York Community Access Television
Encyclopedia
York Community Access Television (YCAT) was a Public-access television
cable TV station in York, Pennsylvania
.
The current cable system in the City of York began operations soon after the City and York Cable Co. reached agreement on the city’s first cable television franchise
agreement in 1964. The York Cable Co. later became Cable TV of York , then was known as Susquehanna Communications or Suscom and is now owned by Comcast Cable company.
. Companies wanting to expand their services had to use the public right-of-way to string their cables into a community. The City of York was among the first communities both in the Commonwealth
and the United States
to grant a franchise agreement for operation and development of a cable television system in the city. That first agreement included general standards for customer service by the cable television company. The York City Council approved that agreement by ordinance in 1964—two years before the Federal Communications Commission
established rules for all cable television systems.
The City of York renewed that agreement in 1974 with very little change from the original document. That year, York Community Access Television (YCAT) was founded, establishing the second community access television station within the United States and giving York residents their first opportunity to make television. The first cable access television station began in New York City
.
YCAT limited broadcast time on a channel that it shared with other programming. A third renewal occurred in 1984 which included the first and, until the latest effort, the only review of the cable television service and operations within the City of York.
That study and report recommended mandated public access channel, specific channels geared toward serving Spanish
-speaking residents, channels geared toward actions of Congress
and efforts at interactive television
. Those changes led to many improvements in cable service, including addition of C-SPAN
, an addition of a Spanish channel, and limited mandated hours of community access programming. The City of York remains the only municipality in York County that mandates within its franchise agreement community access and other local origination programming. Springettsbury Township, however, has recently mandated governmental access within its franchise agreement.
The City of York agreement included specific language in which the company committed to providing quality service in installation, repairs and programming. That agreement also included a requirement that Cable television franchise fee
s paid to the city increase from 1% in 1984 to the maximum amount allowed by state and federal law of 5% by August 1992.
The agreement mandated a level of service of not less than 35 channels of video and audio programming. That programming included television programs available off the air, access programming, local origination
programming and programming imported from distant markets and received from cable satellite
networks. Access programming was mandated between a minimum of 12 hours to a maximum of 18 hours weekly with the cable company making its equipment and facilities available to users between 10 a.m. and midnight. Local origination programming also would consist of a minimum of 12 hours. All community access programming must be noncommercial.
Prior to 1996, community access shared a channel with other programming. From 1996-2004, the cable company made community access television available on cable channel 16, 24-hours a day, seven days a week. YCAT, Inc., a local volunteer nonprofit organization, oversaw operations of that channel. It largely operated on a budget of less than $10,000 per year, with the company, since 1997, donating between $3,000 to $6,000 yearly and volunteers raising the rest of the funds on their own. During its best years, YCAT raised as much as $22,000 yearly and offered twice-yearly training sessions to members. At its high mark, YCAT had more than 300 paid members. As of 2004, YCAT had slightly more than 100 paid members. 2004 marked the first in a few years that it offered a specific formal training session, although some members have informally provided training to interested members of the public.
In 1994, the City of York reviewed the cable franchise agreement with Cable TV of York. The agreement remained unchanged from what was approved in 1984. The city, through the franchise, had oversight on the operation of the cable television system which required the company to operate the system in accordance with state-of-the-art technology. Requirements existed for providing good customer service. Significant changes took effect within the cable industry since the 1994 and 1984 renewals, and from 1994 to 2004. Digital cable
had begun. The internet
and the use of cable modem
s came into wide use. Cable television programming grew dramatically. Satellite television
outlets such as DirecTV
and the Dish Network
also became widely available, creating competition with cable television companies and definitely affecting franchise fees collected by municipalities.
Initially, television services offered by York Cable Television Co., now known as SusCom, amounted a little more than the NBC
, CBS
, and ABC
network stations that broadcast locally, some network affiliates out of Baltimore
or Philadelphia, some public television stations and any independent stations produced locally or offered regionally. The television service expanded as more cable television offerings increased over the years with the start of services such as HBO, Showtime, CNN
, the Disney Channel
, TBS, Lifetime
and ESPN
.
