The value of the public access channel in Trumbull, Conn.,...
The value of the public access channel in Trumbull, Conn., to local communities is questionable, Trumbull Community Television Committee (TCTC) said in comments in docket 12-103 on the state of competition in the delivery of video programming (http://xrl.us/bnnh35). Because the…
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channel operates on a regional basis “none of the communities served have the benefit of a local public access channel.” Funds for the public, educational, and governmental (PEG) channels are collected by Charter Communications and AT&T, which are given to Charter “for its exclusive use by its public access channel,” TCTC said. No PEG fees are distributed to support education channels, it said. The state ordered Charter and AT&T to work together “so that Charter will provide their public access programming for broadcast on Uverse [sic].” Neither company “had made any serious effort to accomplish this interconnection and the state has done nothing to enforce its edict,” TCTC said. The committee also said U-verse subscribers don’t get that channel because the companies have refused to work together to provide a common public access channel. “Yet they are charged PEG fees on their billing.” TCTC said it suspects that local Internet services compete with the public access channel, “but that may be due to the lack of local focus of the regional public access channel."