[Cprb] Democracy Now! petition (6 locations to choose from =8-)

[Randall Cotton]

Many folks on these lists I'm addressing already know about the petition to
get Democracy Now! broadcast on cable-TV in Champaign/Urbana, but to make
sure I reach all interested folks, I'm cross-posting this widely.

Please do forward this even further and wider to other local
Champaign/Urbana lists as well.

So yes, there is this effort underway to get the video edition of Democracy
Now! broadcast on Insight public-access cable Channel 6 (Urbana Public
Television or UPTV). The proposal would broadcast the same thing that you
can hear on WEFT at 4PM every weekday, only with the accompanying video
feed, which has been around for quite a while now and is being increasingly
utilized by Democracy Now! AND, it would be broadcast LIVE, as the program
is created, from 7-8AM each weekday (as opposed to 9 hours later on WEFT).

If you already know what Democracy Now! is and you want to join the
petition, here's the list of six locations where you can sign up (please try
to sign up sometime in the next week, before the next UPTV commission
meeting on July 12th). Any, by the way, if you'd like to gather signatures
yourself, just grab an extra petition sheet at any of the locations below
and make copies of it (double-sided - one side has the petition and the
other has all the necessary background and contact information).

If you want to learn more, read on (after the list of sites).

WEFT
(in the lobby just outside the studio)
113 N. Market St.
Champaign

World Harvest
(at the counter)
519 E University Ave
Champaign

Boardman's Art Theater
(the AWARE table there)
(this will be around as long as Fahrenheit 911 is playing there)
126 W. Church St.
Champaign

Jerusalem Restaurant
(at the counter)
601 S Wright St
Champaign (campustown)

Strawberry Fields
(at the public bulletin board between the cafe and the store)
306 W Springfield Ave
Urbana

Independent Media Center
(hours vary - call ahead: 344-8820)
218 W. Main St.
Urbana

The details:

UPTV
-------
The UPTV Commission (Urbana Public Television Commission) is the body which
advises the City of Urbana's public-access cable-TV channel, UPTV. This
channel is available to anyone who subscribes to local cable-TV service from
Insight Communications in the Champaign/Urbana area (UPTV is channel 6 on
their system). On July 12th, 2004 the UPTV Commission will consider the
acquisition of "Free Speech TV" and the broadcast of "Democracy  Now!".

Free Speech TV
-----------------
Free Speech TV (FSTV) is a publicly-funded, independent, non-profit
progressive media channel that offers 24 hour programming. They offer their
programming free of charge to any public-access cable TV station. Once a
public access cable-TV station (such as UPTV) acquires FSTV, they obtain the
right to retransmit any of FSTV's programming. One of FSTV's programs is
"Democracy Now!"

Democracy Now
------------------
"Democracy Now!" is a publicly-funded, independent, non-profit, alternative
news, analysis and interview program that is growing in popularity. It
currently broadcasts on over 220 public-access cable and radio stations
nationwide. The audio portion of Democracy Now! can be heard in the
Champaign/Urbana area on WEFT, 90.1FM from 4PM to 5PM on weekdays.

While Democracy Now! was born as a strictly audio program for radio, for
some time now DN! has been broadcasting as a full-blown video program. Most
of the time, the video is just of the host, Amy Goodman, and any co-hosts or
guests she has in the studio, but increasingly, the video shows footage of
newsmakers, documentaries and speeches featured in the program.

More importantly though, getting DN! broadcast regularly on cable-TV makes
the independent, alternative news and analysis of Democracy Now! more
accessible to anyone that has at least basic cable in Champaign and Urbana.
Both because it's a different media and because it's in a very different
timeslot than WEFT's (most importantly, it's outside of work hours).

Another benefit is that, though it seems counterintuitive, it's typically
easier for folks to record a video program (with a VCR or DVR like TiVo) for
later viewing than to record a radio program for later listening. This might
make it easier for some folks to watch DN! if neither 7AM on UPTV or 4PM on
WEFT is a convenient time for them.

And another bonus of this project is that it would make all programming on
Free Speech TV (FSTV) readily available for retransmission on UPTV (see
www.freespeech.org). FSTV access and retransmission rights are required as
part of this project to get DN! on UPTV. But once FSTV access is in place,
community members could make requests for UPTV transmission of other FSTV
programming besides Democracy Now!

Please feel free to reply to me for more information (but make sure not to
address any mailing lists in your reply)

Thanks
R