BULLETIN: LA PUBLIC ACCCESS GRAVELY ILL: Announced September 28, 2009
in the email below to all producers:
Dear Public Access Producer(s), The Board of Directors
of the Los Angeles Cable Television Access Corporation voted unanimously to turn off LA36 on October 1st. 2009. This action
was taken after careful consideration of the City Council’s refusal to reinstate the $300,000 operating grant needed
to keep LA36 on air. This will end Educational and Public Access programming in Los Angeles. We urge you to contact the Los
Angeles City Council urging reinstatement of the budget promised to us, back in May. Many thanks, 213.346.3864 213.346.3868
fax Channel LA36 108 W. 2nd St., Suite 108 Los Angeles, CA 90012 www.la36.org
PEG Fans Hit Comcast, AT&T by John Eggerton -- Multichannel News 3/15/2009
12:00:00 AM PST
Washington — Backers of public, education and government (or PEG) channels
took complaints about how such services are delivered by AT&T and Comcast to the Federal Communications Commission, as
part of a request by PEG backers that the commission put such channels “on an equal footing” with basic commercial
channels.
Public-interest group Free Press opined that putting PEG channels on an equal footing with commercial channels
means cable systems “must pass through closed captioning and secondary audio programs when provided by PEG content producers;
must offer PEG content through the same interface and service tier as other basic-cable channels, with no extra obstacles;
and must deliver PEG content to the customer at the same video and audio quality as other basic-cable channels.”
Free
Press asked the FCC to define AT&T’s U-verse service as a cable service subject to PEG requirements.
Four
Michigan communities asked the FCC to rule on whether Comcast should have been able to move PEG channels to a digital tier
there. They were among various groups seeking a declaratory ruling that Comcast should not be allowed to move the PEG channels
off of the analog basic when it is not moving other channels. Michigan petitioners contended Comcast was “discriminating
against PEG content” by, among other things, requiring consumers to obtain a digital converter in order to see the programming.
Comcast
defended its PEG migration as part a larger transition of all channels to digital and said having PEG channels on a digital
tier in Michigan was legal and in the public interest.
Keeping PEG channels on analog would be preferential treatment
that would prevent Comcast from reclaiming bandwidth for new video services, more on- demand and high-definition programming
and more diverse programming and faster Internet speeds. Those last two are priorities of the new Obama administration.
Comcast
noted competitors DirecTV, Dish Network, Verizon Communications and AT&T are already all-digital and said Michigan’s
video franchise-reform legislation gave cable operators more flexibility over locating PEG channels.
Several commenters
criticized the quality of the PEG channels AT&T’s U-verse delivers, including the attorney general of Illinois,
who said the U-Verse service “on Channel 99 provides inferior access to PEG programmers and viewers, results in inferior
display and functionality, does not provide channel capacity, and does not display local emergency alerts on broadcast system
programming.”
Columbus, Ohio, though, praised AT&T’s efforts to accommodate its PEG channels, and even
praised the Web delivery that others have suggested translates to lower quality.
...as a key concern at a U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing held Wednesday,
April 29, 2009, on the Federal Communications Commission's 2010 budget.
Subcommittee Chairman, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) and Acting FCC Chairman, Michael Copps,
agreed about the importance of PEG channels to the public, and Serrano urged action on the PEG Access Petitions for Declaratory
Ruling before the Commission. In his written statement to the Subcommittee, Acting Chairman Copps said: "I know that a number
of the members of the Subcommittee are concerned about recent developments regarding the carriage by multichannel video programming
providers of PEG channels. I share those concerns. PEG is a valuable source of diverse and local programming that not only
provides an outlet for local voices, but also nourishes the civic dialogue and gives citizens the information they need to
govern themselves... it is my hope that the Commission will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that PEG remains a
vibrant and valuable service."
Rep. Serrano warned that if the FCC doesn't move, PEG issues might "fall by the wayside"
while the FCC waits for a new Chairman to be confirmed. Copps said that he is not reluctant to move and while some items,
such as universal service, may have to await the new Chair, PEG channels don't fall into that category. Rep. Serrano agreed,
noting that while there may be new issues facing the FCC, PEG is not one of them.
