Membership and Content Agreement

The Open Media Foundation and Denver Open Media believe in the equal right for everyone to have a voice in their community. We believe that the more diverse the discourse of a society, the better informed we are and better able to make good decisions. We believe no organization or individual should have the right to determine which ideas do and do not have an opportunity to be heard. For this reason we have created the Fairness Doctrine.

Our organization enables individuals and organizations with limited financial resources to produce independent and nonprofit media in the Denver community for a local and global audience. In developing partnerships throughout the community we strive to provide all the tools necessary to produce high-quality, professional media. In order to maintain and offer services to the community we must ask that members agree to abide by certain rules and procedures.

Please read and indicate at the bottom of the form that you understand and accept the terms of use at Denver Open Media.

Producing at Denver Open Media
The following is an outline of the steps a member must take prior to being eligible to use/rent equipment or DOM facilities:

1. Complete online membership registration and pay for desired membership type.
2. Sign up for and take all required certification classes offered by DOM to gain usage rights to the equipment and facilities.
3. Activate a project and make reservations following our guidelines for use of equipment or facilities.
4. Produce and submit for cablecast and web streaming non-commercial programming that follows our Content Agreement.

Member Guidelines for Use of DOM Equipment and Facilities

1. Classes offered at Denver Open Media certifies members to use DOM equipment and facilities covered in the Field, Studio or Editing classes.
2. Once certified, you can rent DOM equipment at commercial rates, or you can purchase a DOM membership and check-out DOM equipment free of charge as follows:
   
   
   • DOM Field Membership - Individuals may reserve one complete field package, including but not exceeding: 1 camera and accessories, 2 batteries, 2 microphones and cables, one camera support, 1 light kit with accessories, field monitor and headphones for 24 hours, or for 72 hours if you rent Saturday-Tuesday. For equipment needed beyond these quantities members will be charged MEMBER rates. Field equipment users must follow the field policies.
   • DOM Studio Membership - Individuals may reserve one studio for up to 3 hours. All DOM members are allowed to be camera crew and non-members can be “shadow camera crew” up to 2 times before membership is required. Studio users must follow the studio policies.
   • DOM Edit Membership - Individuals may reserve one edit station for up to 6 hours. DOM will allocate 100 gigs of storage to be used be members for DOM programs. This is a working storage space and not meant for archival purposes. Please note that projects may be cleaned out after three months. Editors users must follow the Editing policies.
3. If you are accessing our equipment through your DOM membership, all material you create using DOM equipment must be non-commercial in nature and be submitted to air on our channels with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license. If your material is commercial in nature and/or cannot air on our station, you must rent our equipment at the COMMERCIAL rates.
4. If you are accessing our equipment through your DOM membership, NEITHER YOU NOR YOUR CREW MAY BE PAID TO PRODUCE YOUR VIDEO PROJECT. If you are getting paid you must rent the equipment at the COMMERCIAL rates. Certain exceptions are made for nonprofit organizations, based on project proposals. Please see our Station Director for more information.
5. Uncertified people cannot touch DOM equipment except where the shadow policies apply, see #2, Studio Membership.
6. All payments are due up front, and a copy of a credit card and drivers license and deposit may be required. Click here for info on the bounced check policy.

Reservations / Checking in and out
To make a reservation you must have an active membership, the proper certifications and an active project. All equipment and studio time must be reserved via the website, and should be done in advance. DOM will provide computer and Internet access for members needing to make online reservations. Drop-ins are allowed, but the same rules of use apply.

Please see Field Policies for details on picking up and returning equipment, late fees and missing or damaged equipment.

Underwriting Policy
The membership program at DOM is designed to ensure that everyone in our community can access the communications technology resources they need to participate in our local media communications. Equipment is made available through subsidies from Comcast and the City of Denver, and free use of that equipment is restricted for noncommercial projects.  DOM is responsible for ensuring that those subsidies do not constitute unfair competition against commercial equipment rental operations in Denver, and that we are only providing free equipment access to projects that could not otherwise be completed.

In general, when a project has underwriting support, it has sufficient funding to rent equipment from a commercial rental house, or at DOM's commercial rental rates. For that reason, no underwriting recognition is permitted for shows which were created using free or discounted equipment through a DOM membership.  An exception can be made for small underwriting amounts (under $5,000), provided that the underwriting support is donated directly to DOM or the Open Media Foundation, not to the show producer. Any underwriting support received is then credited against the producer's account to cover membership, training, or equipment rental costs.

There are no restrictions on underwriting recognition (or any other content restrictions) for producers renting DOM equipment at commercial rental rates.

Member Responsibilities
Denver Open Media members must be aware of all of the rules detailed in the Membership Agreement. Failure to observe these rules could result in a loss of privileges at DOM.

• Members must act in accordance of the Code of Conduct and are responsible for the conduct of everyone participating in their production and guests invited into the facilities.
• Your video project must be non-commercial in nature and adhere to the Denver Open Media policy regarding Creative Commons Licensing and Copyright policy.
• Members are not required but encouraged to take an orientation course prior to becoming a member. Your Voice, Your Media, 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, 5:30-6:30pm. Follow link for upcoming schedule and to make a reservation.
• Members must be certified to use equipment and facilities. Those who have prior experience with editing software (Final Cut Pro) and/or field camera equipment can opt to Test-Out of our certification classes. For those who are in need, there are scholarships available for all classes. Please click here for more info on class fees, test-outs and scholarships.
• Members are to exercise extreme care and common sense when operating all equipment whether in the studio or when using field equipment.
• Members are responsible for inspecting all equipment at the time of rental. Members will be held financially liable for missing equipment and for the repair or replacement of equipment damaged by negligence or misuse upon return.
• Under no circumstances shall any member attempt any maintenance, repair, or adjustment to any equipment rented. Any member attempting any of the above shall have their member privileges revoked. All problems should immediately be brought to the attention of the Station Director.
• All use of DOM equipment or facilities must result in a non-commercial Creative Commons program and submitted for airing on DOM channels and streaming on the website.
• All member producers are responsible for submitting programs that are in compliance with the Content Agreement.

