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Charter negotiates Russian-style:
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Daily Sparks Tribune 9-5-2008

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Reno city council votes unanimously to sue Charter to keep community TV accessible
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8-6-2008
FROM LES SMITH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Sierra Nevada Community Access Television

Please send at least ten other people this notice and editorial.

MOVING COMMUNITY ACCESS CHANNELS – A LOSS OF PUBLIC TRUST

Charter Communications is moving Reno – 13, Sparks – 15, public access – 16 and Washoe County – 17, will be moved to the digital tier and beyond the reach of most of their viewers.

Why should that be important to Charter’s subscribers or the rest of the people who don’t subscribe to Charter Cable?

The simple answer is that these are your channels, given to you by federal law. Cable operators are required to provide public, education and government (PEG) channels as a way of making public service programming available on the cable system without having to create public-service programming themselves. These channels are part of the public trust. They are your "property," just like the national forest or monuments in Washington D.C.

Most cable operators, like Charter, don’t share the sense of obligation to the community that their predecessors did. Cable operators have been railroading laws though state legislatures, relieving them of having to negotiate franchise agreements with the local communities. New statewide franchise laws still require cable operators to provide PEG channels. But, there is no guarantee of where on the cable spectrum the PEG channels will go.

The biggest downside to this move is for local government, community organizations and producers who count on easy and affordable access for their viewers. Federal law requires that these channels be easily accessible and available at the cheapest rate. Moving PEG channels up to the digital tier adds complexity and difficulty to watching these channels. And, the cost of the digital box is a huge jump in price over the basic cable rate.

There is a small, but important core of regular viewers who will be cut off from PEG channels, because they can’t afford a 25% increase in their cable fees. Moving PEG channels also effectively puts them out of reach of other PEG viewers, who cruise the basic cable tier.

Imagine a small, downtown park, surrounded by banks, boutiques, condos and shops. Parents bring their children to play here, church groups socialize, government officials meet, community organizations hold events, buskers perform and families from all over town come to enjoy the activities. The park has history, culture and tremendous community value.

Then, a developer convinces the legislature that it’s too much trouble dealing with the city on development. Now, the developer only deals with the state. The new law guarantees a park, but it doesn’t say where it has to be. So, the developer moves the park to an area five-miles out of town. And, to facilitate the move, an entrance fee will be charged. It isn’t hard to imagine what would happen to visitation at the park. And, where will the people who live in town to meet with government officials, participate in community events and activities?

The people of the Truckee Meadows wouldn’t stand for a developer perpetrating such a violation of the public trust. Why should they allow Charter to do the same thing with their PEG channels?

_______
The above commentary appeared as a guest editorial in the 8-15-2008 Reno Gazette-Journal.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PUBLIC CHANNELS TO BE TAKEN AWAY BY CHARTER CABLE

Contact: Les Smith
(775) 828-1211

RENO, NV - AUG 4, 2008 - In an apparent move to free-up analog channels for more lucrative clients, Charter Communications is moving the public channels up to the digital band, effectively putting them out of reach for the citizens of the Truckee Meadows.

"A huge number of people in Reno, Sparks and Washoe County will no longer have access to the information, programming and media that was provided for them by federal law," said Les Smith, executive director for Sierra Nevada Community Access Television (SNCAT).

"Unless a wide majority of viewers go out of their way to buy the digital box and actively search out the public, education and government (PEG) channels, they will miss the opportunity to see what their local governments are doing," Smith continued.

"They won’t be able to get valuable information about what’s happening in their community or enjoy programming provided for them by program producers in the community."

"Those who will be most affected right away are the government channels, Reno channel 13, Sparks channel 15, public access channel 16 and Washoe County channel 17."

According to Smith, channel 16, the public access channel, provides media access for community organizations like the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, the Humane Society and others, who will essentially be cut off by the move.

This move to put PEG channels onto the digital tier is not the first time that the cable provider has banished PEG channels to what Smith refers to as "Cable Siberia."

The educational channel was placed at channel 200. The channel was originally designated to be brokered by SNCAT and populated with programming from the UNR, TMCC and the Washoe County School District.

"TMCC produced programming and put classes on the channel to start with," said Smith,

"But, after Charter failed to follow-through with a promise to provide special digital boxes for students, the audience for channel 200 basically dropped to zero. So, TMCC gave up and they haven’t put any new programming on the channel for the last couple of years."

Smith predicts that the other PEG channels may share the same fate, if Charter is allowed to force this move.

According to Charter Communications, PEG programming currently reaches 75,000 households in the Truckee Meadows. These numbers will be drastically cut for the government and public channels if they move to the digital tier.

Currently, the vast majority of viewership on the analog PEG channels is incidental, but significant, usually the result of people surfing the basic cable tier. Both the cities and county indicate that a high percentage of the people polled in the Truckee Meadows indicated that they had viewed a public meeting or program on one of the PEG channels.

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