Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable TV specialty channels. Public-access television was created in the United States between 1969 and 1971 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under Chairman Dean Burch, based on pioneering work and advocacy of George Stoney, Red Burns, and Sidney Dean.
TV3, owned and operated by Medford Community Cablevision, Inc., is a public-access television channel serving Medford, Massachusetts. It was created by mandate of the 1984 Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act. The channel's current facilities are located at 5 High Street, under then-U.S. Representative Ed Markey's office in Medford Square. Medford Community Cablevision oversees the community's public access television on Comcast channel 3. It functions as both a production facility as well as a telecast station. In 2010 the station unveiled new services to the community including video on demand and 24/7 streaming video services on its website.
Public, educational, and government access television refers to three different cable television narrowcasting and specialty channels. Public-access television was created in the United States between 1969 and 1971 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and has since been mandated under the Cable Communications Act of 1984, which is codified under 47 USC § 531. PEG channels consist of:
- Public-access television – Generally quite free of editorial control, a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create television programming content which is transmitted through cable TV The channels are reserved free or at a minimal cost. The local origination television content revolves primarily around community interest, developed by individuals and nonprofit organizations.
- Educational-access television – Is distance education, a curated form of educational television, it is a synchronous learning educational technology unique to cable television systems and transmit instructional television, on Time Warner Cable channel 21, programming within city limits. Educational-access channels are generally reserved for educational purposes and are not for government-access or public-access television. Many schools have adapted educational access channels to enhance school curriculum. Some schools have done this better than others. Although the use of television in schools can be traced to those schools serving the bedroom communities of Manhattan in the 1960s, where executives and technicians of early television lived, the creation of PEG channels expanded the value of television as a school or community resource. Students produced and aired community stories in part to serve community stakeholders and in part to engage in active learning. These schools developed school-based community television as a storytelling laboratory.
- Government-access television – Cable channel capacity for the local government bodies and other legislative entities to access the cable systems to televise public affairs and other civic meetings. Government channels are generally reserved for government purposes and not for education-access or public-access television.
- Leased access – Cable television channels that are similar to commercial television where a fee is paid-for-services of reserved channel time.
- Municipal-access television – or "Community Access television" are ambiguous terms that usually refer to a channel space assigned on a Cable TV System intended to provide the content to all or some of the above listed access channels, and may contain other "access" programming such as "religious access" or the TV programming of a local institution, such as a college or a library. These channels are usually created as cost saving measures for the Cable TV company if their franchises or governing authorities allow it.
- Hybrid – Often, one channel will take on the role of another channel type on a regular basis. An example of this would be a college with a strong television production curriculum assumes the roles of educational access and public access. Beyond the typical curated educational access programming, a public access television element would be added where public access television producers would make shows using college owned equipment and college students as crew. This can be very beneficial to both entities, as the students earn credits for the work while contributing to the public access channel. However, difficulties can arise when the programming made for public access is of a type that does not reflect the values or tastes of the supporting college, and in such situations, colleges often make the decision to downplay or abandon the public access element of the channel, depending on how much funding is earned by assuming the public access television duties.
WLNY-TV, virtual channel 55, is an independent television station licensed to Riverhead, New York, United States and serving the New York City television market. The station is owned by the CBS Television Stations subsidiary of ViacomCBS, as part of a duopoly with New York-licensed CBS flagship WCBS-TV. The two stations share studios within the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan; WLNY-TV's transmitter facilities are located in Ridge, New York. There is no separate website for WLNY-TV; instead, it is integrated with that of sister station WCBS-TV.
WWLP, virtual channel 22, is a dual NBC/CW+-affiliated television station licensed to Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, serving the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group. WWLP's studios are located at Broadcast Center in the Sandy Hill section of Chicopee at the northwest corner of the I-391/MA 116/Chicopee Street interchange, and its transmitter is located on Provin Mountain in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam.
WWSB, virtual channel 40, is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Sarasota, Florida, United States. The station is owned by Atlanta-based Gray Television. WWSB's studios are located on 10th Street in the Rosemary District of Sarasota, and its transmitter is located on Rutland Road in the unincorporated Manatee County community of Rye, about 5 miles (8 km) east-southeast of Parrish. The station also operates a news bureau in Venice, Florida.
WBPX-TV, virtual channel 68, is an Ion Television owned-and-operated station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The station is owned by West Palm Beach, Florida-based Ion Media Networks, as part of a duopoly with Woburn-licensed Ion Plus owned-and-operated station WDPX-TV. The two stations share studios on Soldiers Field Road in Boston's Allston neighborhood and transmitter facilities on Parmenter Road in Hudson, Massachusetts.