Suscom has invested heavily to keep its technological capability and what it offers to its customers both in the city and the surrounding communities as most up to date as possible. The company has installed broadband and offers digital cable as well as broadband internet service. Today residents can listen to any sort of music they desire, can watch nearly any type of program that interests them, can receive digital and high definition television broadcast, have all sorts of pay-per-view programming and also see various programs produced locally by Suscom professionals or volunteers associated with the local access television station known as York Community Access Television.
On October 31, 2005, Comcast
officially announced that it had acquired Susquehanna Communications (SusCom,) a York, PA based cable television and broadband services provider and unit of the former Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff company, for a net cash investment of approximately $540 million. In this deal, Comcast acquired approximately 230,000 basic cable customers, 71,000 digital cable customers, and 86,000 high-speed internet customers. Comcast previously owned approximately 30 percent of Susquehanna Communications.
WRCT is currently broadcasting on two channels in the York County region, channel 16 and 18. Both channels can be watched live from anywhere in the world via a live stream on WRCT.tv. Program schedules are also available at WRCT.tv.
Public-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
cable TV station in York, Pennsylvania
York, Pennsylvania
York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in York County, Pennsylvania, United States which is in the South Central region of the state. The population within the city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, which was a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862...
.
The current cable system in the City of York began operations soon after the City and York Cable Co. reached agreement on the city’s first cable television franchise
Government-granted monopoly
In economics, a government-granted monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly by which a government grants exclusive privilege to a private individual or firm to be the sole provider of a good or service; potential competitors are excluded from the market by law, regulation, or other mechanisms of...
agreement in 1964. The York Cable Co. later became Cable TV of York , then was known as Susquehanna Communications or Suscom and is now owned by Comcast Cable company.
History
Cable television systems had developed in the 1960s without much government oversight or regulationRegulation
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...
. Companies wanting to expand their services had to use the public right-of-way to string their cables into a community. The City of York was among the first communities both in the Commonwealth
Commonwealth (United States)
Four of the constituent states of the United States officially designate themselves Commonwealths: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia....
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to grant a franchise agreement for operation and development of a cable television system in the city. That first agreement included general standards for customer service by the cable television company. The York City Council approved that agreement by ordinance in 1964—two years before the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
established rules for all cable television systems.
The City of York renewed that agreement in 1974 with very little change from the original document. That year, York Community Access Television (YCAT) was founded, establishing the second community access television station within the United States and giving York residents their first opportunity to make television. The first cable access television station began in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
YCAT limited broadcast time on a channel that it shared with other programming. A third renewal occurred in 1984 which included the first and, until the latest effort, the only review of the cable television service and operations within the City of York.
That study and report recommended mandated public access channel, specific channels geared toward serving Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
-speaking residents, channels geared toward actions of Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
and efforts at interactive television
Interactive television
Interactive television describes a number of techniques that allow viewers to interact with television content as they view it.- Definitions :...
. Those changes led to many improvements in cable service, including addition of C-SPAN
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
, an addition of a Spanish channel, and limited mandated hours of community access programming. The City of York remains the only municipality in York County that mandates within its franchise agreement community access and other local origination programming. Springettsbury Township, however, has recently mandated governmental access within its franchise agreement.
The City of York agreement included specific language in which the company committed to providing quality service in installation, repairs and programming. That agreement also included a requirement that Cable television franchise fee
Cable television franchise fee
A cable television franchise fee in the United States, the stems from a community's basic right to charge for use of the property it owns. The cable television franchise fees represent part of the compensation a community receives in exchange for the cable operator's occupation and the right-of-way...
s paid to the city increase from 1% in 1984 to the maximum amount allowed by state and federal law of 5% by August 1992.
