Federal judge blocks move to pull plug on cable-access channel
By The Associated Press
10.01.02
TAMPA, Fla. — A federal judged yesterday ordered Hillsborough County to fund temporarily its public-access cable channel, hours after programmers sued the county commissioners.
Speak Up Tampa Bay Public Access Television, Inc., a nonprofit organization that manages the day-to-day operations of the government-owned Public Television Access Center, is arguing in its lawsuit filed yesterday that the board's decision to cut off cable-access money violates the First Amendment.
U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. said yesterday that forcing the channel to shut down would create "immediate, irreparable harm." Moody issued the temporary restraining order, which is to last through Oct. 15, when a hearing is scheduled in federal court.
Moody's decision came just hours before budget cuts would have taken the county's public channel off the air.
Hillsborough County commissioners voted Sept. 19 to pull Speak Up Tampa Bay's $355,000 contract for the 2003 fiscal year.
Speak Up officials say the decision was based on allegations that the group was showing objectionable and offensive material.
But Commissioner Ronda Storms said the decision to end the group's contract "absolutely was about budgets. We have scarce resources. We have to make tough decisions on the budget."
The contract was set to end today.
The public-access group broadcasts two shows, "Insanity Defense" and "The Happy Show."
In April, Charles Perkins' program "The Happy Show" included close-up footage of female genitalia, the St. Petersburg Times reported in a story published today.
The newspaper also reported that Storms turned over a tape of the show to State Attorney Mark Ober, but that he found the show and its producers broke no laws.
"The First Amendment gods are smiling on us," Louise Thompson, president of the board of directors for Speak Up Tampa Bay, told the newspaper.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Speak Up Tampa Bay, asks the court to reinstate the group's funding and programming contract immediately. It accuses the government of restricting free speech by trying to control "content and viewpoints expressed" on cable public access, the ACLU said in a statement.
Speak Up and the county signed a two-year contract on Oct. 1, 2001, that prohibits government officials from "exercising any editorial control over a public access channel," the ACLU said.
The commissioners' decision came "simply because they don't like some of our community producer's programming," said Rochelle Reback, a lawyer for the cable group. "We think that's wrong, and we think the U.S. District Court will agree with us."