Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV)

Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV) has been serving Chicago residents since its incorporation 25 years ago. During the first 15 years of its operation, a steady stream of people took advantage of CAN TV's services... read more

Chicago Access Network Television's Board of Directors bid farewell to seven-year member and St. Ben's resident Peter Skosey at their annual meeting last Wednesday. Skosey, who had reached the term limit for CAN TV board members, served two terms as board chair. He has also served as vice chair, secretary and chair of the board development committee.... read more

...So far, more than 20 states — including Illinois — have granted the telephone companies’ wish, establishing one-size-fits-all franchise agreements that cover entire states, overriding contracts forged between cable companies and municipalities. Illinois’ statewide franchise deal, shepherded by Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office and finalized in 2007, was originally lauded for having more consumer protections, including public access, than neighboring Indiana’s. But now critics say it is not being enforced.

Barbara Popovic, executive director of Chicago’s CAN-TV, worked with the AG’s office to draft the legislation and was initially optimistic about the Illinois law. Now, she says AT&T is flat out flouting the law’s plain English requirements regarding PEG.... read more

Yes. Chicago Access Corporation– CAN TV offers a great program
for aspiring TV producers/directors. The process includes an
Orientation course (free) that everyone needs to take at the beginning... read more

The Gift of Health Caring at End of Life
Patient-Focused Organization Reaches Out To Educate Chicagoans

Continuing its efforts to educate, inform, and empower the people of
Chicago, SAVE THE PATIENT, a not-for-profit patient-focused organization, is hosting its 25-minute live call-in show,
"Community Health," on Chicago Access Network (CAN-TV) on Monday, December 8, 2008, at 6:00 PM on Channel 21.... read more

On September 17, 2008, members ofthe Alliance for Community Media testified before the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Financial Service and General Government about the increasingly hostile corporate actions and legislative environment
public, educational, and governmental (PEG) access must try to exist in. Barbara Popovic, Executive Director of Chicago Access Network, represented the Alliance for Community Media and the Alliance for Communications Democracy (ACD).... read more

Alliance Launches National Keep Us Connected Campaign at the July 2008 Washington, D.C. Conference

More than 350 people came together in July to explore the status and future of community media at the Alliance for Community Media International Conference & Exhibition. In addition to our traditional conference activities- powerful sessions, trade show, regional gatherings, and the like conference participants "charged the Hill" to meet with legislators and their staff, under the Keep Us Connected
banner.... read more

On Halloween, the City's Finance Committee will vote on an ordinance that would provide as much as 25 percent of the budget for Chicago Access Networking Television.... read more

Following a September 17 hearing (noted here) by the U.S. House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee, Democratic and Republican members have written the FCC asking for an investigation into changes in the treatment of public access channels on cable TV... read more

...AT&T has set channel 99 on its U-verse menu as the PEG point of
access. Users select the city and choose programming they want to
view. Critics call this procedure too cumbersome for viewers. The
system is a "step backward for community television stations" and
violates federal and state laws requiring public-interest channels be
treated the same as commercial, said Barbara Popovic, speaking on
behalf of the Alliance for Community Media...read more

When it comes to bitching, the No. 1 target in my neighborhood is whatever company delivers the TV signal.

Be it cable, satellite or something else, rates are too high and service is beyond lousy, we all agree. Why can’t someone new come in and offer us poor consumers an alternative?

Well, someone is trying to offer us an alternative. And, in the wonderful way things work out there in the ether, the new kid on the block has set off a first-class controversy. ...read more

Members of a powerful House committee are pressing the Federal Communications Commission to put a stop to how AT&T Inc. (T) offers public and educational programming on its fledgling paid TV service.

While FCC commissioners have yet to weigh in, an FCC bureau chief said Wednesday that AT&T's practice of placing public programming on a single channel where subscribers scroll through a menu of options violates the law. ...read more

Barbara Popovic, executive director of CAN-TV [Chicago Access Network Television], will testify before a U.S. House subcommittee Wednesday on the growing threats to public access programming on cable systems.

