About Us: Background on CCTV, Channel 17 and Free Speech

Join Now

Channel 17/Town Meeting TV
Channel 17 and 317 offer government access programs and services to Comcast and Burlington Telecom cable subscribers in seven member communities in Chittenden County Vermont. Roam the site to discover all of the free speech servies we offer. Launched in 1990 to cover municipal events and public issues, Channel 17/ Town Meeting TV is overseen by regional representatives from Burlington, South Burlington, Essex, Essex Junction, Williston, Winooski, Colchster and St. George. Channel 17 operates 24 hours a day and produces more than 100 hours of new tv each month.

MIssion: The mission of Channel 17/ Town Meeting TV is to be a trusted provider of multi-media resources that opens the door to local government and engage citizens in democratic action.

CCTV Center for Media & Democracy

Launched in 1984, CCTV's Center for Media & Democracy works to protect free speech, public access and open networks. We provide the training, tools and channels for activists and public agencies to make democratic social change happen.

How do we advance public access to media tools and communications networks?

We operate Channel 17/ Town Meeting Television (a regional government access cable channel in Chittenden County Vermont) on behalf of the Channel 17 Trustees. CCTV Productions delivers high-quality and affordable video and media production for nonprofits in Vermont. CCTV Tech Support serves our nonprofit members with strategic communications planning, media and computer training and on-call technical support. CCTV Duplication & Duplication makes sure your programs get to the right audience. We are operate with a variety of funding sources.

Mission: By 2008, CCTV will be a trusted and recognized provider of media services that engage citizens in social change.

We work closely with the Vermont Access Network, an association of 25 community access centers that operate 43 channels and serve 100,000 cable households in Vermont. CCTV's Center for Media & Democracy is part of a larger network of 2500+ community access centers across the nation, represented by the Alliance for Community Media. We are also closely allied with NTEN and the Media & Democracy Coalition.