Public Access Television - PEG Channels

Contents

• About Public, Educational and Government (PEG) Channels
• Washington PEG's by County
• Related Organizations
• MRSC Related Web Pages
  • Local Government Broadcasting of Public Meetings
  • Reaching Citizens through Technology - Cable TV, Podcasts, Video Libraries and E-mail Notification

About Public, Educational and Government (PEG) Channels

Local governments authorizing cable television franchises may require cable operators to set aside channels for public, educational, or governmental (PEG) use.   Public access channels are available for use by the general public. They are usually administered either by the cable operator or by a third party designated by the franchising authority. Educational access channels are used by educational institutions for educational programming. Time on these channels is typically allocated by either the franchising authority or the cable operator among local schools, colleges and universities. Governmental access channels are used for programming by organs of local government. In most jurisdictions, the franchising authority directly controls these channels. For more information see Cable Television Fact Sheet Public, Educational, and Governmental Access Channels ("Peg Channels") May 1998, Federal Communications Commission

• Guidebook: Creating a Government Access Channel - Government Access Television Institute (GATV)
• How to Bring Public Access Television to Your Town,  by Bill Huston - a short primer for anyone who would like to start a public access station or show
• P.E.G. Access Resources - Center for Digital Democracy
• Is Commercial Speech Permitted on Government Access Channels? by  Neil Lehto, Attorney, O’Reilly, Rancilio, Nitz, Andrews & Scott, P.C., Sterling Heights, MI,  NATOA Journal, Summer 2003 - via SCAN NATOA States of California and Nevada Chapter of NATOA  
• Community Programming, CATV Franchise  Information, City of Redmond

Washington PEG's by County

This list is currently confined to those jurisdictions that have information about the channel on a website.  If we have missed listing your local government's channel please send the information to MRSC.

• Clark Vancouver Television (County website) - Channel 23, CCTV 2, Cable Channel 21
• Clark/Vancouver Television (CCTV) (City website) - Programming is produced by the City/County Cable Television Office, which operates as a joint agency of city and county government.
• Fort Vancouver Public Television - Vancouver Public Access Clark County PACC - nonprofit corporation that is the designated Public Acess provider in Clark County.
• Vancouver Media Services - Cable-TV Office - The Cable TV Office, funded by Vancouver and Clark County, regulates franchise agreements with AT&T Broadband Services and other telecommunications providers. It also coordinates public access Channel 11 and award-winning government cable access CCTV Channel 23.
• Vancouver Educational Telecommunications Consortium (TV ETC)  - ESD 112  - TV ETC represents public, private and state education in the county serving a variety of educational institutions, consortium members, and the City/County Telecommunications Commission.   

• KLTV Community Access Television for Cowlitz County (Longview-Kelso) -  In cooperation with Adelphia Cable, KLTV broadcasts on Adelphia Cable channels 11, 44 and 66 to cable subscribers in Cowlitz County.  KLTV ch.11 is a non-profit community access television station providing access for Educational, Governmental and Public programming

Franklin County

• Pasco PSC-TV Cable Channel 12  - Provide programming 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Broadcasting over 75 public meetings with live gavel to gavel coverage each year.

Island County

• Wildcat TV (WCTV) - Wildcat TV, Channel 21 from Oak Harbor High School  on Comcast covering all of Whidbey Island

King County

• Bellevue  BTV 21 
• Bothell BCTV 21
• Enumclaw City Television Channel 21 - government access television channel which is supported through franchise fees from Comcast Cable, and is broadcast to incorporated Enumclaw
• King County Television - Channel 22
• Puget Sound Access (PSA) - A non-profit organization created to bring communications tools to South King County residents. Member cities are Kent, Burien, Tukwila, Auburn, Renton and SeaTac.
  • Auburn GATV 21
  • Burien TBC 21
  • Renton Cable 21
• Issaquah 21/61
• Redmond City Television - RCTV Channel 21 - RCTV was created in 1996 as a comprehensive and convenient way for residents to receive information about issues, services and events within the City of Redmond.  RCTV cablecasts in most areas in Redmond on channel 21.
• Sammamish 21 TV
• Seattle Television - Channel 21
• Seattle Community Access Network SCAN channels 77 & 23 - The Seattle Community Access Network (SCAN) is a non-profit entity that is charged by the City of Seattle to operate the facilities and transmit television programming on our behalf. SCAN operates public access television on cable channels 77 and 23 in most of King and parts of Snohomish County. 
• Seattle Public Schools Instructional Broadcast Center SPS-TV
• Shoreline Public Schools Television Channel 26
• University of Washington UWTV and UW2TV

• Port Townsend TV

• Bainbridge Island Television - BITV operated under a contractual relationship with the City of Bainbridge Island, and Comcast whic terminated in December 2010. BITV is a membership organization, open to any resident or organization located within the Comcast subscriber areas of Bainbridge Island, Indianola, Sandy Hook, Suquamish, and Hansville. 
• Bremerton Kitsap Access TV - BKAT is the channel for all Public, Educational & Government programming in Kitsap County.

• Ellensburg Community Television - ECTV Central Washington University - Ellensburg Community Television, (ECTV) was created on April 2nd, 1984 by the Ellensburg City Council. ECTV is a branch of the City of Ellensburg, but is administrated by Academic Computing. Thus, ECTV facilities are located in the library, on the campus of CWU. This co-ownership is beneficial to ECTV and CWU for many reasons. ECTV is able to access services from CWU's technicians and engineers and both entities can access and share equipment

• Rainier Communications Commission - The Rainier Communications Commission, a regional approach to community TV,  is funded through an interlocal agreement that requires each jurisdiction to contribute one half of one percent of the gross cable revenues in that jurisdiction. For most members, that amounts to one tenth of their franchise fees from AT&T Cable. Membership in the RCC makes a jurisdiction eligible to participate in the Regional Media Center (RMC). The RMC is funded through an agreement with AT&T Cable whereby jurisdictions contribute twenty-five cents per subscriber per month and that amount is matched by the cable company as a capital contribution.  MEMBERS Bonney Lake, Carbonado, DuPont, Edgewood, Fife, Milton, Orting, Pierce County, Puyallup, Ruston, Steilacoom,  Sumner, Tacoma, University Place, Wilkeson
• Tacoma TV Tacoma

• Mount Vernon TV-10 and TV-26 - The City of Mount Vernon is the lead agency in the station. The City has worked closely with Skagit County government, Affiliated Health Services, Mount Vernon School District and Skagit Valley College to develop productive partnerships. Other partnerships are also being explored and are in various stages of participation.

• Everett TV Channel 21

• Spokane City Cable 5 - Cable 5 is the City of Spokane's government access television station.

• Thurston Community Television - TCTV is a 501(c)(3) non-profit under contract to Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, and Thurston County to provide public educational and governmental access resources the greater Thurston County area. Services include training in video production for residents, nonprofit organizations, schools, and government agencies; technical support for any person using TCTV resources to create video programming, and professional contract production services to nonprofit groups and government agencies.

• Bellingham TV 10

• Mid Valley Television - MVTV is owned and operated by the Cities of Toppenish, Wapato, Zillah and Granger as a public cable access facility. It is administered by the Cable TV Division of the City of Toppenish.
• Yakima Public Access Television WCTV and Y-PAC

Related Organizations

• Alliance for Community Media
  • Alliance for Community Media, Northwest Region
• GATV Institute
• The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors
  • Washington State Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (WATOA)