The agreement mandated a level of service of not less than 35 channels of video and audio programming. That programming included television programs available off the air, access programming, local origination
Local origination
In broadcasting, local origination may refer to:*community radio*community television*local insertion*local programming*public-access television...
programming and programming imported from distant markets and received from cable satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
networks. Access programming was mandated between a minimum of 12 hours to a maximum of 18 hours weekly with the cable company making its equipment and facilities available to users between 10 a.m. and midnight. Local origination programming also would consist of a minimum of 12 hours. All community access programming must be noncommercial.
Prior to 1996, community access shared a channel with other programming. From 1996-2004, the cable company made community access television available on cable channel 16, 24-hours a day, seven days a week. YCAT, Inc., a local volunteer nonprofit organization, oversaw operations of that channel. It largely operated on a budget of less than $10,000 per year, with the company, since 1997, donating between $3,000 to $6,000 yearly and volunteers raising the rest of the funds on their own. During its best years, YCAT raised as much as $22,000 yearly and offered twice-yearly training sessions to members. At its high mark, YCAT had more than 300 paid members. As of 2004, YCAT had slightly more than 100 paid members. 2004 marked the first in a few years that it offered a specific formal training session, although some members have informally provided training to interested members of the public.
In 1994, the City of York reviewed the cable franchise agreement with Cable TV of York. The agreement remained unchanged from what was approved in 1984. The city, through the franchise, had oversight on the operation of the cable television system which required the company to operate the system in accordance with state-of-the-art technology. Requirements existed for providing good customer service. Significant changes took effect within the cable industry since the 1994 and 1984 renewals, and from 1994 to 2004. Digital cable
Digital cable
Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...
had begun. The internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and the use of cable modem
Cable modem
A cable modem is a type of network bridge and modem that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a HFC and RFoG infrastructure. Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband Internet access in the form of cable Internet, taking advantage of the high...
s came into wide use. Cable television programming grew dramatically. Satellite television
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
outlets such as DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
and the Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
also became widely available, creating competition with cable television companies and definitely affecting franchise fees collected by municipalities.
Susquehanna Communications (SusCom)
Susquehanna Communications was founded in 1965 as York Cable Co. and headquartered in York, PA. The privately held company operates advanced networks in six states serving over 230,000 customers. The company name was changed to Susquehanna Communications in 1999, reflecting its change from a provider of traditional cable television to a provider of a variety of advanced, interactive, digital communications products. In 2000, the SusCom brand was introduced for consumer marketing based on its familiar use and high awareness among customers. Today, SusCom ranks among the top 20 cable and broadband companies in the United States.Initially, television services offered by York Cable Television Co., now known as SusCom, amounted a little more than the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
network stations that broadcast locally, some network affiliates out of Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
or Philadelphia, some public television stations and any independent stations produced locally or offered regionally. The television service expanded as more cable television offerings increased over the years with the start of services such as HBO, Showtime, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, the Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
, TBS, Lifetime
Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
and ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
.
Suscom has invested heavily to keep its technological capability and what it offers to its customers both in the city and the surrounding communities as most up to date as possible. The company has installed broadband and offers digital cable as well as broadband internet service. Today residents can listen to any sort of music they desire, can watch nearly any type of program that interests them, can receive digital and high definition television broadcast, have all sorts of pay-per-view programming and also see various programs produced locally by Suscom professionals or volunteers associated with the local access television station known as York Community Access Television.
On October 31, 2005, Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
officially announced that it had acquired Susquehanna Communications (SusCom,) a York, PA based cable television and broadband services provider and unit of the former Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff company, for a net cash investment of approximately $540 million. In this deal, Comcast acquired approximately 230,000 basic cable customers, 71,000 digital cable customers, and 86,000 high-speed internet customers. Comcast previously owned approximately 30 percent of Susquehanna Communications.
White Rose Community Television (WRCT)
White Rose Community Television (WRCT), once owned by Susquehanna Cable System since 1973, switched from York Community Access Television when Comcast took control of the area’s cable market.WRCT is currently broadcasting on two channels in the York County region, channel 16 and 18. Both channels can be watched live from anywhere in the world via a live stream on WRCT.tv. Program schedules are also available at WRCT.tv.