BNN's roots go back to the '70s, when cable television began to wire America. As cable franchises were being negotiated across the country, foresighted media reformers in the philanthropic sector secured commitments for the public to have permanent access to the new medium. In 1983, the City of Boston -- in another example of partnership between government and philanthropy -- required Cablevision to support a new charitable organization that would enable neighborhoods and the philanthropic sector to communicate with the public. The result was BNN-TV.

BNN is one of the best of its kind in the country; in fact, in 1995 it was named the "Best Public Access Station in the Country" by the national Alliance for Community Media (ACM). In 1999 it won ACM's "Judges' Choice Award" for excellence in local programming, and in 2001 the "Hometown Video Award" for "Overall Excellence in Public Access." Talk about access -- its ethnic productions are cablecast in Spanish, Italian, Polish, Greek, Gaelic, Somalian, Arabic, Cambodian, Cape Verdean Creole, Haitian Kreyol, Mandarin, Farsi, and Garifuna, not to mention signing in English. Moreover, BNN has a Multimedia Center that offers training in computers, creating graphics, digital video and audio, interactive websites, and streaming media. Boston's donors are among the beneficiaries.