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Washington, DC) - In a showing of bi-partisan support for the community, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Congressman Steve LaTourette (R-OH) yesterday introduced the Community Access Preservation (CAP) Act of 2011 (H.R. 1746). The bill seeks to stem the severe challenges faced by public, educational, and government access (PEG) TV channels and to protect those channels for future generations.
"Local access channels bring unique voices, perspectives, and programming to television," said Congresswoman Baldwin. "The nature of television programming is changing, as are the methods in which that programming is delivered. These changes should not come at the expense of the diversity and vibrancy of local voices," Baldwin said.
"These stations don't receive federal funding. All this bill does is allow and empower local communities to keep their public access channels if they choose to do so," said Congressman Steve LaTourette.
Historically, the number of channels and funding dedicated to PEG TV was negotiated as part of local cable franchise agreements between the cable company and the local community and each community determined its own investment in programming. However, recent state-level franchise laws in twenty states have jeopardized this balance and communities and consumers in six states, including Wisconsin and Ohio, will lose all funding for PEG channels by 2012.
A nationwide study conducted for the Benton Foundation by the Alliance for Communications Democracy shows that PEG access centers in at least 100 communities across the U.S. have closed since 2005 and, without passage of the CAP Act, as many as another 400 public access channels will shut down.
For a summary of the bill, go here.
Bookmark www.alliancecm.org for updates on the bill's progress and how you can help.
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