"Congress needs to recognize that a rapid erosion of public benefits is under way," she said. ... read more

Tired of pervasive media images that she said portrayed young African-American women solely as loose, gyrating, uneducated "hootchie mamas," Chicago mom Wanda Muhammad developed a television show to inform and inspire young people to make positive choices regarding health, education and careers...

Since the first broadcast in 2006, Muhammad has expanded the program, which airs on public access CAN TV's Channel 21, to include young males. She changed the name from "Let's Talk, Baby Girl" to "Shaping Young Minds."... read more

Chris LaFortune’s Aug. 18 article on AT&T’s Uverse system, “All public
access channels on AT&T’s 99,” misrepresents the ways the U-verse system will affect viewer access to our local channels. ...read more

The film was produced by Free Spirit Media, a non-profit founded by Illinois native Jeff McCarter, winner of a Chicago/Midwest Emmy for his work in public television...

"A large and diverse audience is critical," McCarter says. "We want as many people as possible to see it, so [our students'] ideas can effect change."Retired actor Nick Angotti ("Die Hard 2") and host of CAN-TV's "Say Yes to Life," serves as executive director of the festival... read more

Letter to the Editor by Howard Kleinstein, Cable Production Coordinator,
Village of Mount Prospect

AT&T thinks community channels are less important than commercial channels and is banking on the fact that future customers won't care about the loss of local channels off the regular cable channel menu. I disagree... read more

A nonprofit Chicago TV station uses media relations and advocacy in its battle for survival against heavyweight AT&T... read more

Letter to the Editor by Loyola University professor, Dr. Diane Schiller
Chicago Tribune

Loyola University's live, interactive COUNTDOWN program has appeared on Chicago's community station, Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV) for 19 years, engaging tens of thousands of students every school year. COUNTDOWN makes math "work" by capitalizing on the one on one relationship a student viewer has with television. Children in homes throughout Chicago that subscribe to Comcast, RCN or WOW can see CAN TV as easily as they can see channels 2, 5, 7 and 9... read more

Telecom giant AT&T recently notified the city that it’s planning to introduce its U-Verse service here as early as this week. U-Verse pipes in high-def programming to TV over an internet connection. That may be welcome news to consumers unsatisfied with their cable and satellite choices.

But not everyone’s excited about the rollout. Some community media advocates say that U-Verse comes with inferior public access. Eight Forty-Eight business contributor David Greising helps us understand what U-Verse might mean for Chicago... listen to the WBEZ radio broadcast

Thanks to AT&T and Comcast, however, we now can see what an Internet without Net Neutrality will look like, and it's not pretty. Right up front, we should thank our friends who labor in the neighboring vineyards of what's called "public access" cable TV, the part of cable reserved for public, educational and governmental programming... read more

AT&T reportedly withdrew an application submitted to the City of Chicago in January to provide video service here, after a city response noted the legal requirements for equivalent signal quality and functionality....read more

"AT&T apparently believes game shows and sitcoms deserve good quality and speedy delivery but not for civic information and emergency alerts, which are being sidelined into an application that is not like the commercial channels," said Barbara Popovic, of CAN-TV, who met with lawmakers Wednesday to share her concerns... read more

Some area suburbs are so upset with AT&T Inc.'s U-verse and its local access channel 99, that they've contacted state officials to see if violates state law... read more

'HoopsHIGH' offers invaluable training
Young broadcasters find their voice on sports show

..."HoopsHIGH" is a weekly sports broadcast run by Chicago Public Schools students. Two crews of 20 teenagers do a five-camera setup at a sporting event each week with announcers, sideline reporters, producers, graphics and replays.The program airs at 8 p.m. Saturdays on Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV)... read more

Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV) is an independent nonprofit organization established on 1983 to administer and promote the use of Chicago's public access channels, This unique communications resource belongs to the people of Chicago and has become a lifeline for thousands of Chicago residents and nonprofits... read more

...McCarter’s students produce the insanely popular television show “Hoops High,” which features play-by-play game coverage of Chicago high school athletic events. The students are responsible for all aspects of production: they shoot, edit, and announce all of the action themselves. The students even conduct sideline interviews. “Everything you see is us — we’re doing it all,” brags freshman Daryl Jackson. “Most kids’ programs are run by adults where they control the final project, but here we are in charge.” The final product is telecast every Saturday night on public access T.V. (CAN-TV) and is one of the station’s most popular shows... read more

