Medford Community Cablevision, Inc.

Medford Community Cablevision
MCC 2011 Logo
Launched	1986
Owned by	Medford Community Cablevision, Inc.
Picture format	480i SDTV
Country	United States
Language	English
Broadcast area	Medford, MA Worldwide (online)
Headquarters	5 High Street Medford, MA USA
Formerly called	TV3 Medford Channel 3 Medford
Website	MCC Homepage
Availability
Satellite
Comcast	3 148
Verizon	211
Streaming media
Comcast POV	Made In Medford
Discover Video	PEG Central

TV3, owned and operated by Medford Community Cablevision, Inc. is Medford, Massachusetts' award-winning Public-access televisionstation. It was created by mandate of the 1984 Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act. The station's current facilities are located at 5 High Street, under then-U.S. Representative (and present-day United States Senator) Ed Markey's office in Medford Square. Medford Community Cablevision serves the City of Medford, Massachusetts and oversees the community's public access television on Comcast channel 3. Medford Community Cablevision functions as both a production facility as well as a telecast station.^[1] In 2010 the station unveiled new services to the community including video on-demand and 24/7 streaming video services on its company website.

Medford Community Cablevision has been internationally recognized by the Alliance for Community Media in 2008 and 2011 for "Overall Excellence in Public Television"; the highest award presented to a public access facility.^[2] In June 2011 the station announced Medford Cable News, the cities first non-profit broadcast news station.

Local controversy

According to the Medford Transcript, TV3 Medford and the Medford City Council have been at "war" for years where the interpretation of the first amendment has been debated.

Controversial program

On April 8, 2010, the one-run program Dirty Talk: Sex Advice, and Naughty Stories aired on TV3 at 8:00 pm and sparked a whirlwind of controversy among some residents, politicians, and local media. The program was a live call-in format featuring a sex therapist, a panel of young adults, and a real dominatrix. The program was entirely uncensored and unedited which led to TV3 being called out for lewdness.^[3] On the screen there was a still image of two “scantily clad” women kissing. In the corner of the screen, “they had a picture of a squirrel standing erect with a part of the male anatomy sticking out"; audio of two women discussing sexual matters played over the image on the screen.^[4]

Medford Council President Robert Maiocco claimed “It was flat-out pornographic. This wasn’t just regular locker room talk, it was obscene. It’s what even the Supreme Court has ruled as being pornographic.”.^[3] Councilor Robert Penta in a rage shouted over a City Council Meeting to the TV3 management that “you are sick to allow that to be broadcast over Channel 3." TV3's Director of Operations Daniel Sarno defended the content of the program, telling Fox News "anything that is protected under the First Amendment is fair game on public access television".^[5] Sarno told WHDH-TV 7 News in a report that despite the controversy, TV3's viewership figures spiked to an all-time record and was actually receiving calls demanding more programs like "Dirty Talk" on TV3.^[6]

Comments by followers of Barstool Sports - Boston echoed Sarno's acknowledgment in defending the content.^[7]

The controversial media attention lasted approximately one week and at the end of its stint, "Dirty Talk" and TV3 made top story on CBS affiliate WBZ-TV, NBC affiliate WHDH-TV, and Fox News affiliate WFXT. The station's president Frank Pilleri also appeared on WBZ (AM)'s radio program "Nightside with Dan Rea.

Current programming

Over the past 26 years, TV3 Medford has been home to a wide variety of programming. Genres include game show, movie review, talk radio, entertainment, music, religion, finance, and politics. In 2010 the station added new multi-language programming in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Russian.

From 2009 to 2011, TV3 Medford featured a children's television block that ran weekdays and weekends from 7 am to 10 am. The children's programming spanned a wide variety of genres, and included reruns of the popular Canadian program Under The Umbrella Tree.

The station has also been noted for airing syndicated programs such as Hot & Cold, Saturday Fright Special,^[8][9] and syndicated programs created by Robert Greenwald. The company announced that starting May 2011, the station would be broadcasting a live satellite feed of the Al Jazeera English News Network on Mondays through Thursdays from 11 pm to 7 am.

Notable guests

Deric Dyer playing the sax.

TV3 has seen many notable guests and hosts over recent years including musicians, sports legends, hosts, and radio personalities. In 2010, the original program Inside The Music, produced by saxophone legend, Deric Dyer, featured award winning musician and former SNL singer Christine Ohlman.^[10] Deric Dyer has been associated with Tina Turner and Joe Cocker for more than two decades.

Long-running controversial late-night show, Zapp TV, was first broadcast live on 40 Canal Street in Medford.^[11] Since then, the show has tackled many local and mainstream topics.^[12] Other notable guests included politician Joseph L. Kennedy.^[13]

Diamond Dunhill, Gary Zappelli, Joseph L. Kennedy.

The third sports program to ever air on TV3, Real Grass Real Heroes, hosted by sports writer and television announcer Jim Tuberosa,^[14] features sports figures and sports writers from many generations. In 2010, the program welcomed WBZ-TV sportscaster Bob Lobel, long-time sports announcer and former 1960s Baltimore Colts executive, Upton Bell, pro ice hockey player Rick Middleton, and world welterweight boxing champion Tony DeMarco.

Programming

Original Programming

2012 Notable Syndicated Programming

Notable Past Programming

Acknowledgements and awards

TV3 has been recognized by many organizations over the years for its prolific programming. Since 1998, TV3 has received numerous awards from the Alliance for Community Media, Hometown Video Awards, Filmerica, and Filmaka.com.

2008-2009

In 2008, Medford Community Cablevision won the award for "Overall Excellence in Public Access" with an annual operating budget of $200,000 or less.^[15] In 2009, the Alliance for Community Media awarded Tristan Dyer, a TV3 member, "Best Animated Short Film". The Alliance for Community Media also honored TV3 for its outstanding dedication to public access in the city of Medford.^[16]

2011

TV3 is the Alliance for Community Media's 2011 international winner for "Overall Excellence in Public Television."^[2] This was Medford Community Cablevision's second time winning this award in three years. The ACM represents over 3000 television stations worldwide.

Comcast Project Open Voice
Medford Community Cablevision is one of many channels on Made in Medford, the local entry of Comcast's Project Open Voice. Medford was one of six cities selected to participate in the beta program (the others were Peterborough, New Hampshire, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hialeah, Florida, Houston, Texas, and Fresno, California).^[17]

Project Open Voice was created to satisfy specific requirements as mandated by the Federal Communications Commission during the Comcast-NBC Universal merger in 2011. Comcast's goal in this project is to "broaden the discovery of local content, including public, educational and government (PEG) programming... and to address the questions of the diverse demand for local content in different communities and the variety of ways to deliver it."^[18]

References

See also

• List of public-access TV stations in the United States (Louisiana–Montana)#Massachusetts

External links

• TV3 official website