Community television is a form of

mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...

in which a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

is owned, operated or programmed by a community group to provide

television program A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...

s of local interest known as

local programming The terms local programme, local programming, local content or local television refers to a television program made by a television station or independent television producer for broadcast only within the station's transmission area or televisio ...

. Community

television stations A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

are most commonly operated by non-profit groups or

cooperatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

. However, in some cases they may be operated by a local

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, a cable company or a municipal government.

Community television by country

Australia

Austria

Bangladesh

Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) is a national networking body in Bangladesh. Its stated objectives include building a democratic society based on the principles of free flow of information, and equitable and affordable ...

is promoting the advocacy with the government in relations to community Television with other organizations since its emergence from 2011. BNNRC has been addressing the Community Television access issue for over a decade, helping to bridge the information gap in Bangladesh

Brazil

In Brazil, in the 1980s, it appeared as a Free TV, also called Street TV, characterized by the production of educational-cultural videos for exhibition in a closed circuit or in public square, as a proposal of the struggles for redemocratization of the country. Today, a community television are operated across by Conditional Access Service (pay-TV), a public concession for free use by nongovernmental entities, in the cable TV system or in the Citizenship Channel (in terrestrial digital TV). There are about 90 TVs. Each television is formed by an association of entities. It is a channel provided for in Brazilian laws: No. 8977/1995 and No. 12485/2011.CAMPOS & MELO (2017). Anões na terra dos gigantes: A comunicação comunitária televisiva no Brasil. Lisboa: Frenavatec. 165 páginas

Canada

Most community channels in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

are owned and operated by cable companies, as a requirement of license imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). However, due to the state of

concentration of media ownership In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'', ...

in Canada, whereby the vast majority of Canada's conventional television stations are now owned by national media conglomerates and offer very little locally oriented programming, terrestrial community channels began to emerge in the 2000s in many smaller markets not directly served by their own commercial television stations. Community channels of this latter type are generally operated by local non-profit groups.

Indonesia

Since late 2002, community television in Indonesia is regulated as Community Broadcasting Institution (Indonesian: ''Lembaga Penyiaran Komunitas'' or LPK). One of the oldest local TV channels in Indonesia, Publik Khatulistiwa TV, first originated as a community television before it became a limited company in 2001.

Ireland

Community television is in its infancy in Ireland. Licensing is administered by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Saorview Saorview ( ) is the national digital terrestrial television (DTT) service in Ireland. It is owned by RTÉ and operated by 2RN. The service began operation on 29 October 2010 on a trial basis with a full launch on 26 May 2011. By legislation i ...

launched on 31 October 2010 giving an addition platform for Community television, however so far Community TV is only available on UPC's Irish cable and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (

MMDS Multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS), formerly known as broadband radio service (BRS) and also known as wireless cable, is a wireless telecommunications technology, used for general-purpose broadband networking or, more commonly ...

) network. The main broadcasters are P5TV (UPC 801), Cork Community TV (UPC 802) and DCTV (UPC 803). These groups produce content and then they can have it transmitted by an organisation that has a license to broadcast (

terrestrial television Terrestrial television, or over-the-air television (OTA) is a type of television broadcasting in which the content is signal transmission, transmitted via radio waves from the terrestrial (Earth-based) transmitter of a TV station to a TV rece ...

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

). As well as the above, there are also web based channels which are likely to become more dominant in the not too distant future as broadband coverage and quality improves (and as the technologies converge). Examples of these are Teilifis Gaeltacht Muscrai (TGM) based in the rural Irish speaking WestCork Gaeltacht, and Fingal Community TV based in Dublin.

United Kingdom

Probably the longest standing community television service in the UK is Swindon Viewpoint, which is over 40 years old. It claims to operate according to the "core community TV principles of access and accountability", and its board is elected by its public. For a list of other channels, see .

United States

Public, educational and government access television is a form of

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...

where ordinary people can create content which can be viewed through

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...

systems. Standard

public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...

is often grouped with Educational-access television and Government-access television (GATV) channels, by the acronym PEG. PEG Channels are typically only available on cable television systems.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Community Television Citizen media