Idea Transcript
July 16, 2014
Founders Vernice Miller-Travis Peggy M. Shepard Chuck Sutton Board of Directors Co-Chairs Gregory Anderson Patricia A. Terry Secretary Roberto Lebron, Esq. Treasurer Patricia A. Terry Members Charles H. Allison, Jr. R. Darryl Banks Joseph Bosch Dennis Derryck, Ph.D. Eric A. Goldstein, Esq. Al Huang Jeff Jones Marianne Engelman Lado Vernice Miller-Travis Phillip Morrow Hope K. Plasha Regina Smith Dart Westphal Executive Director Peggy M. Shepard
CFC# 82615
Hon. Kathleen H. Burgess Secretary Public Service Commission Three Empire State Plaza Albany, NY 12223-1350 Re: Comments on Case 14-M-0183, Petition of Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. On behalf of West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. (WE ACT) I am submitting these comments. My name is Peggy M Shepard, executive director and co-founder of WE ACT. WE ACT For Environmental Justice is a Northern Manhattan community-based membership organization whose mission is to build healthy communities by assuring that people of color and/or low income participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. Established in 1988, WE ACT is building healthy communities by working to secure: Clean Air & Climate Resilience; Healthy Indoor Environments; Affordable, Equitable Transit; Sustainable Land Use; Reducing Waste, Pests & Pesticides; Toxic-Free Products; Open & Green Space; Good Food In Schools. WE ACT has had a long and effective relationship with the Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) when some years ago we developed the first environmental show on its channels. The show was produced by our youth group who with our staff was trained by MNN to produce our show and to assist other organizations in production as well. The show was effective in raising the visibility of community quality of life issues, and gave viewers an opportunity to call into the show to voice their diverse perspectives. If this merger is to advance, we call on Comcast to agree to the following proposals: Provide funding for internet-only subscribers. The funding for community access organizations is currently based on the number of cable subscribers in our boroughs, but technology may move an increasing numbers of customers to take internet-only subscriptions. · We need to work together to ensure that the funding stream provided through cable TV subscriptions will be extended to parallel means of viewership.
New York, NY Office: 1854 Amsterdam Avenue, 2nd Floor | New York, NY 10031 | Phone: (212) 961-1000 | Fax: (212) 961-1015 Washington, DC Office: 50 F Street, NW, 8th Floor | Washington, DC 20001 | Phone: (202) 495-3036 | Fax: (202) 547-6009 www.weact.org
Ensure that PEG (public, educational and government channels are easily found and adequately publicized across all five boroughs). Ensure that all PEG channels in the 1-100 range only be moved after approval by the City of New York, which was past practice. Ensure that public access TV and local PEG channels become available in the highest quality format, including in HD. As technology continues to enhance the picture quality cablecast on local systems, and as both video production systems and consumer capabilities also improve, it’s important that public access programming keeps up. I urge you to take this opportunity and use it to strengthen public access.
Sincerely,
Peggy M. Shepard Executive Director
New York, NY Office: 1854 Amsterdam Avenue, 2nd Floor | New York, NY 10031 | Phone: (212) 961-1000 | Fax: (212) 961-1015 Washington, DC Office: 50 F Street, NW, 8th Floor | Washington, DC 20001 | Phone: (202) 495-3036 | Fax: (202) 547-6009 www.weact.org