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PCTV, the public cable channel Pittsburgh Community Television, will cease operations by the end of August due to a funding shortfall.

“The continued decline in cable subscribers and the changing media landscape has had a devastating impact on our funding and our viability,” PCTV CEO John Patterson wrote in a letter this week announcing the closure. “Although we have increased our fees in recent years, we felt we could not continue to increase the cost to the community. Without new sources of funding, we see no alternative but to cease operations.”

PCTV started in the early 1980s and is currently distributed by Comcast (Channel 21/1070) and Verizon (Channel 47) and is also available via streaming on Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, through an iOS app and on his website, pctv21. org.

Programming on all platforms will stop after August 30th.

In a phone interview Thursday, Patterson said funding for PCTV comes primarily from cable franchise agreements the city has negotiated with Comcast and Verizon, but those franchise fees are no longer enough to support PCTV because of declining cable subscriptions. PCTV also receives revenue from user fees, some grant funding, and payment for production services, often from nonprofit organizations including the Confluence Ballet Company, the League of Women Voters, and a local chapter of the National Council of Negro Women.

Patterson and two other full-time employees will spend September closing the operation at 1300 Western Ave. on the north side and moving equipment (it belongs to the city of Pittsburgh) then they will be out of a job.

“We’ve exhausted every avenue to try to keep it open,” Patterson said. “With the decline in funding (from cable franchise agreements), we weren’t able to replace it, so it became quite obvious that we weren’t going to be able to continue.”

Some of PCTV’s longer-running programs include the religious program Swords of Light and the non-religious shows Steel City Sports World and The Boxing Authorities.

Heidi Norman, director of innovation and efficiency for the city of Pittsburgh, said that in addition to declining cable subscribers, improved personal communication systems implemented during the pandemic have reduced the number of people paying to use PCTV services.

“We are so grateful for the decades PCTV has served the community,” she said. “They were the organization in the city that gave ordinary residents a voice to communicate with their neighbors on television. Nowadays, especially during the pandemic, what we have learned is that people can find a voice and share it with their neighbors around the world without having to go into a studio and work with television and channels for public access.’

Norman said the city intends to have plans to support public media access by the end of the year. Next year, cable franchise fee money that would have gone to PCTV will instead go to the Pittsburgh City Channel, a government channel carried by Comcast (Channel 14/1074) and Verizon (Channel 44), to buy equipment and upgrade of his control room. Another portion of the franchise fee money will go to the Pittsburgh Parks Department, which plans to build three digital media centers at the city’s recreation centers (Ammon, Warrington and Thaddeus Stevens Recreation Centers) where community members can learn how to create digital media.

PCTV is currently available in about 50,000 households, Patterson said, and he has heard from community members who independently produce television programs that air on PCTV.

“They expressed a lot of sadness that we were closing,” he said. “It was heavily used by the African-American community. I think they felt that this was a place where they were welcome and that could potentially be lost. We’ve had a lot of nonprofits use it. It was a cheap way for them to produce media. I hope that people will be able to continue to produce and find other outlets.”

Although PCTV is the only public access cable channel of its kind in the city of Pittsburgh, Patterson said the suburbs offer Bethel Park public access, Moon Community Access and a Peters Township educational channel.

“We do not blame the city of Pittsburgh for closing PCTV,” Patterson wrote in his letter to PCTV supporters. “The city has funded PCTV through cable franchises for the past 38 years. Unfortunately, the city is also affected by the death of cable and we understand why they can no longer fund PCTV.”

Watson at MIPCOM

CBS’ upcoming medical/investigative drama set in Pittsburgh, “Watson,” which shot for a few days in Pittsburgh in June and is now filming most of its scenes in Vancouver, BC, will have its world premiere on October 20 at MIPCOM Cannes in Cannes, France, where TV series are sold to international markets. Star Maurice Chestnut and series creator Craig Sweeney, a native of Squirrel Hill, will be in attendance.

“Watson,” which is expected to air Sunday nights on CBS in early 2025, follows Watson (Chestnut) a year after the death of Sherlock Holmes as Watson resumes his medical career.

Channel surfing

Judd Apatow will direct a two-part documentary about comedy legend Mel Brooks for HBO. … PBS’s “Frontline” will air a two-hour special “Biden’s Decision” (9 p.m. Aug. 6, WQED-TV) about President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race … Oscar-winning “The Boy and the Heron” by Hayao Miyazaki will make its US streaming debut on September 6 at the latest. … Verizon will offer free access to YouTube TV “NFL Sunday Ticket,” a bundle of out-of-market games, to customers who sign up or upgrade to select wireless and home Internet plans. Details at verizon.com/nfl-sunday-ticket-on-youtube-streaming. … A streaming bundle that includes Disney+, Hulu and Max is now available for $17 per month with ads or $30 per month without ads, a savings of up to 38% if each service is purchased separately. … Discovery Channel’s “Expedition X” returns for a new season with an episode (9 p.m. Aug. 14) exploring the Trans-Allegheny Asylum in Weston, WV … “The Chosen” season four debuts at 8 afternoon of September 1 on The CW.