Cable TV Fact Sheet

Federal Communications Commission May 1998 (excerpted)

Public, Educational and Governmental Access Channels ("PEG Channels")
Pursuant to Section 611 of the Communications Act, local franchising authorities (“the Town of Holly Springs”) may require cable operators (“Time Warner Cable”) 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.  (HSTV-11 is not a public access channel at this time, just government.)

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.  (HSTV-11 is not an educational access channel at this time, just government.)

Governmental access channels are used for programming by organizations of local government. In most jurisdictions, the franchising authority directly controls these channels.  (This is the category in which HSTV-11 falls at this time.)

PEG channels are not mandated by federal law, rather they are a right given to the franchising authority, which it may choose to exercise. The decision whether to require the cable operator to carry PEG channels is up to the local franchising authority. If the franchise authority does require PEG channels, that requirement will be set out in the franchise agreement between the franchising authority and the cable operator.  (The Town of Holly Springs has requested the channel from Time Warner Cable.)

In accordance with applicable franchise agreements, local franchising authorities or cable operators may adopt on their own, non-content-based rules governing the use of PEG channels. For example:

• Rules may be adopted for allocating time among competing applicants on a reasonable basis other than the content of their programming.
• Minimum production standards may be required.
• Users may be required to undergo training.

PEG channel capacity which is not in use for its designated purpose may, with the franchising authority's permission, be used by the cable operator to provide other cable services. Franchising authorities are directed by federal law to prescribe rules governing when such use is permitted.

(At this time, the Town of Holly Springs has only one PEG channel capacity, and the designated purpose of HSTV-11 is to provide government information and community programming.  If the need is identified in the future and proper administrators are appointed, then additional channels may be obtained from Time Warner for Public Access and/or Educational Access programming.)