Does the Las Vegas area have any kind of public access channels?

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Public access cable seems a bit of a throwback with the widespread availability of YouTube and other Internet sites. Why impress seven people in your area who can’t find the cable remote when there’s a world of Web surfers to entertain?

But that wasn’t the question. So to answer, there is no public access programming on the area’s cable system.

The federal Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act has since the mid-1980s allowed local governments, if they desire, to require the local cable franchise to provide “PEG” programming — public, education and government — without exercising any control over it.

When Cox Communications obtained its franchise in 1998, the municipalities that issued the franchise agreements — Boulder City, Clark County, North Las Vegas and Las Vegas — decided cable TV would stick to education and government and leave the public out of it.

The results are channels 2 and 4, which air government programming for Las Vegas and Clark County, and 110 and 111, which air education programming provided by CSN, UNLV and the School District.