HADLEY — As Hadley Media faces a decline in revenue, with franchise fees from Charter Spectrum continuing to drop as the subscriber base goes down, the community media center’s enterprise fund is being supplemented with taxpayer support.
With an expectation that this extra money will only get Hadley Media through the next two fiscal years, with questions about whether there will be any money left in the account come June 30, 2028, Hadley Media Director Alex LaMarche recently appealed to Massachusetts senators to adopt S.2556, An Act to modernize funding for community media programming.
“Passing this bipartisan bill will help save jobs, continue to bolster local information, and keep communities connected,” LaMarche wrote. “We’ve been at this for four legislative sessions, and time is now of the essence.”
Part of the argument is that Internet traffic on Hadley Media’s YouTube channel is increasing dramatically, with an over 80% increase in engagement on that platform this year.
Charter cable subscribers, though, have been nearly cut in half from 2014, when there were 1,627 households with cable, to 869 in 2026.
The passage of the recent override provided an influx of $40,000 to Hadley Media for fiscal year 2027, after franchise fees came in at $83,870, a 10% loss from last year’s $93,744.
“We are grateful to both Town Meeting and Hadley voters for approving the override
measure that gave us $40,000 to subsidize our enterprise fund,” LaMarche said.
But LaMarche cautions that this extra money will only get Hadley Media through the next two fiscal years.
Hadley Media covers numerous meetings and events in town and schools, including sports, music and theater, and offers people First Amendment protections.
The cable revenue funding is due to the Cable Act of 1984, which has been the only money mechanism for community media. No federal update is expected.
According to Statista, cord-cutting has continued, with Nielsen reporting that streaming surpassed cable and broadcast television for the first time in May of 2025.
Currently, MassAccess is leading an effort to change how community media centers get
their funding, supporting bills that would help supplement Hadley Media’s funding as cable revenues go down.
“Without funding, we won’t be able to put these important moments
and meetings up for the public to view,” LaMarche said. One important moment was
Master Police Officer John Robitaille’s final sign-off before he died from ALS in December.
“I feel that through media, we are bringing the community together. We help build
community in our own unique way,” LaMarche said. “This is something we must not take for granted and we must keep up the momentum from this month’s ballot vote and continue to keep Hadley the small but mighty media center we are.”
Examples of other projects that have helped the town include a compilation video of police interactions and an informational video on a fire truck purchase. Upcoming projects include a documentary on the Hadley Amherst 12U softball team and a project by Hadley Elementary School third graders to make asparagus the state vegetable. Hadley Media has also been working with local musician Harry Remer and the Hadley Public Library for a concert series called “Inside the Song.”
