Déjà vu
HOW WE MIGHT HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE
We hope that local people will be fairly represented in the process of producing and presenting local television programmes. Latest TV says it is committed to that ideal. But should we be concerned that when such promises are made they are not always kept?
In October 1989, after being advertised and applied for by several companies, the Brighton to Worthing area cable television franchise was awarded to a local consortium called Southdown Cablevision. In their application Southdown had promised a community channel with public access. They won the franchise mainly because of that promise. More than seventy percent of local people surveyed had said they were either interested or very interested in receiving such a local television service.
Not long after being awarded this franchise Southdown sold their rights by allowing their company to be taken over through a company called Cross Country Cable. That company was then sold to an American company called NYNEX. After that the franchise was owned by Cable & Wireless, and today our city’s cable network is owned and operated by Virgin Media.
Virgin Media’s glossy sales brochures list many television channels (including Sky Sports and the usual shopping channels) but there is very little if any mention of community access or involvement.