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Town Square Television offers local community cable programming in Northern Dakota County—but that’s a challenge with the decline of cable.
“We’re trying to shift our model,” said Beth Baumann, the new executive director of Town Square Television. “I don’t want to get to survival mode. I want to thrive.”
Who Pays for Community TV?
Cable companies used to fund public access and community television through franchise fees on the cable routed through public right of way. But with people cutting the cord and shifting to streaming, those franchise fees are dwindling.
The shift: 80% of households used to have cable TV, now it’s down to 24%.
“We’ve seen the steady decline in franchise fees and PEG (public, education, and government access) fees, that has been our main source of funding,” said Baumann. “So now we’re leveling up on the Town Square side to try to tap the other ways to be funded.”
That means donations, sponsorships, grants, and more. Town Square will lean into grant funding, specifically arts and especially history grants where they’ve already had some success. Last year, Town Square won an Emmy for their story on the 50th anniversary of the Bellows Court apartment explosion.
What Town Square Offers
Some of the most popular programming Town Square Television offers is the high school sports Game of the Week and the monthly local news show Insight 7. They also offer a local sports talk show Sports Zone, a quarterly focus on local parks with Community Parks Connection, and extensive local election coverage.
“No one is telling the local stories anymore—you’re not hearing what’s happening in your neighborhood or your immediate community or in the community next door,” Baumann said. “It’s important to tell the stories and let people make their own decisions, whether it’s good or bad, whether they think the city is wasting money or not—but let’s tell them what’s going on.”
Government coverage: Of course Town Square is also the place to watch local government meetings, including city council meetings and other boards and commissions. This government access is required by their charter.
- The popularity varies, but it can spike depending on the issue. Recent hot topics included a $61 million maintenance facility in Inver Grove Heights and controversy with South St. Paul City Council Member Pam Bakken.
- As the former mayor of South St. Paul for 14 years, Baumann understands the value of broadcasting government meetings.
- “It really is about that open meeting and the ability for people to see what people are doing and voting for,” Baumann said. “So it is available, it’s not done in secret. You can see who voted, what for, and why they voted.”
Adapting to the Digital Age
Moving away from the cable funding model also means embracing the streaming era.
- Podcasts: “We’re launching a podcast service, because that’s really pretty critical right now to help people tell a story,” Baumann said.
- YouTube: Town Square is adding YouTube to their list of social media channels to expand their reach (but don’t expect to find them on TikTok—”I don’t think our board would approve it,” Baumann said).
- Training: “We’re also trying to figure out how to leverage some of the young people who are doing a lot of videos on their phone—how do we integrate them into what we do?” Baumann said.
- Video services: “We have some really talented, experienced video producers who do great work and are award winning,” Baumann said, describing the video production services Town Square can offer.
Taking on the Job
Baumann spent her career in corporate finance: “I was looking for something else,” she said. “I was in a very intense role at Wells Fargo as a process engineer working on a project for the government and I needed something that was different.”
That talented team is what brought Baumann to the job: “It’s the experience and the knowledge of the team that’s really made me more comfortable coming here. I knew I could count on people that knew what was going on,” she said. “They’re just so professional, so talented and creative—I can’t say enough good things about them.”
Town Square has a staff of just 12 people, a small but mighty nonprofit organization: “The staff know how to do their jobs, so my goal is to just create some systems here, figure out a way to raise more money,” she said. “Then I can just leverage our strengths to make us more viable and to continue to thrive.”
How to Help
“We are always looking for volunteers to work on events or to learn how to use the cameras,” Baumann said. There are opportunities to film games, cover parades, and more.
Town Square is also looking for donations and members.
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