For years, many TV viewers skipped over government-access channels in favor of the hottest new sitcoms, dramas and reality shows.
But Comcast Corp. is out to change that. The Philadelphia-based cable giant, which serves 700,000 homes throughout Colorado, has launched five local television programs – including a hip, teen talk show – in Denver and surrounding suburbs.
Comcast is banking on the programming to give it an edge, said John Aragon, Comcast’s senior director of government affairs in Colorado. If audiences are receptive here, Comcast says, it will use “MetroBeat” shows in other markets.
Two dozen or so municipalities in the Denver metro area have signed on to carry the new programming, broadcast on each city’s Channel 8. In Denver, there are three other public-access channels – 57, 58 and 59 – that are typically run by nonprofit groups hired by the city.
Comcast is running public-service ads along with its “MetroBeat” shows. One public-access TV advocate in Louisville contends those spots are ads for the company, but Comcast disagrees.
The shows include:
“Student Voices.” In one recent installment, a group of teens discussed drive-by shootings as they lounged on comfy, colorful sofas in a loftlike TV studio with exposed brick walls.
“Inside the Cover.” Boulder radio host Bret Saunders interviews local authors at a Tattered Cover bookstore.
“People to Watch.” Longtime Denver TV anchor Bertha Lynn talks with newsmakers and trendsetters.
“MetroBeat” is part of a new local programming push by Comcast. The cable company last year began offering 150 hours of free local programming through its video-on-demand service. That local content includes documentaries, ethnic programs, high school sports and yoga, and it can be viewed on another channel, Comcast Entertainment Television.
“What’s in it for us? The more relevant we can make programming, it’s a competitive advantage,” Aragon said of the “MetroBeat” shows. “These channels are on our lineup.”
Denver is airing the “MetroBeat” shows as part of a “grand experiment,” said Byron West, director of the city’s TV and Internet-services division.
“This is noncommercial, so it’s not motivated by ratings,” she said.
Comcast is paying $1.5 million to produce the shows through the end of this year.
By comparison, Denver’s government-access channel spends $900,000 annually, West said.
That includes $1,200 per week to broadcast City Council meetings, which 65,000 viewers watch weekly, she said.
Government-access stations agree to air the “MetroBeat” shows on Thursdays and repeat them on Sundays.
Comcast paid about $2 million from 1999 to 2004 toward public-access programming in Denver as part of a franchise agreement between the city and Comcast predecessor Mile Hi Cablevision, said David Broadwell, assistant city attorney for the city of Denver.
Broadwell said the city did not seek to renew that public-access programming commitment. The “MetroBeat” programming and funding are not part of Comcast’s franchise agreement with the city, Broadwell said.
Not everyone cares for the cable giant’s new initiative.
Alan Sobel, a public-access production volunteer for Louisville’s Channel 54, says the public-service announcements Comcast airs on Channel 8’s “MetroBeat” are advertisements. Federal Communications Commission rules do not allow ads on public-access programming channels, though public-service spots are allowed.
“It’s not like a PBS-style message at the beginning and ending of the program,” Sobel said of the spots. “They interrupt the program at regular intervals.”
Comcast and Denver lawyers have looked at the issue and concluded that the spots aren’t ads.
“Comcast has a series of PSAs called ‘Comcast Cares’ that show its volunteers,” said Darryn Zuehl ke, director of Denver’s office of telecommunications, which oversees government-access programming. “Is it questionable? Some people may say that. Is it allowable? It does promote Comcast, but in a way that’s not necessarily saying, ‘Sign up now, and dump your dish.”‘
“We’re very careful to develop this to make sure it’s not a commercial for Comcast,” West said. “This isn’t being done anywhere else in the country. It’s a grand experiment.”
Staff writer Beth Potter can be reached at 303-820-1503 or bpotter@denverpost.com.
