Re: 24/7 news channel

I have Comcast TV service and have the least expensive package. When I had the next tier channel package, I had 24/7 news from CNN, Fox, MSNBC and a few others. When I downgraded my channel offering, the only 24/7 news channel was RT News.

Most people do not know that RT News is Russia Today, an English-language news channel which has a Russian perspective.

What concerns me is that the least wealthy among us, who are typically also the least educated and likely not to understand media bias, are the ones who are provided access to only one 24/7 news channel with a declared bias from a foreign country that has been accused of meddling in the 2016 elections.

While I don’t have knowledge of the details of how local municipalities grant franchises to cable operators and how much leverage they have in specifying the source and nature of content, I do think Yuba and Sutter counties can engage in discussions with Comcast over the appropriateness of providing RT News as the only 24/7 news channel on the bottom tier of the selections.

My preference is that either the low tier does not have any 24/7 news channels, or they have a choice, and that news channels are clustered in serial so viewers can easily choose.

I also believe Comcast should change the listing from “RT News” to “Russia Today News” so it is clear where the news is coming from.

Karen Hess