Public, Educational, and Governmental Access Channels ("PEG Channels")
Pursuant to Section 611 of the Communications Act, local franchising authorities may require cable operators to set aside channels for public, educational, or governmental ("PEG") use.
Public access channels are available for use by the general public. They are usually administered either by the cable operator or by a third party designated by the franchising authority.
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Wilmington, North Carolina considers an access TV Channel
Council last discussed the idea–proposed by a local nonprofit to give Wilmington a new platform for expression–in January and left it with a number of questions about liabilities, how the channel might sustain itself and who would operate it.
http://portcitydaily.com/2013/05/02/city-to-revisit-public-access-tv-idea/
“Public access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content and television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels,” defines the Southeastern Alliance for Community Change (SEACC), a local nonprofit whose vision is “WPA-TV”–for “Wilmington Public Access”–running programming “by and for the people of Wilmington.”
But a true public access channel is lacking.
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The Role of Public Access TV in Covering Local Government, Debates
In recent years, "public service media" has emerged as the term
describing all that's right with public media, community media, and
non-profit journalism, and how those three sectors could be
collaborating to function more perfectly in a new
telecommunications-reformed promised land. Largely overlooked in these
future of media discussions are two types of simple, non-edited
televised event recordings -- local government meetings and local
election debates coverage.
http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2013/04/the-role-of-public-access-tv-in-covering-local-government-debates093.html
In January this year the Alliance for Community Media published results of a local elections coverage survey it conducted among its PEG access provider members. The responses the ACM received -- especially to its questions about the barriers to producing such programming -- would be an excellent place to start the collaborative conversation about how the existing 1) infrastructures of public media and community media could work together to 2) create and 3) curate more of this programming, in ways which would enhance viewer 4) connections -- that is, citizen engagement.
Examining and exploring these pathways to collaborations would be a fruitful step towards crafting new public policies that would create a more robust and provably useful public service media system.
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EX MAYOR THE STAR OF P/E/G TV
Rich Archbold: Public television returns to Long Beach with former mayor's new show
Former mayor starts new show on nonprofits
O'Neill is no stranger to the TV camera.
While she was mayor for three terms from 1994 to 2006, she started and hosted "Heart of the City," an interview program with public officials and community leaders.
"Ever since I left City Hall, telling the stories of nonprofits is something I've always wanted to do," she said. "I hope this will bring people together. "
She winced when I said she was the Joan Rivers of Long Beach TV. "More like Barbara Walters," she said gracefully.
O'Neill's return to the television studio coincides with the return of public access television to Long Beach.
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_23070172/rich-archbold-public-television-returns-long-beach-former
