3-way deal sets the stage for city public-access TV

By early next year, the city's Comcast viewers may be able to click on up to five channels offering community-produced programs, ending the 25-year campaign to create public-access television in Philadelphia.

"Public access in this city took too long to come, but it's here," Mayor Street said yesterday at a City Hall news conference announcing an agreement struck among the city, Comcast Corp., and the Philadelphia Community Access Coalition, an organization representing 80 groups.

The deal means Philadelphia would no longer stand out as the nation's only major city without public-access television. It depends on approval by City Council, which reconvenes tomorrow after its summer recess.

City Managing Director Loree Jones said that in the next two weeks, Councilman Darrell L. Clarke would introduce two ordinances on the administration's behalf, one amending the city's 1983 cable-access law, and the other allowing for a long-term lease to Comcast of a former North Philadelphia library that would be transformed into a TV studio.

Under the agreement, Comcast would provide two initial grants of $1.8 million and $900,000 apiece, for renovations and equipment, and then pay the city $500,000 a year to cover the studio's operating expenses. The city, besides leasing the library to Comcast, has agreed to pay the building's utility costs for five years.

The money Comcast pays the city in annual franchise fees - it totaled $11.8 million last year - will continue to be deposited into the city's general fund.

"Without making any big excuses, I think sometimes the stars have to be aligned," Comcast's Kathleen Sullivan said about the long battle to bring public-access here.

There's no deal yet about what type of programs each channel would air, but they could include an interfaith channel, a public-forum channel, a youth channel, and arts and cultural channels. Comcast would provide one analog and four digital channels.

Also, while there would be limits to the programming, Street said the channels would be a vehicle "to communicate less traditional views."

If the legislation is approved, the first channel would be up and running 60 days later, with the others to follow, Jones said.

But since the renovation of the old Widener Library, at 28th Street and Lehigh Avenue, would take about a year, the city's aspiring actors and filmmakers, as well as its political stars and hopefuls, would stage their shows from a studio on the seventh floor of City Hall. That's the current home for Philadelphia's government-access programming (Channel 64), which features City Council hearings and will continue to air.

For Street, clinching this deal before he leaves office in January represents completing what three previous mayors did not. Or it means he could not stop a movement bigger than he is - the 80-group coalition - to prevent the inevitable.

"We're completely and totally thrilled," said Danielle Redden of the Philadelphia Community Access Coalition.

"It's not about who's watching, but about community involvement," said another coalition leader, Gretjen Clausing.

The five public-access stations would be managed by a nonprofit that would be created, the Philadelphia Public Access Corp., Jones said. Its initial governing board would include 15 members, including six appointees apiece by Council and the mayor; the commissioner of the Department of Public Property; the City Council president; and a representative of the coalition.

To learn more about the coalition, go to http://phillyaccess.org.

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