Attendance at the May 15 meeting of the Indianapolis Cable Franchise Board, scheduled for Monday, May 15, 2006, from 2:30 to 4:30 PM in Room 260 of the City County Building, 200 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, is crucial for those who want to see public-access TV back in Central Indiana, according to Public Access of Indianapolis President Andrea Price. 

The meeting will address Bright House Network's request to negotiate their cable franchise agreement with the city before new legislation that moves regulation of cable franchise agreements from individual localities to the state becomes effective on July 1, 2006. Bright House's current agreement expires in 2008, and normally, the renegotiation would take place over the next couple years. With the process shortened to a scant two months, the time is NOW to demonstrate strong community support to make sure that public-access TV is part of any new contract.

Indianapolis is one of only two major cities without public-access TV (Philadelphia is the other).  A world-class city needs world-class community media, and with a large list of sup-porters, including Citizens Action Coalition, the Indianapolis chapter of the NAACP, the Central Indiana Central Labor Council, and the Community Faith and Labor Coalition, Pub-lic Access of Indianapolis has a unique opportunity to build toward community-based media by ensuring the inclusion of both bandwidth and funding for local-access TV facilities in any new franchise agreement.

Public Access of Indianapolis is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to address the need for non-discriminatory, community access to cable television in Indianapolis. Visit www.indyaccess.org for more information on the organization and issues.
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