Cable Leased Commercial Access (was Public Access/ Cable Channel Production) MacDV Digest #2641

[Ted Langdell]

Harold Hallikainen has a handy list of the latest FCC rules at this 
link.
  http://www.hallikainen.com/FccRules/

His slogan is: hallikainen.com Helping make public information public

Here's a link to the act of Congress that added the leased commercial 
access provisions.

http://www.calcable.org/cable_laws_federal_sections.html#SEC612

partial quote:

"SEC. 612. [47 U.S.C. 532] LEASED COMMERCIAL ACCESS
(a) The purpose of this section is to promote competition in the 
delivery of diverse sources of video programming and to assure that the 
widest possible diversity of information sources are made available to 
the public from cable systems in a manner consistent with growth and 
development of cable systems.
(b)
(1) A cable operator shall designate channel capacity for commercial 
use by persons unaffiliated with the operator in accordance with the 
following requirements:
  (A) An operator of any cable system with 36 or more (but not more than 
54) activated channels shall designate 10 percent of such channels 
which are not otherwise required for use (or the use of which is not 
prohibited) by Federal law or regulation.
(B) An operator of any cable system with 55 or more (but not more than 
100) activated channels shall designate 15 percent of such channels 
which are not otherwise required for use (or the use of which is not 
prohibited) by Federal law or regulation.
(C) An operator of any cable system with more than 100 activated 
channels shall designate 15 percent of all such channels."


As you can see, in many systems (particularly with digital cable)  
there should be a dozen or perhaps several dozen channels designated 
for leased commercial access.

So, if you inquire, and someone tells you, "oh, we have nothing like 
that," or they indicate that what they do "make available" is tied up 
at the time you want, show them—gently—that they're required to make 
channel capacity and time available to you.

A Google search for "Leased Commercial Access" turned up seven pages of 
links.

Ted Langdell
Ted Langdell Creative Broadcast Services
Marysville, CA