Last Call to Action?

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What: Rally to Save Public Access TV followed by City Council Hearing on Cable Contract

When: Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Rally at 4 PM
Hearing a 5 PM

The Baltimore City Council hearing on the proposed Comcast contract will follow the rally at 5 PM. At the hearing the city, Comcast and Public Access advocates will give presentations before the floor is opened for public comment.

Where: in front of City Hall (free food will be served)

After the Hearing: It is critical that you follow-up: Contact your City Council representatives and ask them to vote NO to the proposed Comcast contract (Bill 04-1504).
http://www.baltimorecitycouncil.com/members.htm

More Info Contact: 410-779-2184 or www.baltimoregrassrootsmedia.org

After suffering a flawed 20-year cable contract, this is our key opportunity to secure dedicated funding for non-commercial, non-governmental, free speech TV where we can create and show our own programs.

Come out to show that the people of Baltimore know how important Public Access is and that we won't be denied what other cities have.

The City's proposed contract does not provide any funding specifically for Public Access. The cable contracts of other cities provide millions of dollars for Public Access TV.

Since the City Council cannot modify the contract - they can only vote it up or down - they must reject it!

It's up us to educate and embolden our council members to do the right thing for their constituents.


More Info:
Public Access TV, cable channel 5, is the only channel covering the League of Women Voters City Council candidate forums, showing "Democracy Now!" and Baltimore's own "ROCing 'D' VOTE voter education show. It also shows local youth-produced programs, religious programs, music concerts, art exhibits, people fighting back to improve their communities, etc.

You may hear that there is funding for Public Access in the proposed contract, but this is not true. It is for Public, Education and Government Access (PEG). The Government Access (G) channel, which currently has a $1.1 million per year budget, will get to decide how the PEG money is divvied up, and are on record saying they will probably use most of it for the Government channel. In contrast, cable contracts in unicipalities with vibrant public access facilities specify ongoing funding and facilities directly for the independent organizations that manage Public Access (P).

Some other problems with the proposed contract are that it reduces the number of channels available for public access and does not provide a percentage of digital bandwidth, there is no "signal input point" specified for the public access facility, and the length of the contract, though reduced from 20 to 12 years, is still too long given the rapid changes in the cable industry.

See www.baltimoregrassrootsmedia.org for more detailed information.
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