08/26 Clarksville TN: Charter to axe Austin Peay State University's Channel 99

Charter to axe Austin Peay State University's Channel 99; Both sides will try to resolve issue at upcoming meeting
by Ann Wallace, The Leaf-Chronicle; August 26, 2009

Austin Peay State University has been notified by Charter Communications that the cable company will stop broadcasting the university's Channel 99 effective Sept. 1.

"There are issues between Austin Peay and Charter dealing with broadcasting on Channel 99, and a meeting has been set Aug. 31. We hope to work out these issues and also issues regarding broadcasting of City Council meetings," said Lance Baker, attorney for the city of Clarksville.

Mitch Robinson, vice president for finance and administration at APSU, said Charter sent a letter in July "that basically said they would stop offering Austin Peay programming Sept. 1.  "We believe Channel 99 provides our students a chance to showcase their work and provides people in the community with Austin Peay information that they may not get otherwise," Robinson said.

Austin Peay President Tim Hall sent a letter dated July 31 to Charter summarizing his concerns about the decision to pull the plug.  Hall asserted the state's recent Competitive Cable and Video Service Act supersedes the company's franchise agreement with the City.  Hall also indicated in the July 31 letter that state law stipulates a cable service provider "... shall designate upon written request a sufficient amount of capacity on its cable system ... to support up to three public, educational and governmental channels."  Austin Peay wants Channel 99 to continue broadcasting as one of the three PEG channels a city the size of Clarksville is entitled to under state law.

Caroline Sawyer Downs, a sports broadcasting instructor at Austin Peay, said "around 200 students are involved in programming and production of Channel 99."  "We provide 24-hours-a-day programming. We provide a significant service to the community," said Sawyer Downs, "It's sad to see that go away."  [ more ]