Denver Open Media's Responsibilities
DOM's responsibilities to our members:

• Studio, editing and field equipment will be provided by DOM for use by members and will be maintained by DOM.
• DOM will provide the equipment and instruction for members to upload programming for the access channels and for web streaming.
• DOM will provide Internet services to members in order that they may complete all required forms and other materials needed for membership.
• DOM will provide qualified and knowledgeable staff and interns to offer orientations, workshops and provide assistance to members.
• DOM will provide a productive and user-friendly environment.
• Do our utmost to inform membership of changes to policies and procedures.
• Allow members in a productive manner to provide comments and feedback to the processes and procedures at DOM.
• If for some reason you are not satisfied with your membership within 30 days, you may request a refund under the Refund Policy guidelines.

Failure to Comply with Stated Policies and Applicable Law
DENVER OPEN MEDIA is committed to providing video production facilities and workshop trainings at reduced costs for the production of non-commercial Public Access programs. All users are welcome to use the facilities in the manner described in existing policies. The Executive Director or Station Director may impose, at his/her discretion, sanctions and penalties for failure to comply with DENVER OPEN MEDIA policies.

Facility users are responsible for their actions within the facility and the care of the equipment they use. DENVER OPEN MEDIA may require reimbursement for replacement or repair of property and equipment damaged by facility users. At the discretion of the Executive Director, persons who fail to pay for such reimbursements or whose behavior is not in accordance with DENVER OPEN MEDIA’s Code of Conduct, Programming and Member Policies may be suspended or banned from use of the facilities.

DENVER OPEN MEDIA will make every reasonable effort to inform individuals about programming polices and prohibitions when a violation has occurred and to cure those violations. DENVER OPEN MEDIA reserves the right to take any action with regard to program scheduling and transmission to comply with applicable law and to ensure compliance with these policies, including but not limited to immediately suspending access rights.

Programming Policies and Content Restrictions

Series Programming Policy
Members who are at least programming level members and are willing to commit to submitting new content on a regular basis can request one series timeslot of either a half hour or hour. The timeslot must be chosen from within the themeblock timeslots for the program. The timeslot will remain consistent until either June 1st or December 1st, at the time of the bi-annual "Mix-Up" in which theme blocks are moved around and producers can request timeslot changes. Producers must have at least 2 shows ingested, and uploaded on DOM website. Once given a timeslot event and proper scheduling permissions, producer are responsible for schedule their own shows.

Procedure to Schedule Series:

• Review available timeslots in program's theme block.
• Make sure producer does not already have another series.
• Producer has at least two new programs to schedule (they should be ingested, and uploaded on DOM website).
• Producer will be given a recurring timeslot event for the series and permissions to self-schedule.
• The last program available to schedule should be set to recur for the same day of the week and time until the either June 1st or December 1st. This means that over the course of the season members must continually ingest and DOMinize new programs so they can be manually set to air in the requested series timeslot.
• PRODUCERS are responsible for scheduling their own show once given proper site permissions. Self-Scheduling should be done before Saturday for the following week. Saturdays the upcoming week's schedule is reviewed for programming holes and all empty slots must be filled.
• Repeats are only allowed four times per season.
• Failure to provide new programming as scheduled will lead to program cancellation and restrictions in scheduling future programs. Accumulation of multiple programming suspensions may result in a permanent ban from the use of DENVER OPEN MEDIA’s facility and/ or prohibition from scheduling future programs.

Content Ingest Legal Agreement
While Denver Open Media is not responsible for the content submitted to our station/website, members must confirm that the content being provided is not contrary to local, state or federal laws, regulations, or Denver Open Media procedures and policies. Complete Program Content Legal Guidelines are posted below, but in the most basic terms, you agree that the material that you are submitting to Denver Open Media does not include:

1. Any material violating any state or federal law;
2. Any material that is libelous, slanderous, or otherwise defamatory, or constitutes an unlawful invasion of privacy;
3. Any advertising or material that promotes any commercial product or service; 
4. Any use of material that violates statutory or common law copyright
5. Permission is granted to cablecast content on DOM cable channels and to webstream on DOM's website. Additionally, if DOM's equipment and facilities were used in production, unless commercial rates were applied, it be released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license and that it can be shared with other noncommercial entities.

If any programming submitted for cablecast and web streaming by any member violates these provisions, Denver Open Media shall refrain from cablecasting or re-cablecasting the programming and will also impose any other sanctions against the membership as dictated by the rules and regulations.

Creative Commons/Copyrights
Open Media Foundation and DOM rent out studios and production equipment for commercial use at standard rates. Only noncommercial, public access, creative commons projects qualify for the use of equipment and studios at a discounted rate. If members want to own exclusive copyrights to their work, or if they want to produce commercial content, it will not air on the Denver Open Media public access channels, and members must pay COMMERCIAL rates for use of studios and equipment.

Three Strikes Rule
Members are expected to comply with all programming guidelines. Members will be penalized in the following manner if a violation occurs:

Strike one: Show gets deleted from database
Strike two: All shows get deleted from database
Strike three: Membership is revoked
Permission to Use Content