§ 9-1. Introduction.

The purpose of the public access center is to provide a medium for individuals, groups, organizations, and institutions to communicate with the citizenry of Laredo via channels on the cable television system. Public access center equipment, facilities, and channels are available for community use to facilitate the development of non-commercial programs which focus on local issues and concerns.

The public access center operates four (4) access channels: Channel 2 is reserved for programming religious groups; channel 13 is reserved for governmental access programming; channel 8 is reserved for educational programming by and for locally-recognized educational institutions; channel 3 has been designated as the public access channel for use by members of the general public who have undergone public access training and are qualified to use public access equipment.

The handbook contains access rules, regulations, procedures and a fee structure which have been developed by the public access center in conjunction with the City of Laredo staff and the city council. The purpose of the rules is to ensure that:

(1)

Each citizen in Laredo who is interested in community access programming will have the opportunity to learn how to use PAC access equipment and facilities; and

(2)

Each community access user will fully understand the priorities involved in cablecasting a community access program over the cable system.

As community use of the cable system grows, the rules, regulations, procedures and fees in this handbook may be subject to change in order to serve all the citizens of Laredo, Texas.

(Ord. No. 2009-O-052, § 2(Exh. A), 4-6-09)