The Subcommittee previously issued a letter to the FCC seeking answers on PEG following
its September 17, 2008 hearing. Earlier this week, two Illinois residents were in the Capitol to conduct ex parte meetings
with the FCC on the Petitions for Declaratory Ruling regarding PEG Access. Cheryl Fayne-dePersio of Illinois NATOA, and Barbara
Popovic of Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV), were joined by Dan Coughlin of New York City's Manhattan Neighborhood
Network (MNN). All three organizations are petitioners in ACM et al, which calls for a ruling that AT&T's method of delivering
PEG channels over U-Verse violates the Communications Act and Commission rules. In the ex parte meetings, petitioners disputed
AT&T's characterization of its PEG product as "innovative" and "superior".
In fact, AT&T's PEG product goes in the opposite direction, disadvantaging both
viewers seeking local PEG programming, and local programmers attempting to reach their audiences. AT&T's PEG product hampers
the meaningful development of PEG channels in an evolving digital age. Over 770 comments were filed in this proceeding prior
to the deadline. Keep Us Connected recently shared comments of the City of Aurora, Village of Lombard, and Champaign-Urbana
Cable Television and Telecommunications Commission that were among 111 comments filed from Illinois.
ATT and Verizon are attempting an unprecidented step, the removal of Public, Education
and Government access from basic cable! Under limited supervision by new state beuracracies ATT's new U-Verse product is trying
to relegate these vital communications services to an internet portal that is hard to find and even harder to use.
The net effect is to BURY PUBLIC ACCESS and thus render it irrelevant.
Please do NOT allow ATT to do this!
Boycott this company and its subsidiaries as well as Verizon as they are limiting YOUR
FREE SPEECH!
Here is more:
These same companies together with Comcast and other Cable providers are searching for reasons to defund
and in some cases destroy cable access. In many large cities Public Access is under fire or in threat of going away altogether.
This MEANS:
1) NO LOCAL CITY COUNCIL (can you imagine a world
with no C-Span??)
2) NO LOCAL CULTURE (arts, religeous and community
voices silenced)
3) NO LOCAL EDUCATION (local college and school district
meetings)
What to do??
This is an opportunity to flood elected officials and Letters to the Editor about
the inferior treatment planned for the PEG channels on the AT&T U-Verse system and the inferior way that companies are
rolling out cable as a result of these new laws...... this will help bring a spotlight to the issue and get the attention
of CA. State Legislators..... please help.
There are at least 19 States currently impacted? Is U-Verse a good idea for PEG
channels? Should cable companies be defunding media centers? Just in California alone, here are some media centers
who are facing defunding or have already been defunded: Los Angeles, San Francisco
Fresno, Monterrey.
PLEASE Don't let this happen to you!!
CONTACT YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER!!
CONTACT YOUR CONGRESS PERSON!!
CONTACT YOUR LOCAL CITY COUNCIL!!
Here's a partial sample Ron Cooper, of Access Sacramento
submitted to the Sacramento Bee:
Re ATT's Attempt to Stifle Free Speech:
AT&T's U-Verse has
neglected the seven cable community PEG channels Sacramento County has been proud of for the past twenty years. Where will
you find channels 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 20 on AT&T?
AT&T has assigned
these important local "voices" to an inferior web browser on channel 99. It violates the DIVCA State Law. AT&T's PEG channels
1- Do not have the same
channel numbers as cable for PEG channels.
2- Do not appear on the
basic service tier.
3 -Are not similar in
quality to commercial stations on the lowest cost tier.
4- Cannot transmit Emergency
Alert System (EAS) broadcast messages.
5- AT&T's PEG
channel functionality is not similar to commercial stations.
Other Countries Don't have Public Access...Don't Join them!
PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITTION:
Add your voice to the growing list of those who are
MAD AS HELL and aren't going to take it anymore!
Below is a petittion we plan to circulate to the LA City Council re the possible closure of channel 26 and various facilities
in Los Angeles. These officials must know that it is their responsibility to provide their constituents with Public, Educational
and Government access. This is also a way we can add your voice to our list of advocates. Thanks and
LONG LIVE PUBLIC ACCESS!!
Let Your Voice be heard NOW!
The cancellation of Channel 36
Policy debates and high school sports could soon fade to black.
Patt Morrison
May 1, 2008
It's
the channel you probably channel-surf right past on your way from Discovery to CNN.
Its production values can look
a little ... lean. "Desperate Housewives" no doubt spends more on its backstage buffet line than it costs to operate this
little local channel for a whole year.
