Public Access Remains Vital

EVEN AMONG A SEA OF CABLE CHANNELS, PUBLIC ACCESS REMAINS VITAL
[SOURCE: Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Kate Torgovnick]
In the late '60s, NYU film professor George Stoney had the idea to use the burgeoning cable system to get his films seen. Other people around the country were thinking the same thing. Stoney began the first official public access in New York in 1971. By 1972, it became FCC law that cable providers fund public access channels in major television markets. Public access still works this way -- cable providers like Time Warner and RCN pay "rent" to the community by providing them with channels for public use. Manhattan Neighborhood Network yearly budget is 3.7 million, 90 percent of it coming from the cable companies. The programming is a trippy hodgepodge, running the gamut from talk shows to cooking, music videos to soft-core porn, church services to sketch comedy, plus a heavy chunk of local news. The only rule (besides, of course, those outlined in the First Amendment) is that you can't sell anything -- it's completely non-commercial television. Which means no muting commercials required.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-torgovnick/even-among-a-sea-of-cable_...