Burlington, This is You!
Burlington Vermont’s Chittenden Community Television (CCTV) has promoted civic health since 1984 through community media access.
Never erasing a tape, this feature length documentary excavates the 40 year archive modeling a community-based answer to a dysfunctional global media system, keeping the doors of democracy open.
Trailer
Born from a national movement of media activists in the 1970s, CCTV was founded alongside Burlington’s progressive revolution, launched by the election of mayor Bernie Sanders in 1981. After lengthy regulatory and legislative battles, founding member Lauren-Glenn Davitian introduced the concept of public access television to Burlington viewers in 1984 with an avant garde attitude that would become a staple of the station’s identity for years to come.
40 years after its inaugural program, the CCTV Archives now house more than 42,000 programs on tapes and DVDs, filling shelves throughout the studio – a remarkable history of culture and politics in Burlington. But in the era of YouTube and social media, and as cable subscriptions continue to decline, the case for public access TV has become more difficult to articulate; stations across the country are closing rapidly. For so many years, CCTV has responded to corporate encroachments on democracy with community-based solutions – now that media giants threaten the basic value proposition of public access media. Where does this scrappy, people-powered institution take its next step? How does the public view the role of community media? How can CCTV continue to exist without giving in to corporate control?
