Chicago’s public access television network, CAN TV, is enjoying a surge in streaming success. But despite growing numbers of streaming viewers, our funding is shrinking, as it’s still tied to the dwindling profits of cable companies.
CAN TV launched its streaming service in September 2022, and the numbers speak for themselves: Total streaming in 2023 reached 28 million, and by September 2024, it climbed to 30.8 million.
As exciting as these numbers are for everyone involved with CAN TV, it comes at a time when the organization is at a crossroads. Will this 41-year-old community resource survive the changing media landscape? Or will it wither away like so many other media outlets facing declining revenue?
CAN TV was created with the original cable television franchise agreements that the City of Chicago reached with cable providers to offer the public free and open access to community programming. Cable providers allocated a small percentage of revenue to CAN TV and other public, educational and governmental entities, known as PEG channels. This has sustained our operations for several decades during the rise of cable subscriptions, as we do not receive any government funding.
With this cable funding, CAN TV has provided media production training for local community content producers and nonprofit organizations, and served as a platform to engage our local elected and appointed leaders for more than four decades.
‘Stand for something meaningful’
But today, our future is uncertain. As viewers migrate to streaming platforms and cut off their cable subscriptions, the revenue we rely on has taken a precipitous decline. Our programming has moved to online streaming and is available to anyone with an internet connection. But our funding has not followed this move.
In the face of this challenge, I realized the cost of maintaining the status quo can be far greater than the cost of change. The board needed to pivot and lay the groundwork for a governance model to attract new partnerships aligned with our mission and to sustain our long-term efforts.
At a time of constant distractions and misinformation, the best way to stand out is to stand for something meaningful. As the first Asian American woman to serve as board chair of CAN TV, I am proud of our effort to adapt and strengthen our organization. Despite the heat and pressure, we’ve transformed CAN TV into one of Chicago’s leading media hubs and a national model for community access TV.
Alongside my fellow board members and executive leadership, we have done more than just survive. With the leadership of our executive director, Darrious Hilmon, we pushed our capabilities to provide new CAN TV-produced content and increased social outreach to find new opportunities to serve Chicago’s local communities better.
We broadcast live from our state-of-the-art facilities. We host thousands of community forums and programs and train hundreds of community producers. Our goal is to not only be the national model for successful public access television, but to also serve as Chicago’s television town square, where everyone is welcome.
We are working hard to find new sources of revenue as we uphold our commitment to provide community access on our platforms. We are finding new funding partners, and other nonprofit organizations who see the value of this community resource. We are joined by new board members who are civic, business and community leaders with proven experience in attracting funding resources.
This next chapter in CAN TV’s history is yet to be written. As leaders of CAN TV, we hope that other civic, business and philanthropic leaders and organizations see our unique value and join us in supporting our mission for the future. CAN TV is too precious to go by the wayside. We must all continue to fight for its future.
Anna Ninoyu is chair of the CAN TV board of directors. She is also the owner and principal architect of METIS Design.
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