PEG access television gets important protections in proposed legislation
Letter to the editor by Barbara Popovic
Chicago Sun-Times
June 7, 2007

...In states that have hastily passed legislation, consumer protections have been stripped away, local government authority ended, and public, educational, and government (PEG) access television harmed to the point that in a number of states, PEG access will be completely phased out. Not so in Illinois. Instead of the fast track, the House stood firm for fair competition. read more

Letter to the editor by Peter Skosey, Chairman of the Board of CAN T V
Chicago Tribune
June 8, 2007

...The compromise achieved in Springfield between big cable and AT&T took months of good-faith marathon negotiations. It was a meaningful democratic process that brought the Illinois Attorney General together with municipalities, consumer advocates, public, education and government interests, telephone and cable to craft a more balanced consumer-oriented piece of legislation. The thin curtain of promises from the original legislation was pulled aside and the stage set for some meaningful protections. read more

Editorial
Daily Southtown
June 11, 2007

...The House unanimously passed a bill sponsored by state Rep. James Brosnahan (D-Evergreen Park) that redefines the playing field for the industry. The bill was sent to the Senate, where it also has strong support. But late in the week, passage of the bill did not appear to be a sure thing. And according to Rich Miller's Capitol Fax, ego apparently was the reason. The personality clash between Senate President Emil Jones and House Speaker Mike Madigan, which has played a major role in producing a most ineffective legislative session, is responsible for souring the cable bill for now. read more

Editorial
Chicago Sun-Times
June 7, 2007

...The original measure, written by phone giant AT&T, was strongly opposed by Comcast and other cable operators, as well as the Illinois Municipal League, whose member cities and towns feared the loss of control and of thousands of dollars in franchise fees. That's because the proposal eliminates the need for any company wanting to offer TV service to negotiate town-by-town franchise agreements -- something Comcast had to do -- in favor of winning authorization from the Illinois Commerce Commission to provide service anywhere in the state. But sponsoring Rep. Jim Brosnahan (D-Evergreen Park), working with the office of Attorney General Lisa Madigan, rewrote the legislation to address most if not all of the complaints and make it fair to both cable and phone companies. read more

Public protections important in crafting cable reform bill
Letter to the editor by Barbara Popovic
Daily Southtown
May 16, 2007

. . . As AT&T fires at cable and cable fires back, the ultimate risk is that the public becomes a casualty in the crossfire. read more

Letter to the editor by Cal Audrain, Chicago Tribune
May 8, 2007

The Tribune's May 1 editorial "Bring on cable competition" correctly points out that protection of public access channels is achievable in statewide legislation. Unfortunately that has not been true in the majority of the states where AT&T-backed legislation has passed to date. read more

Letter to the editor by Mitchell Szczepanczyk, Chicago Tribune
May 8, 2007

. . . The Tribune rightly calls for legislators to “peer through the thicket of lobbyists” to create fair competition. But in order to best serve the public, lawmakers must demand legislation that does not line one industry’s pockets at the public’s expense. read more

By Curtis Black, Newstips
April 16, 2007

Growing attention on a proposed statewide cable franchise bill could slow a legislative blitz by supporters of telecommunications giant AT&T.

State Representative James Brosnahan (D-Oak Lawn) was expecting the House Telecommunications Committee he chairs to vote Wednesday to approve HB 1500, the franchise bill he has sponsored, but the vote could be delayed. The bill would strip local municipalities of cable franchising power and create state franchises authorized by the Illinois Commerce Commission, going far toward deregulating the industry in Illinois. read more

Cable, phone industries up donations

Stakes high in fight over bill to promote competition
by Dana Heupel, State Journal Register

As debate heats up over legislation to ease the way for telephone companies to compete with cable television firms, a new study shows that both sides have donated large sums to Illinois lawmakers and the governor over the past two years. read more

AT&T's video option not in the public interest
Letter to the Editor
By Brian Imus
Bloomington Pantagraph

Don't be fooled by the claim that customers will be better served if AT&T gains access to the video market via its corporate-welfare measure, House Bill 1500.

