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90's Channel Press Release
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 1995 17:48:49 -0500
From: robg () halcyon com (Rob Glaser) Thought this would be of interest. Feel free to forward/report. For further information, please contact John directly. Open Platforms, anyone? RobX-Sender: schwartz () cscns com Date: Fri, 20 Jan 1995 23:42:47 -0700 To: robg () halcyon com From: schwartz () usa net (John Schwartz) Subject: 90's Channel Press Release Content-Length: 4511 X-UIDL: 790716089.002 Rob: This press release (or varient thereof) went out to a considerable range of trade, progressive, and consumer press today. I also posted it to the telecomreg and roundtable mailing lists, to which I subscribe. I would appreciate your help in getting it posted widely. Please feel free to re-post it. If you would prefer, I would be pleased to post it in additional locations you suggest. John PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT: JOHN SCHWARTZ (303) 442-2707 TELE-COMMUNICATIONS, INC. EXCLUDES LIBERAL NETWORKS FROM NEW POLITICAL PROGRAM PACKAGE Gingrich Stars, But the Liberal 90's Channel is to Get the Ax BOULDER, COLORADO, January 20, 1995. The 90's Channel---the nation's only full-time liberal television network---today charged that Tele-Communications Inc. is shaping its recently-announced political program package to favor powerful right-wing interests. "Just look at this biased line-up," said John Schwartz, president of the Boulder-based 90's Channel. "There is National Empowerment Television, starring Newt Gingrich and the National Rifle Association; The American Conservative Network; and two non-partisan channels---C-SPAN2 and the American Political Network. TCI also has long carried Pat Robertson's Family Channel, and owns part of it." Denver's Rocky Mountain News recently published details of the new political programming line-up. TCI has made no arrangements to carry a liberal network. Since it went on the air in 1989, the Boulder, Colorado- based 90's Channel has carried a diverse mix of controversial programs with a liberal point of view. The network has criticized the Persian Gulf war, revealed inhumane prison conditions, reported on President Bush's Iran-contra ties, championed the rights of gays and lesbians, backed trade union organizers and exposed corporate polluters. Ironically, part of The 90's Channel's cable carriage now comes from TCI, which runs the network on seven of its more than 1,000 systems. "Far from adding us on more systems, all indications are that TCI plans to delete the channel when our current agreement expires later this year," said Schwartz. "We have received no response to our repeated inquiries concerning continued carriage, or inclusion in the new political programming package." "There is, however, a published account that TCI 'absolutely' will not keep the channel once the current contract expires," Schwartz added. In August, 1992, TCI informed The 90's Channel of its intention to drop the network on all its systems. The channel took TCI to court and negotiated an agreement for carriage through October 31, 1995. TCI is the world's largest cable operator, and serves approximately one-quarter of all cable subscribers in the United States. "The public needs to be concerned about TCI's monopoly control over information," said Jeff Cohen, the executive director of FAIR, the New York-based media watch group. "While cable often offers 50 channels or more, the cable company has almost absolute discretion over what is carried and what isn't. The fact that TCI is using its control for ideological purposes is very disturbing." "This is not the first instance where a cable company has abused its monopoly power," observed Jeff Chester, executive director of The Center for Media Education, a Washington-based public interest group. "For instance, it has been widely reported that TCI and other cable operators have even blocked the plans of other media giants like NBC and Fox to create all-news channels which would compete with the Cable News Network because CNN is owned in large part by cable companies. But here we have a blatant instance of a cable company's thwarting the competition of ideas, and favoring one ideology over another. This control over political communications is a direct threat to American democracy." Copyright 1995 Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium, Inc. This press release may be freely reposted, as long as its entire contents are transmitted.
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