First take: Public-access blackout

It's sad and pathetic that the Philadelphia region - and the city, in particular - is pretty much a test pattern when it comes to public-access television stations.

As The Inquirer's Diana Mastrull wrote earlier this year, there are only a few stations up and running.

In dozens of other major metro areas, public-access television gives citizens a voice in their communities - enabling them to produce programming from the mundane to the insightful.

In Philadelphia, the story is that, for years, cable operators - chiefly, Comcast - paid millions in franchise fees to the city. This money was earmarked for setting up a public-access system, but instead went into the city's general fund - where it was spent on other services.

In response to calls for Comcast to come up with additional funds to supplement the franchise fee, the hometown cable giant pretty much has said heretofore that it gave at the office. Not good enough. The lack of public-access television on its home turf is a continuing source of embarrassment for Comcast - or it should be.

The company needs to step up, like the good corporate citizen it has shown itself to be in other arenas. Inquirer business columnist Jeff Gelles lays out the case in today's paper.

This is business, as Comcast officials periodically point out. So it's time for Philadelphia to drop the small-town awe and quit being such an easy touch.

Comcast knows its 4,500 local franchises around the country are its largest asset. It also knows there's often a price to pay for the right to do business with minimal competition.

Today's City Council hearing on extending Comcast's reach in the city cable market is as good an opportunity as any to demand that Comcast make public-access television a reality.

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Check out Philly's vocal - and patient - public-access TV coalition at phillyacces.org.