Tonight, other cable channels will air something called "Britney's Secret Childhood"
and reruns of "Law & Order" and "Family Feud." Cable access Channel 36 will explore the future of Broadway downtown, and
what Proposition 98 means. On Friday, as you're flipping through the lineup looking for a pro baseball game, Channel 36 will
broadcast the local high school slugger-fest between Cleveland and Chatsworth. Fox lets you decide whether to vote for Syesha
or Brooke on "American Idol"; Channel 36 shows the debate between Bernard Parks and Mark Ridley-Thomas, so you can decide
who to vote for for L.A. County supervisor, a post that represents more people than do the senators from 14 U.S. states.
Whoops
-- we interrupt this programming announcement for a de-programming announcement. Los Angeles is pulling the money plug. Unless
the City Council overrules the mayor's budget choices, come July 1, Channel 36 as we know it will go dark.Â
Not
that there's much budget to cut. The 16 hours of programming a day, seven days a week -- school sports, public policy talks,
long-distance for-credit college classes and a lot of repeats if you missed anything the first time -- cost the city $555,000.
(Channel 36 raises another $320,000 itself, mostly from hiring out its production services.)
That $555,000 comes from
cable TV companies, not taxpayers. Back in 1984, the city boldly demanded funding for public access channels as a condition
of handing out those rich, rich cable franchises. That show of nerve now generates $25 million a year.
About $3 million
goes to Channel 36's more production-intense sister station, Channel 35. If some of the faces on 35 look familiar, it's because
they're often the mayor's or council members', in public meetings and on chatty shows about the work they're doing. They're
on so often that their political opponents have complained that Channel 35 is like one big, free campaign commercial.Â
The
Monday morning that the mayor released his budget, Carla Carlini, the general manager of Channel 36, was nervous. The city
nearly whacked Channel 36 four years ago, and the city's red ink is a lot more crimson now.Â
"I looked at it
online," she told me, "and literally froze." Her budget was zero. "I printed it out, I looked at it again -- at that point
I picked up the phone and called [the agency that supervises the channel] and said, 'Am I reading this correctly?' and they
said, 'Yes.' "
Maybe that zero will turn out to be just a negotiating gambit as the budget gets hashed out. Or maybe
some bright boy or girl in the mayor's office figures, "Why do we need two TV stations? Maybe the mayor will notice that I
saved him half a million bucks and take me with him when he's governor."
So why do we need two public
channels? It's the programming -- government doings on one, education and community events on the other. (Do you really think
politicians would cede their airtime to an urban issues lecture or an introductory film class?)
Happenings that are
big news in smaller cities -- local political debates, performances at public theaters, prep sports -- get outshouted here
by fires and freeway chases and Hollywood. And yet those things are the stuff of community.Â
With Channel 36,
high school jocks all over town can turn on their games and tell their families, "Look, I'm on TV" -- sometimes in neighborhoods
where the only other local guys on TV are doing a perp walk, and the only local sports coverage features a brawl at the all-star
game.
I'd argue that televising prep sports and the rest are more valuable to community relations than mounting video
cameras on 30 police cars -- which is one thing Channel 36's $555,000 budget could pay for. I'm weary of the false way the
choice is always presented: "Which would you rather have, a TV channel, parks or libraries -- or more cops?" Sure, we can
always use more cops, but take that logic too far and L.A. becomes nothing more than an open-air cellblock with palm trees.
If
anything can save Channel 36 in the last reel, it may be Councilman Bill Rosendahl's role on the budget committee. He hosted
an influential cable show for years and helped push the city and the cable companies into airing public interest programs.
The zeroing out, he told me, has left him upset, surprised and determined not to let it happen. "To give up a channel like
that is like giving up gold."
There's none of that to spare, which is why we're in this muddle in the first place.
Tune in to Channel 35 today for the budget deliberations. Then check out Channel 36 -- while you still can.Â
Friends....
does this sound like good government to you? City Council, yes - voices of the community silenced!! When does the word "censorship"
attach itself to budget decisions? Keep in mind, Channel 36 is actually an "educational channel", not public access. Due to
past budget cuts, the City Council achieved "content management" by forcing off any objectionable speakers - educational access
can select its programming, public access is a protected speech forum and must, by law, let all voices be heard.
The LA
Mayor could be the next Democratic Governor of the State. Did I sleep through the coup that eliminated the Bill of Rights?
With the closure of all cable run public access studios in SoCal by Time-Warner, 20 million people will soon have no televised
means to reach the many residents in the entertainment/media capital of the world.Â
Listen
to the silence - Channel 36 is the "canary in the coal mine". Who is next?
Ron Cooper,
Access Sacramento
www.AccessSacramento.org
Proudly,
Public Access for the Capitol of California
