Public-access television

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Public Access is a segment of the PEG access television model of local cable television production offered in the United States. "Access" television provides training and access to media production technology and distribution methods so that community producers and viewers may participate in the local, national, and global electronic common areas that include, but are not limited to television, radio and the internet.

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Principles of PEG

Cable Access Television is a general term covering the arrangements made between US cable television companies and contracted municipalities to provide their communities with the means to use the cable infrastructure to distribute locally produced content.

In the 1960's and 1970's there was a growing concern that new-at-the-time cable television resources should be used for the public interest and many advocates voiced their opinions that some portion of this new market should be reserved for public use. Additionally, there was concern within communities as cities began contracting for cable TV service that companies were using public by-ways (such as roads and sidewalks to run cable wires) to make a profit and many advocates believed some form of 'rent' should be paid for their use. Cable companies at the time were greater in number and smaller in size and negotiating this arrangement was eventually confirmed by the FCC and US cable companies were then required to provide a percentage of revenue from the cable TV subscription fees to provide public access to the cable systems.

There become four general types of cable access known as PEG (short for public, educational, and government access) and cable company-produced LO (Local Origination). Public Access Television is intended for private citizens from the contracted municpality to distribute local and community initiated programming and content. Educational Access generally provides services to school districts and Government Access serves municipal and civic organizations. Local Origination is programming produced by local cable company franchises, though this is becoming less of a priority in the global media market.

Municipalities have a broad spectrum of franchise agreements with cable television service providers. Depending on the size of the community and their contractual agreement the PEG and LO channels may take many forms. Large communities often have a separate organization for each PEG type, smaller communities may have a single organization that manages all three. Because each organization will develop its own policies and procedures, constituent services differ greatly between communities.

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Public Access Television

It is important to recognize that in the current national and global media landscape it is nearly impossible for average citizens to place their ideas and opinions on television. Public access organizations have often adopted more action-oriented roles in their respective communities to serve as possibly one of the last venues for local and community oriented programming to be seen and heard. Many organizations serve as protectors of the right to free speech and the value the specific diversities of their constituents, many also strive to include the under-served and under-represented segments of their city or town residencies.

Services available at public access organizations are often low cost or free of charge, with an inclusive, content neutral, first-come, first-served, free speech ideology. Monies from cable franchise fees are used to operate the facilities, employ staff and trainers, develop curriculum, operate training workshops, schedule and maintain equipment, produce programming, manage the cablecast of shows and publish promotion materials to build audiences.

Users of public access stations may participate at most levels of this structure to make content that is meaningful and reflective of their experience within their communities. Many public access channels carry primarily locally produced programs while others also carry regionally or nationally distributed programming.

Public Access Links
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Educational Access Television

Educational Access is the institution set aside for fulfilling the needs of the educational departments and organizations within the municipality. Educational Access channels may be associated with a specific school, school district(s) or even private organizations that are contracted to operate the access station for the city.

Educational Access centers usually operate a cable channel on the local cable system and often include elements and principle that echo Public Access in terms of training and resources. Many school media and video training programs are based in the Educational Access centers. Programming distributed by these centers ranges from student or parent produced media to coverage of local school functions and bodies (such as the School Council or Committee).

There are a number of notable Educational Access organizations that produce programming for a national audience and experiences a very broad distribution.


Educational Access Television since 1971 Salem, NH School District Television

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Governmental Access Television

Awaiting further contributions.

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Local Orgination

Awaiting further contributions.

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Closely Related Institutions

Community technology centers or CTCs have values similar to the Public Access movement. CTCs offer resources to help bridge the digital divide, primarily through public access to computers and the internet. In addition, it may provide training that ranges from basic computing skills to digital media production.

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Future of PEG Access

Giant cable companies now harvest billions of dollars annually through the use of public by-ways for cable infrastructure (sidewalks, telephone poles, roads, etc) that are owned by the citizens and taxpayers of the community. As cable television technology is slowly taken out of homes in place of a higher bandwidth digital technology, special interest lobby groups seek to revoke the franchise fees and funding sources that, while they do eat a small percent of profits for the cable companies, provide countless individuals access to television distribution that they cannot find nor afford elsewhere.

The future of many access organizations remains in service to cities and communities in terms of new communication and media technology. In 2005, the consumer media market became flooded with blogs, vlogs, RSS syndication and aggregation, iPod and cell phone media, and countless new methods for distributing information and ideas. As cable television slowly phases out in lieu of a new technology, access center will adapt these new technologies to meet their individual missions and goals within their constituency; most notably is MCAM TV-23the first public-access station to make 100% of their content available online from Manchester, NH at the MCAM Producer's Page

Free Press has been identified as a leading organization and trusted source for information about our evolving mass media and democracy landscape.

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Interesting Access Facts

  • A famous fictional public access program, Wayne's World, draws some comedy from the often stereotyped low production values of material distributed on public access channels (see John Daker).
  • Similarly, a 1993 thriller directed by Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men), 'Public Access', often confuses internet searches for individuals researching topics on cable access.
  • A PBS program called Mental Engineering claims to be the first American show to originate on public-access TV, find its way to a local station, and finally end up being broadcast nationally over the air. It started at the public access channel of Saint Paul, Minnesota, was picked up by KTCA, and had an episode broadcast across the U.S. after Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002.
  • Many PEG channels rebroadcast programming from satellite distributions, one example of this would be Pacifica's Democracy Now!
  • In Canada, cable companies offer programming on a channel similar to the American idea of Local Origination. This channel is more commonly referred to as a community channel.
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See also

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External links

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