We thank you for your commitment to preserve the public right to be heard through community access. With your support, we will continue to provide a venue to make all local voices heard.
How U-Verse is Delivered in Palo Alto
AT&T’s
“PEG platform” is an inferior technology that is only applied to PEG
Access. The U-Verse PEG system is sub-par, low resolution,
cumbersome and PEG channels are segregated to a separate system unequal
to commercial channels on AT&T’s system in virtually every way that
matters to a viewer. For example, Palo Alto cannot closed-caption
the educational programming our hearing-impaired students rely
on. All DeAnza Community College programming is closed-captioned,
as California law requires. AT&T, however, will not pass
through the closed-captioning DeAnza includes in its programming.
DeAnza is choosing not to offer it’s channel on U-Verse.
The AT&T U-Verse Problem
What's wrong with U-Verse with respect to Public Access Channels?
Channels are not accessed by "surfing" channels like it is for all other channels
Several pages of Menus must be navigated, with many choice to select before seeing a channel
Resolution of public access channels is one quarter the resolution of other channels
Closed Captioning is not provided on any public access channels
It takes about a minute to
work through the menu structure to select a public access channel. You
have to go through that process again if you switch your channel away
from the public access channel.
We Need Congressional Help
We
call upon to our leaders in Congress, to declare their vision in 2008,
as they did in 1984, to preserve the ability of local communities to
engage in local media, to express their unique interests and cultures,
to get to know their neighbors views, to stay informed on local issues
Read
about the challenges facing Public Access on this page, and Take Action
by contacting your representatives in government and in public
utilities commissions.
Barbara Popovic of Chicago Access Network TV, puts it well:
"Bottom
line, AT&T, the company that promotes 'choice' in cable
franchising, is giving viewers no choice when it comes to PEG."
How Hard is it to see a Public Access Channel on U-Verse?
Here is a demonstration showing what a U-Verse viewer has to go through to see a Public Access Channel.
A Good Summary of Challenges Faced by PEG
Barbara
Popovic is the Executive Director of Chicago Access Network TV. Her
statement to the The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial
Services is clear and forceful. Her oral testimony is available in hardcopy.
KCBS Channel 5 coverage of AT&T Consumer Controversy
KCBS Channel 5 did a recent story about the controversy shaping up
over AT&T's inadequate implementation of public access channels in
their U-Verse Television offering, and what California state agencies are doing about it.
California Division of Rate Payer Advocates The
California DRA is a government agency responsible for Consumer
protection. They have issued a Consumer Alert against AT&T's
UVerse, warning consumers about the diminution of public access
channels in that product.
House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on PEG Access TV On
September 17, 2008, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial
Services and General Government held a hearing of grievances against
AT&T for relegating PEG access to an inferior level of service.
AT&T chose not to be represented at the hearing. The entire hearing
is available on this blog page.
Press Release from Alliance for Community Media regarding harm to PEG This
was issued to announce bipartisan support for PEG operations during the
House Appropriations Subcommitee on Finance Services and General
Government, and asked the FCC to investigate whether ATT and other
operators are in compliance with the Cable Act of 1984.
Consumer Alert agains AT&T Uverse issued by California DRA The
California Division of Ratepayer Advocates, of the California Public
Utilities Commission, issued a Consumer Alert to warn potential
subscribers of U-Verse that there is reduced capability to view PEG
channels. They also submitted a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee advising them that AT&T's provisioning of PEG channels violates state law.
Take Action!
Let
everyone know you are NOT okay with degradation of Public Access
Television. If you are unhappy with the accessiblity of your public
access channels, or if you are concerned that Public Access may slowly
go away because of the gradual erosion of laws that created Public
Access TV, complain to your cable TV operator, to the PUC and to
your state and federal legislators.
"The teachers, Ravenswood staff and I have learned
a ton of information about the video creation process and about the
equipment. My favorite thing was how quickly they had us actually go out
in the field and shoot our first video (within two hours of the first
class!), then teach us more about lighting and other things after we
critiqued our own videos. "
Solomon Hill
Director of Technology
Ravenswood City School District
900 San Antonio Rd. • Palo Alto,
CA 94303-4917 • 650-494-8686 • info@midpenmedia.org