Download the April/May 2008issue of the Public Access of Indianapolis newsletter, The Right of Way.  In the lead story, Erik Mollberg shares his experience at a hearing on “Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) Services in the Digital TV Age” convened by the Subcommittee on Telecommunications & the Internet of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in Washington,  (Adobe Reader required.) 

Rev. Timothy Rouse, President of the South Bend Common Council.

After the closing of Comcast's public access television studio in December, the City of South Bend selected the local PBS affiliate, WNIT, to record its three remaining Common Council meetings for 2007. But when that contract was extended through 2008 without an open bidding process, African American Council members and previous bidders cried foul during a meeting of the Information and Technology Committee on February 6, 2008.

The Indianapolis Marion County Cable Franchise Board (CFB) oversees local cable franchise agreements, local access TV channels, and meets monthly. Public comments are allowed at the end of the meeting. The official meeting minutes and video archives of the meetings are available on the IndyGov website.

The Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission (IURC) oversees the state video franchise certificates for Comcast and AT&T.

I’ve been watching “ER” since long before George (Dr. Doug Ross) Clooney became Oscar-nominated lawyer Michael Clayton, but no more. I’m boycotting NBC because of its actions in excluding Dennis Kucinich from the MSNBC broadcast of the Democratic presidential candidates in Las Vegas on January 15.

This issue of RoW documents a victory for our friends in Philadelphia, multiple ongoing struggles at the FCC and in Congress, and machinations in our own state with video service providers operating in a variety of situations. But to this observer, all commercial video providers are single-mindedly focused on their ultimate goal: The Bottom Line. The moldy concepts of promoting the common good like clean air and water and preserving public property like the “public airways” seem to be no longer understood in our money-driven society.

Conceived in 1993 by Stuart Lowry, Jim Walsh, and Patricia Miller, WITT will be the first community radio station serving Zionsville and the greater Indianapolis area. The board of WITT has completed all of the regulatory steps with the Federal Communications Commission and has acquired an FM radio transmitter. Now they have two and a half years to begin broadcasting. To learn more about their vision for non-commercial community radio and how you can get involved, visit www.919witt.org.

It took almost 25 years, but Philadelphia finally announced the establishment of public access television. In September Mayor John Street, members of the Philadelphia Community Access Coalition (PCAC), and Comcast announced an agreement that should launch public access TV in January 2008. The City Council unanimously passed the enabling resolutions.

“It has been a long, hard struggle, but finally the city which historically most represents the ideals of democracy and freedom will have the benefit of Public Access-the voice of community in the electronic age,” commented independent filmmaker and media activist, Dee Dee Halleck, in her blog.