Restrictions on Content
Sutton Community Television is a public access TV station so it is an electronic forum for free expression by the residents of Sutton. Sometimes, viewers may not like what they see but the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and its guarantee that "Congress shall pass no law abridging the freedom of speech..." and Congress has embodied that protection in the laws that control cable television.
Basically, any resident of Sutton is free to say or do anything he or she wants on their own SCTV program, provided that they can assure us that their program does not contain any illegal content. This illegal content is defined, in part, by the cable television access agreements with Charter Communications/Spectrum and Verizon. Sutton Community Television has agreed to maintain a public forum for the free expression of ideas -- even ideas others might despise! -- as long as SCTV prohibits all of the following types of content in programs:
- Direct solicitation for goods, services, or funds;
- Advertising designed to promote the sale of commercial products or services including advertising by, and on behalf of, candidates for public office;
- A lottery or any advertising or information concerning a lottery; and
- Any obscene or indecent material.
Since Sutton Community Television began operations, we have encountered rare situations where a citizen is unhappy with the content of a Public Access program. Our belief has always been that the answer to programming which you do not approve of is to make programming of your own. We encourage you to consider taking our next Television Production class to learn how to do so. Or, if you are not interested in learning the technical aspects of television production, and would simply like to explore hosting a program of your own to refute the views and actions you were unhappy with in the program in question, we welcome you to contact the SCTV Coordinator who may be able to assist you with the process.
Sutton Community Television cannot censor programming. However, SCTV does have the right to control cablecast time and frequencies of airing. Sutton Community Television takes copyright infringement seriously and will not air anything that uses other peoples work without their permission -- this includes music, video, pictures, graphics and artwork.