The world of the mass media is shrinking. How a handful of companies came to exercise such control over the media is one of the astonishing stories of our time. But there are real consequences to what's happening that affect democracy and consumers.

The biggest merger in cable's history, the acquisition of AT&T Broadband in November 2002 gave Comcast control of over 21 million — or about one-third — of all U.S. cable homes. Double the size of its nearest rival, Time Warner Cable, the new Comcast Corporation has grown from the single system cable operation it was when founded in 1963 to one of the world's biggest communications companies, focused on broadband cable, commerce, and content. Does the growth of this media heavyweight mean that community voices will be lost in the shuffle? "Losing Access?" asks this very question.

So what is public access? Public Access is the result of a national citizens' movement in the 1970s to ensure that cable operators would provide channel capacity, services, facilities and equipment as partial compensation to communities for their use of public rights-of-way (streets, highways, parks and other government owned property). This compensation provides access to media for the local population.

Today, community access has evolved into a tool that promotes civic dialogue and cultural preservation, serving a wide range of community groups including: the Lions, Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs, the League of Women Voters, NAACP, AARP, the Urban League, public schools, local Chambers of Commerce, religious institutions, colleges and universities, community theaters, labor unions, veterans groups, second language communities, the disabled, politicians, and political organizations. Thousands of community groups and over one million volunteer producers, directors, presenters and technical staff participate in PEG access production annually. To find the stations operating in your community, visit The Global Village CAT, which links to 600 public and community access television Web sites worldwide.

For further information on community media, the Alliance for Community Media, a group with the goal of educating and advocating on behalf of community media, provides news on the latest legislation affecting cable and public access.

National Cable and Telecommunications Association is the principal trade association of the cable industry in the United States, representing cable operators serving more than 90 percent of the nation's cable television households. It also represents more than 200 cable program services as well as equipment suppliers and service providers to the industry. The NCTA web site offers extensive information about the industry.

Sources: National Cable and Telecommunications Association; Comcast Corporation; NEWSDAY; Center for Digital Democracy.