Earlier this week, Jennifer Kirby, Link TV's COO, and I were invited to be guests on a show called Open at the local cable access channel BronxNet in the Bronx to talk about our organization and why we are partnered with so many PEG channels. Jennifer Kirby has been working with Link TV for many years, and she is as New York as you can get, having been born and raised in the city, with roots in every borough including her Italian side from the Bronx. It was very meaningful for her to be able to promote Link TV to this special community, and exciting for me to be a part of this incredible opportunity as well. You can watch our interview here (we come in at 27 minutes, but please, if you have time, enjoy the whole segment!):

Open is a weekly series on BronxNet that focuses on international news and gives voice to those who are marginalized in the diverse neighborhoods of the Bronx. The channel is received in 1.5 million households, 60% of which have been shown by independent marketing studies to be tuning in! Link TV is thrilled that BronxNet is airing explore three times a week, bringing Charlie Annenberg's global findings through his unique message of philanthropy, "Never Stop Learning", to the people of the Bronx. 

It was so much fun to meet the staff at BronxNet, to see their station, and witness the youth mentoring and media training program in action. BronxNet is the only public access station in the nation that operates six different channels, including one that is made by young people for young people! Now that Link TV has an engagement department that works with an active youth network of over 160,000 through YouthNoise, we are excited about all of the ways Link TV can engage the audiences and young media professionals who are trained through programs like this one at BronxNet. 

At the end of our interview, we were asked if BronxNet could put more Link TV programs on their channel... to which we gladly replied that they should take as much content as they possibly can! A special thank you goes out to their Executive Director, Michael Max Knobbe, who has kindly helped connect Link TV with the neighboring public access channels in both Queens and Brooklyn. Michael has been working at BronxNet for almost two decades, since before it was even BronxNet! This kind of dedication and longevity is not uncommon at public access stations. In fact, every single leader I've met in public access has been working for their channel for many, many years. The only other place I know of that retains employees to that extent is Link TV, which also is still run by the same people that started it over ten years ago. We could all probably get much higher paying jobs somewhere else in the media landscape, but the work that we do is so rewarding and important, I'm not sure any of us would feel like ourselves if we were to leave it behind.  And so we are proud to keep moving things forward, protecting independent media, alternative information, and freedom of expression. 

Thanks for checking in, and please come back soon for our next update on Public Access where Link TV is able to be a part of thinking globally, and acting locally!

Welcome to Link TV's latest blog subject, Public Access, where we will be updating you on how you can watch Link TV on public access cable channels all around the country, and even around the world! In the past few years, Link TV has been sharing lots of its best content with local community cable stations (as reflected on Link TV's reception page) so that people who don't have the ability to watch us on DirecTV or Dish Network can also have access to the paradigm-shifting glimpses of the world that you only see on Link TV.

What started out as a DVD giveaway campaign has turned into a state-of-the-art online platform for broadcast-quality content sharing called PegMedia.org. Link TV encouraged the development and supported the funding of PegMedia.org, but this project reflects the passion, courage, and brilliance of a volunteer from Maine named Robert Nichols. Bob has donated his time, energy, and personal funds to get this incredibly exciting project up and running. Bob holds public access in high regard as the final shelter for freedom of speech and information. He also has an incredibly evolved concept of community–community is no longer a group of people who are tied by geographical proximity, but rather a group of people who are tied together by the same concerns, curiosities, and dreams. When a public access station located in a tiny town in New Mexico creates and uploads content about water scarcity, and that content is then downloaded and broadcast by a tiny channel in a dry desertified town in Colorado, the citizens of each of these towns are effectively communed.

Link TV's mission has always been to bring outside perspectives and marginalized voices into our homes in order to foster dialogue and create cross-cultural communication, so why not start tearing down fences right here in our own communities? If you are interested in bringing Link TV into your community, just send an email to us at www.linktv.org/contactus and select "Request Link TV in your area" from the drop-down menu under "Subject".

Recently, we just uploaded ColorLines to PegMedia.org for channels to download. It is an exciting new program about race and economic recovery in America today. Stay tuned for regular updates on Link TV's new distribution abilities - we want to be wherever you want us to be!