Of course, AT&T already has access to the cable TV market since cable franchising is non-exclusive. But what AT&T wants is favored status in that market as well as to stultify any new competitors that might emerge.

Even AT&T's chief executive officer, Ed Whitacre, has repeatedly refuted any consumer price benefits. read more

Community TV: If cable changes, what would happen to public programming?

Public access television providers are worried they'll be lost in the shuffle stemming from AT&T's video network proposal.

AT&T is proposing in some Chicago markets to provide phone, Internet and television service, similar to cable franchises. But since AT&T's services will be offered via telephone and not cable lines, AT&T asserts it should not be held to long-standing cable franchise agreements,

It's these agreements that, among other guarantees, provide public access programs such as local calendar listings, the village's Fourth of July parade coverage, broadcasts of public meetings, and original programming.

Barbara Popovic, executive director of Chicago Access Netowrk Television (CAN TV), Chicago's public access network, says AT&T is attempting an end run around the rules that protect public access networks. read more

Click here for Sun-Times letter to the editor regarding Illinois House Bill 1500 from Gayle Smolinski, executive board chairwoman for Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and mayor of Village of Roselle

Click here for Sun-Times letter to the editor regarding Illinois House Bill 1500 from Brian Imus, state director of Illinois PIRG.

FCC Ruling Makes Wrong Call for Consumers
letter to editor by Peter Skosey, CAN TV Board Chair
Chicago Sun-Times Jan. 3, 2007

The recent FCC ruling, "Path clears for competition in cable market" [news story, Dec.21] represents another salvo in the telephone industry’s attempts to gain control of the video market. With cable prices on the rise, the nation’s telephone companies claim to offer increased competition and lower prices. They convinced the Federal Communications Commission (three Republicans, two Democrats), which by a partisan 3-2 vote flipped telecom reform on its head and assured that the public will bear the burden. read more

letter to editor by Barbara Popovic, CAN TV Executive Director
Chicago Sun-Times June 15, 2006

On June 8, the U.S. House passed the COPE Act of 2006 (Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement), hailed by the telephone industry as major telecommunications reform. Unfortunately, there isn’t much reform in sight. read more

Who's Making It Here
And What They're Making
by Elizabeth Tammy
Chicago Reader Sept. 22, 2006

Really local TV You can’t talk about TV without a nod to the incubator of local programming. Like most cities, our cable access—in this case stations 19, 21, 27, 36, and 42, under the umbrella of CAN TV—is a mix of weird, boring, cool, foreign, religious (and how), and civicminded. Some more describable highlights among the five stations include 3 Guys Pickin’; soul food Cookin Wit’ Tittle, hosted by local DJ La Donna Tittle; Taped With Rabbi Doug; and longtime cable access mainstays JBTV, a music video show cohosted with visiting bands, and Chic-a-Go-Go, the ultimate all-ages dance party. Cable access and UHF stations feature a wide variety of ethnic programming: on CAN there’s the nightly news from Italy, as well as programs for the Haitian, Irish, and Serbian communities.

Schtick Figure

Just like a “real” late-night talk show, Steve Levy’s - cable access talk show has a good-looking, well-dressed host. It opens with a monologue filled with corny Michael Jackson and Martha Stewart jokes and has a studio audience.

Unlike a “real” late-night talk show, The Steve Levy Show is hosted by a full-time software director with no previous experience in stand-up, stage, or televi-sion--a guy who spends five full minutes per episode wiping the sweat off his brow After the taping, the 50 or so spectators are invited out to get a beer with the host and crew. read more

Six days a week, through rain and sleet and dark of night, U.S. Postal worker Lyle Thadison walks the streets of Chicago delivering mail. But while his body moves from door to door, his mind is preparing for a Sabbath filled with space travel, monsters, and urban adventures.

“I'm only able to dedicate one day out of the week to my TV show,” explains Thadison, “but the entire week I'm formulating and elaborating on ideas while I'm on my route.”

