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Public Access Unaccessible |
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Give credit to the infinite capacity of technology, for the advent of public access television programming. Still, a burgeoning idea, public access has been around for close to 30 years, fueled by the "social and technical convergences." Around 20,000 hours of public access programming is produced by citizens in over 2,500 facilities across the country, but in the city where democracy was given birth to, no such channel exists. Philadelphia is the largest city in the United States, where government doesn't fund public access programming. |
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Public Outcry Forces Issue |
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Public access had a big year in 1999. The cable franchise agreements were renegotiated, pro-access groups descended in protest on City Hall, and an investigation into the city's noncompliance with Bill No. 1963 was put under the microscope. Stipulations for public access remained in the franchise agreements between the city and Comcast Corporation/Urban CableWorks amidst growing pressure from advocates for public access cable programming. Resolution 980979 called for an investigation and subsequent hearings into why public access television was never created in Philadelphia in accordance with Bill No. 1963. Dozens of organizations in support of public access voiced their opinions and concerns at this hearing. Among the organizations were: Philadelphia Community Access Coalition, NOW, Kensington Welfare Rights, local artists and professors and various other community members. According to hearing transcripts, this show of support came as a surprise to Councilperson David Cohen. "They've [the Mayor's administration] kept Philadelphians for 16 years from having public access, 16 years after the law was passed," Cohen said, "And many promises were made during the time the City was considering granting permits to the various cable companies that wanted to operate in Philadelphia. And everyone of those companies professed an enormous interest and support for the concept of public access." However, this support never materialized and one is left to wonder why. |
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Access Activists File Suit |
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| In 2002, a class action lawsuit was filed by various groups in support of public access television. The lawsuit was spearheaded by the Philadelphia Community Access Coalition (PCAC) and included such organizations as the League of Women Voters of Philadelphia, Citizens for Consumer Justice and the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Task Force. According to Danielle Redden of PCAC, the lawsuit was filed to force the city's hand since nothing came of the public hearings in 1999. The lawsuit alleged the city was denying its residents their First Amendment free speech rights by not providing them a public forum through (public access programming, which would have been created with the implementation of Bill No. 1963. The court cited the Cable Communications Act of 1984--the same act that years before encouraged the creation of public access by allowing monies to be collected from franchise fees, stating cable companies may choose, but are not obligated to provide public access channels. The case was dismissed, but, according to Redden, the group is currently in settlement negotiations with the city. |
The Money Behind The Myth |
According to Appendix E of the Cable FranchiseAagreements that were renegotiated in 1999, cable operators like Comcast must fund the public access channels. In addition, they would also be paying for public channels that are directly competing with their commercial channels. Franchise aggreements call for upwards to $1.2 million to run a network in the city. The aggreement states $600,000 is needed to run a city-wide access facility and $300,000 for each franchise per neighorhood, not to mention an additional $75,000 would be secured for equipment replacement. In Mayor Street 's 2004 budget address he says the city is in a time of "great national and state economic distress." |
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