Channel 21 Program Lottery

Here are the materials pertaining to the next lottery drawing for programming on WCTV Channel 21. This lottery will take place February 11 at noon in the studio of WCTV.

This last round we had only one thirty-minute slot remaining in Tier One, so please make sure to return your materials to ensure a spot.

Feel free to join us afterwards for refreshments.

The new schedule will begin the week of March 2, 2008.

Once again, thank you for your continued interest and support of WCTV.



Tier One Program Drawing

Reserved only for local producers whose programs take place physically, and are recorded within, Wayne County, Indiana.

Maximum program length is one hour. One program maximum per week in this tier.

Programming days include Saturday through Thursday.

Producer may supply one new program per week, and shall supply at least one fresh program at least every two weeks, to maintain tier one status. Producer shall deliver program to WCTV studios at least one business day before program plays on Channel 21. Sunday and Monday programs need to be in on Friday.

Tier One programs will be placed first. Tier One may be expanded at the expense of Tier Two as new local producers qualify for Tier One. Tier One programs always take precedent. As of this drawing, as we maintain one hour maximum per program, there are sufficient hours available to handle historic numbers of programs. However, Tier Two programs are subject to be moved or discontinued if demand for Tier One programming expands to the point that the only way to accommodate Tier One programmers is to shrink Tier Two time, accordingly. Any cancellation may be based on last in, first out. Cancelled programs may be entered in the next lottery.

All assigned hours in Tier One are subject to the luck of the draw. Since programs are either ½ hour or one hour in length, the presiding WCTV lottery official may assign the drawn program to the next practical and available time slot, later or earlier, as applicable.

This drawing will be effective starting March 2, 2008, and programs in Tier One will normally be scheduled for a total of three run times per week, as practical. Original cablecast and repeats are typically at eight-hour intervals.

Any program qualifying for Tier One which becomes a part of WCTV programming after the lottery may be placed in any time available until the next lottery drawing.

Tier One programmers -- please check the appropriate box on the return form if you would prefer that your program appears regularly on Sunday. The first random drawing will be for Sunday-preferred time slots in the eight hours between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. until all preferred Sunday hours availabilities are filled. Any remaining Sunday-preferred programs will be assigned randomly to Saturday. Then, Monday through Thursday time slots will be randomly drawn and placed in late afternoon and evening hours, as available. In the event that any Sunday hours remained after the Sunday-preferred drawing, they will be drawn for last of all, if it is necessary to accommodate any remaining producers.

Tier Two Program Drawing

Reserved only for programs that take place physically, and are recorded, outside Wayne County, Indiana.

Maximum program length is one hour. Two programs maximum per week, as time may be available. Must have a different local sponsor for each program.

Programming days may include Saturday through Thursday.

All times, repeats, and placements in Tier Two are at the discretion of the Program Director. Original program cablecast and repeats typically are at eight hour intervals for a total of two to three run times per week, as practical.

Producer may supply one new program per week, per time slot, and shall supply at least one fresh program per time slot at least every two weeks to maintain Tier Two status.

Producer shall deliver program to WCTV studios at least one business day before program plays on Channel 21. Sunday and Monday programs need to be in on Friday.

Other Information

An Individual Program is defined as “A program submitted for one run which is not part of a series and does not contain series content.”

Only series programming that has been through the lottery process and not selected for a regular series timeslot will be accepted for weekly play during individual program timeslots. Series programming, or programming with similar content, that was not part of the lottery process can be submitted no more than twice a month.

WCTV allows two types of programming: series and non-series (individual). Series means all programs have the same title and similar content. An individual program is one which has an individual title and the content is not the same as another program.

Individual programs can be submitted for playback once and must be accompanied by an application form. A series submitted for play during Individual program time slots must be separate and distinct from other series programming by the same producer. Any producer wishing to submit a series program, without participating in the series lottery, will be able to air two programs per month.

After its cablecast, any program that is judged to have technical problems may be pulled from programming rotation. Possible problems include very low or no audio levels, video images which have tracking problems or static, video images that are too dark or out of focus, and/or other technical problems. The Program Director may suspend the program and future episodes of the program from further cable casting until technical problems are resolved. Please spot check your program before you bring it in to avoid any problems, especially with the authoring of DVDs.

WCTV accepts VHS, S-VHS, DVD, and MiniDV.