Thadison, 46, a native Chicagoan who grew up in the Henry Horner housing com-plex on the Near West Side, has dreamed of being a filmmaker since childhood. Thanks to CAN-TV, Chicago's public access television network, his dream is no longer deferred. read more

By the end of an eventful 2004, CAN TV's funding problems were finally resovled, at least in the short-term. This positive outcome grew out of the "it takes a village" approach to problem solving. Comcast came forward with a solution by providing funding in the short-term. A settlement was reached with RCN. And the City Council directed CAN TV and the cable companies to work with the city to secure CAN TV's future funding. more . . .

Fresh off a deal with Comcast to secure the bulk of its outside funding, CAN TV finally settled its dispute with RCN, which will secure its financing for at least the next three years.

"We're breathing easier," CAN TV executive director Barbara Popovic said this week.

When RCN emerged in 2001, the cable conglomerate promised to compete with Comcast in all five of the city's cable franchising areas. And CAN TV, anticipating the new revenue stream, expanded its offerings to include more event coverage-from the City Club of Chicago to the League of Women Voters-while adding more neighborhood programming as well. Those offerings included the Street Level Media project in Pilsen, which hired local teens to document their community.

But as RCN foundered, limiting its activity to the slice of lake-front neighborhoods in Cable Area 1 along with a thousand or so subscribers in Presidential Towers, the cable conglomerate failed to pay up on agreed-upon fees to CAN TV In the agreement reached last week, RCN, while dropping out of Cable Areas 3 and 4, has pre-paid its $215,000 yearly obligation obligation in cable area 2 through 2015. The deal, along with a recent agreement with Comcast, will stabilize CAN TV's budget at around $2.7 million.

And with the station's financial picture coming into focus, Popovic is ready to turn her attention to finding a permanent new home for CAN TV's studios. The outfit currently rents space in the West Loop at 322 S. Green, but is hoping to buy an outlying location with more parking, Popovic said.

"We need to find an affordable and appropriate location for CAN TV," Popovic said.

Chicago Journal
Published December 30, 2004
By Haydn Bush and Laura Putre

CAN TV is the fleet of public access cable television channels servicing the Chicago community. As Third Coast Press reported throughout the past year, CAN TV spent 2004 in a series of funding struggles. In 2003, due to a temporary freeze on RCN's operation in two cable areas, CAN TV's cable funding dropped by $630,000. In 2004, RCN defaulted on additional area, putting at risk another $315,000. RCN officially petitioned the city to get out of its payment obligations to CAN TV in three out of four cable areas. more . . .

City, aldermen agree to compromise ordinance that will cover most of CAN TV’s budget shortfall.

For much of the last year, the operators of CAN TV have fretted while beleaguered cable provider RCN, in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings, has ducked out of agreed-upon payments to the cable access station, cutting into its roughly $2.4 million annual budget. Barbara Popovic, CAN TV's executive director, has mulled massive staff cuts with her board of directors while considering losing up to 40 percent of her annual funding. more . . .

Chicago Access Network TV was formed in the early 1980s as part of the city's deal with cable TV franchises, which funded the public access endeavor. In the 1990s, the market opened and the providers agreed to a funding system based on competition, in which each cable company would pay a specific dollar amount in each of the city's five cable TV regions. But Comcast dominates most of the market, and RCN, its primary competitor, filed for bankruptcy in August. RCN has repeatedly defaulted on its payments and currently owes CAN $1.25 million. Last year its $3 million budget came up $240,000 short, and this year executive director Barbara Popovic predicts a $350,000 shortfall. Nearly 40 percent of its funding comes from RCN. more . . .

A new proposal to fund Chicago Access Network Television taps the cable franchise fees collected by the city. The plan unveiled Wednesday by Mayor Richard Daley and Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) also reduces a tax deduction cable firms now get.

"We've come up with something that doesn't touch corporate funds and will solve the situation. We've found the absolute perfect solution," Stone said, drawing applause from CAN TV supporters in the city council chambers Chicago's- public access cable television provider is pushing for a change in the funding rules that keep its free studios and airtime open to the public. more . . .

Daily Southtown
Published September 30, 2004
By James G. Muhammad, Correspondent

On Another Note
Today is a day of reckoning in the City Council for the fate of CAN TV. Its five non-commercial channels are the only place where the city's non-profits and community groups can count on having their diverse voices heard on everything from AIDS prevention to the plight of the impoverished. Now in a terrible funding crunch, this no-frills TV outlet is in danger of losing out unless Mayor Daley and the City Council financially support it. Here's hoping they do.

