Comcast Closes Public Access Studios in Northern Indiana
September 13, 2007
TOM BROWN
Amy Hansen, Production Manager for Comcast Cable Communications Inc., announced on August 28 the giant cable company is closing all its public access studios in northern Indiana.
Effective September 28, the following studios will be closed.
- Hammond Studio
844 169th Street, Hammond, IN - Portage Studio
2225 Locust Court, Portage, IN - Mishawaka Studio
4045 Edison Lakes Parkway, Mishawaka, IN
Affected are communities, citizens and cable subscribers in a broadcast area which includes counties in Indiana and Michigan. Comcast's cable broadcast monopoly stretches from the Illinois border on the northwest to Elkhart County in north central Indiana.
Comcast claims it will reserve public access channels in northern Indiana for an unspecified time in spite of closing the studios.
Telecommunications giants AT&T and Comcast persuaded the Indiana General Assembly to pass legislation, written by the telecom companies (we think mostly by AT&T), which allows the companies to centralize all franchise agreements in one statewide commission rather than negotiate franchise agreements city by city and county by county. Included in the new law is a provision for telecom companies to abandon public access requirements and contracts if competitors do not also offer public access to its network.
Shutting down public access to media further consolidates the power of the telecom giants and diminishes grassroots access to media.
Resources
Is Cable Access Dead in Indiana?
Tom Brown, St. Joe Valley Greens, April 17, 2006
Bad FCC
Tom Brown, St. Joe Valley Greens, December 23, 2006
Public Needs YOU to Stop The FCC Now!
Alliance for Community Media, December 18, 2006
Challenging corporate control of the public's air waves
Joanne Cvar, Green Pages, Vol. 9, Issue 4
Digital TV: Leaving viewers in limbo
Marc Gunther, FORTUNE, January 19, 2006
St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN