About
What PPTV is, how to watch, and how to get a card.
People-powered television from South Minneapolis
One channel, always on. Your neighbors book a slot and go live, and whatever is on is what everyone sees. Volunteers run it. Members pay what they can.
- Always on
- 24 h
- day starts 06:00
- Slots
- 30 min
- book 60 days out
- Shows
- 2
- made by neighbors
- Recordings
- 0
- open to all
Can TV build people power?
For fifty years media and tech companies have used television and the internet to do the opposite. A broadcast reaches millions who never meet, and a feed is built for one person at a time. Both leave you watching alone, and a person watching alone has no one to act with.
The means of making television used to belong to a few networks. Now anyone with a phone can go live. PPTV is an attempt to seize those means for South Minneapolis: one channel, made by the people who live here, watched by a community that has met in person.
The member card is how that holds. There is no sign-up form. You come to an event, a volunteer makes your member card and hands it to you. Everyone watching has done the same, so the audience is people who could organize together, not strangers on a feed.
- In person
- At the monthly event, or wherever PPTV is tabling around South Minneapolis.
- Pay what you can
- $36 a year is the suggested amount. Nobody is turned away.
- Good for a year
- Come back once a year and a volunteer renews the same card.
The community reel
Between shows the channel plays clips and music sent in by members: the Franklin bridge at sunrise, turtles in Powderhorn Pond, whatever looks like home.
- 01 Make something short
A loop, an animation, or the Greenway at dusk. Seconds to a few minutes.
- 02 Send it in
Any video format, or a music track to play underneath.
- 03 It goes on air
The station takes a look, then it plays between shows.
Watch
The guide and public recordings are open to anyone. The live channel and the rest of the recordings are for members.
Make a show
Book a slot and go live from a phone, OBS or a browser, or upload ahead of time. Every show is recorded. The station approves each booking.
Become a member
Cards are made in person at PPTV events, pay what you can. The card is your account: it opens the live channel, the recordings, chat and booking.