Chicago Sun-Times
Published September 29, 2004
By Carol Marin, Sun-Times Columnist

Plan would give CAN TV new funding formula
Mayor Richard Daley and Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) are expected to propose a new funding formula for Chicago Access Network Television at a City Council meeting Wednesday.

But officials of CAN TV, which operates five non-profit public-affairs cable-TV stations, say they are concerned that the proposed funding mechanism would not guarantee the long-term financial health of the Greektown-based network. more . . .

Chicago Tribune
Published September 29, 2004
By Leon Lazaroff, Tribune national correspondent

Paying for Access
On September 29 the City Council's scheduled to vote on diverting $2 million in cable franchise fees to Chicago Access Network Television to keep public-access TV alive and healthy in Chicago. CAN TV has its aldermanic champions. But there isn't much loose change at City Hall this year, and Mayor Daley has made it clear he doesn't like the idea. more . . .

Thousands of Chicago nonprofit organizations have used the city's public access cable television provider to get the word out about the services and job opportunities they offer the public. Some produce local news, interview shows and even occasional entertainment programming.

For a nominal cost, organizations can get access to production facilities and equipment, air time and training to teach them how to use the gear. Chicago Access Network Television operates five noncommercial cable channels in the city. The channels offer a range of programming, from a basic text message service that runs announcements and want ads, to religious programming, to informational talk shows and even an occasional dance show for teens. more . . .

Chicago's public access cable television provider is pushing for a change in the funding rules that keep its free studios and airtime open to the public.

Supporters are hoping to force a vote in the city council Wednesday on a new structure that would have the city directly pay for the studios for the first time. Aldermen face a $220 million budget shortfall this year. Chicago Access Network Television, or CAN TV, has five channels of bulletin boards, public announcements and locally produced shows. It is funded almost entirely by the three cable companies that operate in Chicago, under rules contained in their city licenses.

But executive director Barbara Popovic said the funding formula set up in the late 1990s is broken. It asks for fixed annual funding from each of the three companies. One of them, RCN, has stopped operating and stopped paying. more . . .

The news that the local RCN cable subsidiary has joined its New Jersey parent company in a bankruptcy reorganization is yet another reason that the City Council should throw out the current funding formula for CAN TV and fund the cable access station itself. Under the current setup, CAN TV depends on fees from cable franchising arrangements to survive, and needs payments from at least two companies in each cable area to make a reasonable go of it. more . . .

For CAN TV executive director Barbara Popovic, the news this week that Chicago's RCN cable provider is following its parent company into bankruptcy is just the latest in a string of moves the cable giant has orchestrated to shortchange the cable public access station headquartered in the West Loop. more . . .

RCN Cable TV of Chicago Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, a little more than two months after its New Jersey-based parent, RCN Corp., filed for bankruptcy, because the telephone and cable company couldn't come to an agreement with the city of Chicago over broken promises to expand cable television service.

RCN has been in hot water with the city for defaulting on payments it owes to the city's public access television station, and for not fulfilling promises it made to expand service beyond the lakefront and Skokie when it came to town four years ago. RCN has blamed the financial decline in the telecommunications industry since 2000 for making it impossible to raise money for expansion. more . . .

Fiftieth Ward Alderman Bernard Stone's plan for alternative funding for CAN TV is a good one. Under the proposal, funding for the public access station would come directly from city coffers, amounting to one-fifth the total collected each year in cable franchise taxes.

Last week, City Council's Finance Committee approved the idea, with, somewhat surprisingly, hundreds of CAN TV supporters on hand in the Council Chambers to cheer the news. Judging from the turnout, citizens really do care about continued public access to the airwaves.
more . . .

Confessing no little apprehension over the idea of funding public access television out of city coffers, members of the City Council's Finance Committee nevertheless voted last Friday afternoon to approve an ordinance that would contribute roughly $2.5 million in tax dollars annually to CAN TV, the citywide public access station based in the West Loop. Authored by 50th Ward Alderman Bernard Stone, the measure is meant to put an end to a flawed funding scheme that's given CAN TV administrators a two-year financial headache. Hundred of clamorous well-wishers filled the floor and spilled into the balcony inside the Council Chambers to voice their support.
more . . .

