BOSTON NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORK TELEVISION / BNN-TV [BOSTON COMMUNITY ACCESS AND PROGRAMMING FOUNDATION, INCORPORATED]

Boston Neighborhood Network is operated by the Boston Community Access and Programming Foundation, Inc. Established by Boston's cable franchise agreement in 1983, BNN's primary goals are to serve the City of Boston and expand the constitutional rights of freedom of expression for all people. Through the Boston Charitable Trust, major funding for BNN is from cable television subscribers in Boston. Since its inception in 1983, BNN has provided unique and versatile opportunities for the public to communicate via cable television. The organization reaches out to nearly twenty neighborhoods and its channels are watched by approximately 158,000 households, reaching a potential audience of more than 474,000, 24 hours a day 7 days a week on both channels 9 and 23.
As a full-service community media center with complete field production packages, a Multimedia Center and television studios in Roxbury produces the most diverse programming in Massachusetts.
BNN is a membership organization run by 10 full time and 15 additional part time staff. Boston residents and nonprofit agencies and organizations that join BNN have access to, video and web production training, use of equipment and facilities to produce programs and websites, and time on cable television.
Channel 9, the News and Information Channel, features Neighborhood Network News (NNN) and BNNLive. The news is cablecast nightly from studios at Boston University, with correspondents and reporters representing each of the City's neighborhoods. BNNLive is a talk show series, with representatives of Boston non-profit organizations hosting live call-in talk shows. Over 40 nonprofit service agencies produce BNNLive programs on a wide spectrum of issues, including education, safety, health, housing and the arts.
Channel 23 is BNN's Community Access Channel, cablecasting community programs twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. BNN meets the communication needs of Boston's newer and longtime residents and families with programs in over 14 languages, fostering a greater understanding of our City's cultures. From Cambodian to Vietnamese, from Somali to Gaelic, from Italian to Haitian Creole, programming in these languages, and many more, are central to our concept of community. Additionally, BNN cablecasts a Community Bulletin Board for special announcements for nonprofit organizations and community agencies. BNN also partners with these organizations to produce educational video programs and public service announcements.
Additionally, nonprofits and community producers have even greater production capability with the BNN Mobile Production Van, a professional three-camera studio on wheels. The Multimedia Center is an all-digital environment that offers open access to its computers and the Internet and a full curriculum on topics such as video editing, DVD authoring, and digital imaging. The new digital technology is integrated into many areas of BNN and the result is an extraordinary opportunity to communicate.