The City of Wilmington’s potential interest in another public access TV channel and related possible legal challenges will be the concern of a public meeting Thursday at City Hall.
While the city already operates one channel–GTV on Time Warner Cable (TWC) channel 8, which airs Wilmington City Council meetings among other government programming–a nonprofit called the Southeastern Alliance for Community Change (SEACC) has encouraged Wilmington to adopt an additional channel for “content generated by the people and for the people,” a city bulletin said.
Thursday’s meeting, seeking input from residents, is scheduled for 6-7:30 p.m. in council’s chambers at City Hall, 102 N. Third St.
But the city attorney’s office has noted some disagreement about entitlement to another channel.
TWC broadcast a public access channel for this area until cutting it in late 2009, at which time TWC is said to have offered the spot to New Hanover County and the City of Wilmington, “and we allegedly declined it,” said Assistant City Attorney Joseph Betts. Subsequently, TWC reallocated that unused channel’s bandwidth.
The city attorney’s office said it has no record of ever turning down the channel offer and may still be legally entitled to it. State law says any city with a population of at least 50,000 is allowed three “public, educational and government access”–or PEG–channels by request to the local cable entity.
But if the city does pursue a local access channel for the people, the city would ultimately be responsible for its content–not all of which may favor a family audience.
According to a presentation to City Council in September, public access channels are First Amendment platforms and their operators can’t turn away proposals based on their content. Almost all matter, whether anti-religious, anti-government or flat-out lewd, would be allowed.
“If anybody was denied, they would have a claim, a legitimate claim to be able to sue,” Betts said, adding the city would assume liability.
The city would, however, be able to restrict the hours objectionable content may be shown.
SEACC believes the city’s people should have an outlet for a variety of expression and information. The organization, according to its website, “works to empower people and groups for social change.”
Officials are asking Wilmington residents their input on the possibilities, being the purpose for the Nov. 15 public meeting.
In preparation, residents may learn more through an informational video the city has availed here.
Contact Ben Brown at [email protected] or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter: @benbrownmedia
