Springfield’s public access TV channel may be black now, but the familiar faces of Access 4 are not fading away.

The Springfield city council on Tuesday approved a deal to accept management of Access 4 from cable provider Comcast. The recently-formed Access 4 Producers Group supported the deal after several of their concerns were addressed in talks with the city.

“It went great,” said producer Ted Keylon.

“Nothing could happen until they voted on it. They couldn’t accept the equipment that Comcast is giving to the city. They couldn’t take over encoding and transmission, so the signal is still black. They couldn’t even start moving the equipment until this vote was cast, even if everyone knew what was going to happen.”

But the producers were not always so eager for the deal’s passage. They were originally reluctant to support the deal over concerns about the city’s management, such as how equipment funds would be used and whether shows would be surreptitiously censored by the city. Meetings between the producers and city spokesperson Ernie Slottag assuaged the group’s fears, Keylon said.

Under the agreement, the city will only provide a place for Access 4 producers to input their shows. The move will not cost the city anything, Slottag said, because existing city employees who already handle the city’s TV channel will take on Access 4 shows as well. Additionally, Comcast will pay for equipment costs through the existing 15-cent fee each cable subscriber pays to support public access channels. That fee generates about $60,000 per year, said Libbie Stehn, manager of government and community affairs for Comcast, at the Dec. 8 city council meeting where the agreement was first discussed.

Comcast will also pay the city about $100,000 that has accrued from the subscriber fee. That money can only be used for equipment expenses related to public, educational or government access programming, according to Federal Communications Commission rules.

The city tentatively plans to accept donated equipment from Comcast’s now-closed Access 4 studio and loan it to anyone wishing to make a show, but Keylon said the producers would like the equipment donated to their recently formed nonprofit group instead. Details of that transaction have yet to be finalized.

The city will not provide production capabilities under the agreement, so the producers have formed a separate agreement with Springfield’s Capital Area Career Center to use the existing TV studio at that facility. CACC is also the home of WQNA radio.

Stehn said Comcast is getting out of the public access TV business “to focus on our products.”

“We are franchise-required to carry the channel,” Stehn told the city council on Dec. 8. “We are not franchise-required to operate it or manage it, which we have been doing the last several years. In reviewing our business, it just doesn’t make sense to continue to do so.”

About 70 locally-produced shows appeared on Access 4 while under Comcast’s management, and Slottag said at the Dec. 8 meeting that there would likely be opportunities for more programs if the city manages the channel.

The city would not censor programs on Access 4, Slottag assured the council, adding that the city would also not be liable for the content of the programs.

Keylon said some issues still need to be resolved, such as who will own the donated equipment and the length of time before the channel is broadcast once more.

“There’s a lot that’s still up in the air,” he said. “We’re running on a wing and a prayer, but nothing could move until this vote happened.”