From the Media Access Project web site:

Preserving the Noncommercial Character of Public Television in the Digital Age.

 

Digital television presents all broadcasters - private and public TV alike - with new opportunities to profit. But it also holds great potential for increased educational and community based programming. MAP has already met with several public TV leaders to discuss their plans for the digital future.

One plan proposed by some public broadcasters is causing MAP great concern, however. The Association of Public Television Stations and the Public Broadcasting Service have asked the FCC to give them permission to provide advertiser-supported programming on their excess digital television capacity. They argue that as long as they provide one free, noncommercial service, they should be free to do what they wish with the remainder of their capacity. MAP has officially opposed this request at the FCC on the basis that noncommercial licenses are granted for one purpose - noncommercial service, and that the plain language of the Communications Act prohibits the public broadcasters' plan.

Public broadcasting was designed to provide an opportunity for experimentation and innovation - an outlet for alternative viewpoints and perspectives that are underrepresented in the commercial television marketplace. But reduced funding for public broadcasting and several ill- advised policy changes threaten to commercialize and de-localize this precious resource.

Democracy itself may hang in the balance. Affordable and nondiscriminatory access to data, news, entertainment and information can enable more Americans to participate actively in the process of self-governance. Yet without this access, Americans will be further subdivided into classes of information-rich and information poor, depriving more and more citizens of the opportunity for meaningful participation in the process of determining their own future.

As the allure of the communications revolution wears off, critical questions remain: Will Americans have access to send and to receive information using these new technologies? Will changes in communications technology be used to enhance democracy, or end up polarizing our society into information rich and poor? Who will ensure diversity, competition, privacy and access? How can telecommunications policy maximize the benefits of these developments to the American public?

 The Media Access Project is a DC-based, non-profit, public interest law firm specializing in public media issues.