A City Council committee on Friday passed a measure that would provide financial assistance to Chicago Access Network Television, but aldermen agreed to delay consideration of the lifeline by the full council to allow time to explore other possible sources of funding.

CAN TV, a not-for-profit public access network, has been under severe financial pressure because of problems with RCN Corp., which provides cable service to about 30 percent of the lakefront area.
more . . .

Chicago Tribune
Published June 19, 2004
By Gary Washburn, Tribune Staff Reporter

If you want to hear what Chicago says, tune in to Channel 19 or Channel 21 of Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

And if you want to continue seeing access television, the equivalent of free-wheeling town hall meetings and communications, join us in supporting a City Council ordinance that will ensure continued broadcasting by the people's TV. That includes channels 19 and 21 and three noncommercial cable channels - 27, 36 and 42.
more . . .

Passing a gaggle of teenagers entering a television studio, Barbara Popovic smiles as if to say she never knows everything that happens at Chicago's public access broadcaster. "This really is a public place with hundreds of people using these studios," said Popovic, the director of Chicago Access Network Television, as she walked through CAN TV's comfortable work offices in a renovated Greektown building. Each week, CAN TV produces about 140 hours of original programming for Chicagoans that airs across five channels. . . . But after more than 20 years in operation, CAN TV's funding is in jeopardy, a victim of a financing formula created in the late 1990s when the economy was on full throttle and cable TV competition appeared robust. more . . .

Chicago Tribune
Published May 27, 2004
By Leon Lazaroff, Tribune National Correspondent

Supporters of Chicago's public access cable channel say the station could lose up to 40-percent of its funding, meaning fewer opportunities for city residents to produce their own TV programs. Chicago Public Radio's Tony Sarabia has more.

This story originally aired on Chicago Public Radio's June 7, 2004, news broadcasts. click here for audio

RCN Corp., the city's second-largest cable franchise, has filed for bankruptcy reorganization, but says the filing won't affect service in Chicago.

After RCN missed a payment to investors in January, the money-losing cable, telephone and Internet company said it would file for reorganization once it came to a restructuring agreement with its lenders and investors. more . . .

Several Chicago aldermen hope to save the city's cable access television station by using city funds
to support it.

An ordinance that would provide Chicago Access Network Television -- better known as CAN TV -- with $2 million is pending before the City Council's finance committee. The money would come from the fees that Chicago cable franchisees are required to pay the city. more . . .

Pubic access TV's running out of money, and Mayor Daley's against the proposal that would save it. But public access backers have turned to a surprising source for help: 50th Ward alderman Bernard Stone, who's not exactly known for his independence. Stone's faithfully followed every mayor-except for Harold Washington-since he came to the council back in 1973. So why the current rebellion? Could it be that the alderman is finally listening to his reform-minded son Jay Stone, who co-hosts a public access talk show? more . . .

Thanks to mismanagement at RCN cable company, Chicago's public access station is scrambling to pay its bills. You see, RCN has hasn't made more than $600,000 in payments to the non-profit CAN TV over the course of two years, payments that back in 2000 they promised to pony up in exchange for the privilege of doing business in four of the city's five cable franchise areas. If at least a chunk of that money doesn't turn up soon, CAN TV will have to slash its budget, lay off workers, and cut programming. more . . .

What began last Friday morning as one more installment in an ongoing harangue against RCN cable company-now two months in arrears on its $215,000 debt to the city public access television station-ended up an uneasy contemplation on the future of West Loop-based CAN TV. more . . .

As of this weekend, RCN officials have earned more than a simple tongue-lashing from City Hall. Less than six weeks after the cable company defaulted on a payment to the local public access television station-the second such lapse in as many years-city officials slapped the firm with a set of steep, and retroactive, fines. more . . .

The city of Chicago is levying $1 million a day in fines against cable and Internet company RCN Corp. from the nearly $10 million the company put up when it came to town four years ago, city officials said Monday. more . . .

