{"id":2587,"date":"2010-12-30T13:55:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T19:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=2587"},"modified":"2011-01-11T22:42:33","modified_gmt":"2011-01-12T04:42:33","slug":"inaccessible-cable-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/12\/inaccessible-cable-access\/","title":{"rendered":"Inaccessible Cable Access"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month the cable television provider Cox Communications changed the access to the community and government access channels here in Northwest Arkansas. They sent a letter to customers (click for a PDF<\/a>), and press<\/a> releases<\/a> to the news outlets. They’d say changed the location, but what they did is limit the access.<\/p>\n

The show-off point of the channels is democracy in action. If you can’t attend a public hearing, watch it and e-mail your alderman etc. The inner rationale is cable companies nationally offer these channels, as well as some equipment and technical support, to win franchise contracts with area governments. Like much in politics, this is a win-win.<\/p>\n

Until now.<\/p>\n

Cox Communications has moved these four channels from Basic-Limited cable, such as numbers 14, 16 and 18, to the 200s, which are accessible only for the more expensive digital accounts. Basic-Limited is the lowest-priced tier, with the local network affiliates and a few “free” cable channels, like Home Shopping. This nullifies the democratic, open access argument. Interestingly, the move had little opposition or even comment from the governments that approve the franchises; only local bloggers<\/a> shouted, “Hey!”<\/p>\n

These channels are for the Fayetteville and Springdale city governments, a channel for the University of Arkansas, where students produce their own general interest and sports programs, and Fayetteville’s CAT (Community Access Tv), which has interviews of local people as well as video of local rock concerts. The school districts have access to channels, and are expected to start programming on them in the future.<\/p>\n

The more choices the fewer it feels sometimes. That’s what My Beloved and I find with Basic-Extended cable with 60-something channels. We often end up watching Fayetteville City Council meetings. Better than a lot of the commericially made material. Also we like the performances shown on CAT, some of which we’ve attended.<\/p>\n

Moving to digital does help a decision we’ll make in the coming year. Shall we stay with Cox or move to AT&T’s U-verse or even satellite TV, which all are digital and also show these channels? Cox lowered its attractiveness, raising that of its competitors.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Update.<\/em> Brick<\/strong> reports in this Jan. 10, 2011, post<\/a> that Cox is giving digital converter boxes to those who request free access to the relocated public access channels. Are there strings attached? Or cables?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month the cable television provider Cox Communications changed the access to the community and government access channels here in Northwest Arkansas. They sent a letter to customers (click for a PDF), and press releases to the news outlets. They’d say changed the location, but what they did is limit the access. The show-off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-body-home-street"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2609,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/01\/peg-o-my-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":2587,"position":0},"title":"PEG o’ My Heart","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year, which is to say 11 days ago, Brick described the local cable company as reneging on its agreement with area governments by moving the local access channels from its cheapest tiers, analog cable, to the more costly digital ones. This posting provoked interest among Facebook friends. They gave\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":295,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/03\/pbs-now-pubis-broadcasting-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":2587,"position":1},"title":"PBS Now Pubis Broadcasting Service","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright Ben S Pollock 2007 I was looking for The Charlie Rose Show. Honest. It was a little after 11, and I was bored with Dave and Jay. It was pledge week for the state's PBS conduit, AETN (Arkansas Educational Television Network), though so I realized Rose might be delayed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":291,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/03\/rashly-rationalizing-rationing\/","url_meta":{"origin":2587,"position":2},"title":"Rashly Rationalizing Rationing","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Somewhere in Brick, and more than once I'm sure, I have opined that the reason the Iraq war has weak grassroots opposition is its distance from U.S. These thoughts are far, far from unique. For one thing, the Pentagon prevents photos being taken of caskets of military personnel being brought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":305,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/04\/blasted-commercial\/","url_meta":{"origin":2587,"position":3},"title":"Blasted Commercial","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"April 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The first-day coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings was, compared to most similar events, surprisingly restrained. CNN was unbearably repetitive. I couldn't see more than five minutes at a time, due to impatience, but wasn't it wonderful that the cable news station of excess kept guesswork and pseudo-psycho-pap about the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "American Culture"","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":193,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/05\/cannibalizing-the-american-sportsman\/","url_meta":{"origin":2587,"position":4},"title":"Cannibalizing “The American Sportsman”","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Which self is awed, which one is angry, which is embarrassed, which is confused by some ol' story that ran in the newspaper days ago? My colleague the columnist Jay Grelen in Little Rock wrote Sunday of his long pursuit of an interview with novelist Harper Lee. He didn't write\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Course of Words"","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2453,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/11\/over-and-under\/","url_meta":{"origin":2587,"position":5},"title":"Over and Under","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Columnist Stu Bykofsky of the Philadelphia Daily News, despite being quite the extrovert, rarely finds himself a news subject. It's because he's first a journalist, although with his in-your-face style, that might seem surprising. 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