Why should Delaware Care: For six years, DETV has served as Wilmington’s public access channel, with the city funding the space for the TV network’s operations. However, due to budget cuts from Comcast, the city has decided to withdraw its financial support for DETV, which station officials said could impact viewer access in the coming months.
Public access station DETV could lose funding from the Wilmington government after city officials said Monday that a contract that allows cable provider Comcast to operate within the city is expected to bring in fewer dollars in the coming years.
In past years, Wilmington has directed a portion of the revenue from the Comcast contract to pay rent for a downtown Wilmington broadcasting space used by DETV. But, as those revenues dwindle, the city will no longer be able to afford that cost, city officials said in a statement on Monday.
The statement followed a Friday meeting of the Wilmington Cable, Video & Telecommunications Commission where Marchelle Basnight, the city’s CFO and senior legislative advisor, announced plans to end the city’s financial support for DETV.
“High level is the city would no longer be responsible for (the) lease agreement and the utility costs” for DETV, Basnight said.
Also, during that meeting, DETV Executive Director Ivan Thomas accused Wilmington officials of failing to support his station, as he said they had promised.
Two days later, Thomas again responded publicly to the proposed cut by saying in a social media post that the move would place Wilmington at risk of what he called an “information blackout.”
Last year, Wilmington contributed over $100,000 to DETV’s operations, Elijah Simmons, Wilmington City Council chief of staff, told Spotlight Delaware.
The proposal to cut city support comes five months after Wilmington city officials negotiated and finalized its five-year franchise extension agreement with Comcast for $450,000.
Also, in recent days, Thomas has taken to social media to call for donations to his organization, saying that DETV intends to launch new programming to resemble shows on public television stations.
In several posts, he has said his company will create “Delaware’s own version of PBS.”
When asked about the request for donations, Thomas referred Spotlight Delaware to April Johnson, DETV’s director of operations, who said new dollars would assist the station in maintaining operations.
She said the requests for donations come in response to the city’s proposal to pull funds.
Beyond its support from the city, DETV received $293,000 from the Delaware state government for various services rendered during the 2024 fiscal year, according to the Delaware Open Checkbook webpage.
The company brought in nearly $1.4 million in total revenue in 2022, according to its tax filing that year – the most recent that is available on the IRS website.
A $2.1M shortfall for city telecommunications?
DETV has operated Wilmington’s public access Comcast Channel 28 since 2019.
And in a press release on Tuesday, Wilmington officials said the company will continue to serve as the public access partner.
But, under a newly proposed contract, Wilmington would no longer pay for the lease, equipment or utilities at the broadcasting space that DETV uses for its partnership with the city. DETV rents that space on the third floor of the IM Pei building, located on the corner of 12th and Market Street.
It also has a space on the first floor of the building that it uses for operations that are outside the scope of the public access contract.
Wilmington City Council President Trippi Congo told Spotlight Delaware that the decision to cut city payments for DETV rent comes after city revenues from its contract that allows Comcast to operate in the city have dropped.
He said that Comcast’s payments to Wilmington are based on local subscriber numbers, which have declined over the years due to a shift away from traditional cable.
“We knew that this day was going to come,” said Congo, whose parents served with Thomas on the board of Wilmington’s public access channel provider before DETV.
Congo further said that negotiations for the new contract had begun late last year, but were halted after DETV challenged a provision that would have made the network pay a portion of the rent.
Separately, due to its new contract with Comcast, Wilmington also is facing a potential $2.1 million “shortfall” over the next six years for its Cable, Video, and Telecommunications fund, according to city officials.
During the Cable, Video, and Telecommunications Commission’s meeting last week, city officials said DETV would be given until March 31 to move out of its third-floor space and move operations to its primary location on the first floor of the IM Pei building.
In response, Thomas argued that the timeline was unreasonable, noting that the city’s decision to relocate DETV from its previous Lancaster Avenue location to its current building last year cost the company between $15,000 and $17,000.
“Some of this has been unfair. So we understand if the city can’t pay for it, we’ll find something else. But give us some time and help us out, don’t stick us,” he said during the meeting.
At the meeting, commission members said the city would pay the cost for DETV to move its equipment and would reimburse the company up to $20,000 in “unforeseen expenses.”
An acrimonious start
DETV’s public access contract with Wilmington had an acrimonious start six years ago. Shortly after it had secured the contract, Wilmington’s former public access contractor sued Thomas.
The 2019 lawsuit alleged that Thomas – who had been serving on the previous public access contractor’s board of directors – breached his fiduciary duty when he secured the city contract for his own company.
According to court documents, he resigned shortly after the board began discussions to bid on a renewal of the contract. Soon after, he submitted his own bid with DETV, according to the lawsuit.
During that period, Trippi Congo’s parents – Cheris D. Congo and Sammy Congo – served on the board of directors for the DETV predecessor, called Leased Access Preservation Association.
In response to the lawsuit’s claims, Thomas’s attorneys had argued in court documents that it “was brought as nothing more than an attempt to discredit and defame him.”
Ultimately, the case was dismissed. It is not immediately clear if a private settlement had been reached between the parties.
A tense exchange
During last week’s commission meeting, Thomas engaged Basnight in a tense exchange when he accused city officials of failing to support DETV as he said they had promised.
Thomas claimed the city had neglected its commitments by allowing the network to operate in a building without heat or air conditioning, failing to reimburse certain prior expenses, and allegedly failing to inform him about relocating DETV’s studio to its current building.
Basnight noted that the city was not responsible for paying for heat and that it was Thomas’ team that suggested their current site at the IM Pei building.
“I just wanna make sure when we’re speaking, that we’re speaking factual. That’s my role, is to provide factual information to the commissioners,” Basnight said.
Ultimately, all members of the Wilmington Cable, Video & Telecommunications Commission voted in favor of the new public access agreement, except for 1st District Councilman Coby Owens, who said that the original 30-day timeframe for DETV to move was sufficient.
Basnight said the final agreement will not need to be approved by the full City Council. But she did note that councilmembers will be involved in the finalization of the deal.
Thomas has since started a petition to urge the city of Wilmington to restore support for the public access channel.
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