From the Chicago Sun Times
Published February 24, 2004
By Tammy Chase, Business Reporter

The Chicago Cable Commission voted Saturday to impose penalties of more than $1 million a day against cable provider RCN for violating its contracts to expand service in the city and failing to fund public access station CAN-TV, a city official said. more . . .

The city levied an unprecedented $1 million-a-day fine Saturday on a cable provider that failed to build out its network or make payments to a public access station.

The Chicago Cable Commission voted to impose the fines, which took effect immediately, against New Jersey-based RCN Corp. The amount includes a $750 fine for each of the 14,000 customers the company has in Area 2, a section of the city that includes the West Side and parts of the Northwest and Southwest sides. more . . .

From the Chicago Sun Times
Published February 18, 2004
By Dave Newbart, Staff Reporter

RCN Corp., the money-losing cable, telephone and Internet company serving Chicago's lakefront, has defaulted on a payment it owes to Chicago's public-access television operation, CAN TV.

Princeton, N.J.-based RCN, which came to Chicago in 2000, was supposed to make a $215,000 annual payment as of Jan. 7 to meet its obligation to Chicago Access Network Television, said CAN TV executive director Barbara Popovic. more . . .

From the Chicago Sun Times
Published February 18, 2004
By Tammy Chase, Business Reporter

RCN Corp., the cable and phone company facing city fines for defaulting on payments and failing to expand service as promised, will probably file for bankruptcy reorganization, the company said over the weekend. more . . .

From the Chicago Tribune
Published February 18, 2004
By Robert Manor, staff reporter

Hundreds of community leaders, neighborhood activists, television producers and cable TV viewers turned out in force to support access to community television at a Feb. 10 meeting of the Chicago Cable Commission.

At issue was the continued operation of CAN TV, Chicago's only public-access television broadcaster, which is facing a significant cut in its operating budget due to a missed payment by RCN Cable of Chicago, one of the city's cable operators. more . . .

Chicago Columbia Chronicle
Published February 16, 2004
By Mark Anderson, Associate Editor

This time round it didn't take long for RCN executives to earn some pretty tough love from City Hall types. The tongue-lashing began just days after Jan. 7, when the cable company failed to pay the city's public access station an annual $215,000 fee-the second such lapse in two years. Fiftieth Ward Alderman Bernard Stone lobbed the first few sarcastic barbs. Then last Thursday, Consumer Services Commissioner Caroline Shoenberger convened a press conference outside Council Chambers to chide RCN for shirking its "responsibility to the people of the city of Chicago, its obligation to the little guy looking for a forum." Twenty-ninth Ward Alderman Isaac Carothers called RCN's delinquency a "tragedy." more . . .

Furious that RCN allegedly snubbed its nose at the "Soul Coast" and services the Gold Coast leaving all of the Austin community unserved, city officials late last week said they'll impose daily fines per violation until the firm does the right thing. more . . .

Chicago Defender
Published February 9, 2004
By Chinta Strausberg, Staff Reporter

RCN Corp., the financially troubled lakefront cable company, could face fines of $750 a day from the city for failing to deliver on promises to expand service westward and for missing payments to Chicago's public access network, CAN-TV. more . . .

From the Chicago Sun-Times
Published February 6, 2004
By Art Golab, staff reporter

On the cable television front, Consumer Services Commissioner Caroline Shoenberger said Thursday that RCN has failed to meet installation deadlines in Area 2, one of five cable zones in the city, covering parts of the West, Near West and Northwest Side. more . . .

From the Chicago Tribune
Published February 6, 2004
By Gary Washburn, staff reporter

For the second time in as many years, cable television provider RCN Corp. has failed to pay fees it owes to Chicago's local cable access network.

RCN was to have paid $215,000 to CAN TV on Jan. 7. In a similar situation two years ago, RCN failed to pay the network $645,000 on time, though it made good on what it owed after the city threatened to fine the company. more . . .

From the Chicago Tribune
Published January 14, 2004
By Robert Manor, staff reporter
staff reporter Gary Washburn contributed

RCN Corp., the money-losing cable, telephone and Internet company serving Chicago's lakefront, has defaulted on a payment it owes to Chicago's public-access television operation, CAN TV.

From the Chicago Sun Times
Published January 14, 2004
By Tammy Chase, Business Reporter