Public access television in Manhattan was a condition, not a gift. A Time Inc. subsidiary laid cable across the borough. A group of academics then pushed for part of the system to be set aside for programmes made by the public, director David Shadrack Smith told Deadline. The Hollywood Reporter described the result as an experiment the city forced on the cable company.

Manhattan Cable Television launched in 1971. Its stated aim was to open up a medium still dominated by three broadcast networks.

Who ran it, and what they wanted

The channel was overseen by Charlotte Schiff-Jones, a Time Inc. executive who called herself a “First Amendment lunatic”. For some of the staff, the point was to give a voice to communities television ignored.

Steven Lawrence, whose job was dealing with the public, framed it as taking back control of television from the people who owned it.

What New Yorkers made with it

Smith’s documentary, Public Access, premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. It runs 107 minutes and uses only archive footage, narrated by former staff of Manhattan Cable Television.

The footage covers about 50 years of programming. Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party was a regular haunt, and Jean-Michel Basquiat would hang around and play with the on-screen text. Smith told Deadline the channels gave viewers early sight of Blondie and Talking Heads before either broke through.

The airtime also went to sex. Al Goldstein’s Midnight Blue pushed far enough that, Deadline reported, the US Supreme Court had to rule on his right to show it.

The most serious use came with AIDS. Lou Maletta’s Channel J programming became a resource during the early AIDS epidemic, carrying reports from Richard Berkowitz on subjects mainstream media avoided. Smith also pointed to The Emerald City, one of the first gay-themed shows to reach a wide audience, which viewers relied on during the AIDS crisis.

Where the idea went next

The Hollywood Reporter’s critic, reviewing the film at Sundance, called it chaotic and at times a mess. The review also traced the line it draws from shows such as Squirt TV to YouTube and TikTok, which it read as the logical heirs of public access.

That is the argument the film leaves open. Manhattan once had to be compelled to hand ordinary people a camera and a channel. Today they already hold both, and nobody had to force anyone.