Why Community Media Still Matters

When the lights come on in the TV Santa Barbara studio, something magical happens.

A student adjusts the camera. A local artist rehearses her lines. A nonprofit leader sits down to share the story of the people they serve. These are the moments that keep community media alive — and the reason it matters more than ever.

Recently, an opinion piece in CommonWealth Beacon carried an urgent message: public access television is fading from view as cable subscriptions drop and funding models shift. But the article wasn’t just about Massachusetts — it was about all of us. Because the forces dimming community media elsewhere are at work right here too.

At TV Santa Barbara, we see what happens when the community has a voice. We’ve helped residents produce local talk shows, documentaries, youth programs, and public affairs coverage — stories that rarely make it to commercial screens. TVSB produces and airs city meetings, local forums and neighborhood updates so people could stay connected when everything else felt distant.

This is what access media does best: it keeps a community talking to itself.
It’s democracy with a camera. It’s creativity without a filter.

But as people “cut the cord,” the funding that sustains this public voice grows thinner. The Beacon article warns that many access centers across the country are struggling to keep the lights on. We don’t want that to happen here.

So what can we do?

We can use the platform — tell our stories, share our art, teach our kids how to make media that matters. We can support it — by volunteering, donating, or advocating for policies that protect local access funding. And most importantly, we can believe that a connected, informed Santa Barbara starts with all of us seeing — and hearing — each other.

Public access TV isn’t a relic of the past. It’s the heart of a living, breathing community. Let’s keep it beating strong.

Visit tvsantabarbara.org to learn how you can be part of it.