates for Political Office:
- may promote events that are open to the public and are free, i.e., campaign appearances & events
- may promote events that are open to the public and for which a fee is charged, including campaign fund raisers. DCTV will not post the fee amount, except to say that a fee is required, but will post a phone number for further information.
Examples Art Showings, Exhibits, and Receptions, offered by anyone Classes, Workshops, and Lectures, offered by anyone Classes, Workshops, and Lectures, offered by a non-profit organization Dance or Drama Performances, offered by anyone Dance or Drama Performance, offered by a non-profit organization Field Trips, Tours, and Excursions, offered by anyone Field Trips, Tours, and Excursions, offered by a non-profit organization
Deadlines
Messages should be submitted two weeks prior to the date the message should be posted on the Community Bulletin Board. DCTV cannot promise or guarantee that messages will be posted any sooner than one week from the submission date.
Approval and Priority
Messages submitted are subject to approval based on the criteria presented above. Advance approvals cannot be guaranteed over the phone; the entire text message must be submitted in person or by mail for submission and/or for final approval. At those times when messages submitted exceed our capacity, priority will be given to those messages that come from local organizations, and to events that are date specific, as opposed to general interest messages.
Message Format
Due to limited space, messages are limited to one bulletin board screen only, per message or event. One screen provides up to 8 lines of text, and up to approximately 25 characters of text per line (including spaces and punctuation). Organizations or individuals may submit messages verbatim, or in the form of a flier or press release, hand written or typed. DCTV may edit and will format the message. The message should simply state the basics: What When (date and time) Where Who (sponsoring organization) Phone number and/or email for more information Indicate if a fee is required/requested A calendar of events (multiple dates for multiple events) is generally not acceptable due to space constraints. Individual events on specific dates must be submitted separately. Also, a single submission (a press release, a newsletter, etc.) containing multiple events on multiple dates cannot be kept on file by DCTV for periodic updating of the organization's message(s).
Message Slides
Message slides may also be submitted. They must follow the above guidelines. In addition:
- only non-profits may use logos
- slides must have dimensions of 800x600 pixels
- slides must be in .jpg or .png format
- all important information should be kept at least 50 pixels from the edges of the slides
- should avoid the use of very saturated colors, especially red, which do not display well on televisions
Where to Send
Announcements will not be accepted over the phone. Please mail or deliver messages to: Davis Media Access attn: Community Bulletin Board 1623 fifth street, Suite A Davis, CA 95616 (530) 757-2938 (FAX) EMAIL: agsilva at davismedia dot org with CBB in the subject line