Public, educational, government channel access prompts complaints

Annoyance is building nationwide over AT&T’s treatment of PEG channels (public, educational, and government). Its U-Verse IPTV system lumps all the public access programming — everything from city council meetings to local middle-school plays — on Channel 99. Viewers then must click to install an application and find their community in a list. The Chicago Tribune says the channels are “consigned to a digital ghetto.” FCC complaints have been filed, and at least one attorney general, in Illinois, is investigating.