Miscellaneous Pixels
Election Programming
KOCT has completed the recording & editing of all of its
Election Programming!! All of this programming (13+ programs) will now be shown
on KOCT’s Channel 18 community channel throughout the month of October. You can also view KOCT’s election programs as Video
On Demand and watch on your smart phone while waiting in the DMV line.
KOCT has done its job and now it’s the task of each citizen
to watch these programs and go to the polls as an informed and educated voter.
KOCT Fundraiser Reminder
Tickets are still available for KOCT’s FUNdraiser for both
the 11:30 am and 1 pm seating’s on Thursday October 23rd. Tickets
are only $20 per adult and all proceeds benefit KOCT and our goal of producing
more community television programs.
If you can’t attend but want to help KOCT AND our military
families you can buy a ticket & we’ll provide a free lunch for local
military families. Call 722-4433 for more information or stop by KOCT and
buy your ticket TODAY.
PROPOSED COMCAST/TIMES WARNER CABLE MERGER OPPORTUNITY
FOR PEG CHANNELS
The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing Comcast’s
acquisition of Times Warner Cable. This is an opportunity to address concerns
and problems that have resulted in the closing of hundreds of PEG channels like
KOCT all across our nation. Access Humboldt and American Community
Television have filed comments that ask, as a condition to any consent to the
transfer, that the FCC should prohibit discrimination against PEG channels,
ensure that PEG channels have the same features and functionality and same
signal quality as that of local broadcasters channels. They should also
require that PEG channels be easily accessed on menus and that PEG channels be
available on the HD tiers. Many of these requirements are in the current PEG
laws but are not being enforced.
It is my opinion that cable companies make a self-fulfilling
argument that is not in the public interest—On the one hand they claim not very
many people watch community channels and on the other they do everything they
can to discourage viewership! They refuse to put program information on
their Program Guide, make it difficult or impossible to record with their DVR’s
and ban PEG channels from the High Definition tiers-all actions that confuse
consumers and ‘hide’ PEG channels. What they cannot do is argue that every
one of their thousand channels is of more value to the consumer than programming for
by and about their own customers communities. Shopping Channels Vs
Election Programming?? No I’m not buying that argument.
Tom Reeser-Executive Director- KOCT Your Community Channels