WUNI, virtual channel 66, is an Univision-owned television station serving Boston, Massachusetts, United States that is licensed to Marlborough. The station is owned by the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications, as part of a duopoly with Derry, New Hampshire-licensed Justice Network affiliate WWJE-DT ; Entravision Communications, which owns Worcester, Massachusetts-licensed UniMás affiliate WUTF-TV, operates WUNI under a joint sales agreement (JSA). WUNI and WWJE share studios and transmitter facilities on Parmenter Road in Hudson; under the JSA, master control and some internal operations of WUNI are based at WUTF's studios on 4th Avenue in Needham.
New Hampshire PBS (NHPBS), known as New Hampshire Public Television (NHPTV) prior to October 1, 2017, is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member network serving the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It is operated by New Hampshire Public Broadcasting (NHPB), a community-based organization which holds the licenses to all of the PBS member stations licensed in the state. Its studios are located just outside the University of New Hampshire campus in Durham.
WYDN, virtual channel 48, is a Daystar owned-and-operated television station serving Boston, Massachusetts and Manchester, New Hampshire, United States that is licensed to Lowell, Massachusetts. The station is owned by the Educational Public TV Corporation, a subsidiary of Daystar sister company Word of God Fellowship, Inc. WYDN's studios are located on Sprague Street in Dedham, and it shares transmitter facilities with Concord, New Hampshire-licensed Ion Television owned-and-operated station WPXG-TV on Fort Mountain near Epsom, New Hampshire. On cable, WYDN is available on Comcast Xfinity digital channel 295 and on Verizon FiOS channel 25.
WWJE-DT, virtual channel 50, is a Justice Network-affiliated television station serving Boston, Massachusetts, United States that is licensed to Derry, New Hampshire. The station is owned by the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications, as part of a duopoly with Marlborough, Massachusetts-licensed Univision-owned station WUNI. The two stations share main studios and transmitter facilities on Parmenter Road in Hudson, Massachusetts. WWJE is operated separately from WUNI's joint sales agreement (JSA) with Entravision Communications-owned UniMás affiliate WUTF-TV in Worcester.
Community television in Canada is a form of media that carries programming of local community interest produced by a cable television company and by independent community groups and distributed by a local cable company.
New England Cable News (NECN) is a regional 24-hour cable news television network owned and operated by NBCUniversal serving the New England region of the United States. It focuses on regional news, though in some low priority timeslots, paid programming and programming from WNBC such as Talk Stoop and Open House are seen.
Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) is the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member network for the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is owned by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, a community-based non-profit organization that holds the licenses for all PBS member stations licensed in the state, and also owns the state's National Public Radio (NPR) member, Connecticut Public Radio (WNPR). Together, the television and radio stations make up the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network (CPBN). CPBN is the state's only locally owned media organization producing TV, radio, print and Internet content for distribution across the state. Jerry Franklin is the President of CPTV. The organizational structure of CPTV also includes a Board of Trustees. The network co-produced the long-running children's television series, Barney & Friends.
The Florida Channel is a government-access television network operated by Florida State University's WFSU-TV and the Florida State Legislature. The channel is currently carried by 46 cable TV systems throughout the State of Florida either on a part-time or full-time basis as well as through up to 18 live Internet streams and via satellite. The station operates 24 hours a day though its normal broadcast schedule starts at 6:00 a.m. ET and ends at 6:00 p.m. ET with the day's programming repeated in a loop throughout the night. The Florida Channel also airs on the digital subchannels of most Florida PBS member stations and on some public independent and local cable-only stations.
CTV 2 Alberta is a Canadian English language entertainment and former educational television channel in the province of Alberta. Owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., it operates as a de facto owned-and-operated station of its secondary CTV 2 television system.
WBTS-CD, virtual channel 15, is a Class A NBC owned-and-operated television station serving Boston, Massachusetts, United States that is licensed to Nashua, New Hampshire. Owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal, it is sister to Merrimack, New Hampshire-licensed Telemundo owned-and-operated station WNEU, as well as regional cable news channel New England Cable News (NECN) and regional sports network NBC Sports Boston. The four outlets share studios at the NBCU Boston Media Center on B Street in Needham, Massachusetts.
NewTV is Newton, Massachusetts’ community media center, paid for by taxes on local cable bills.
