The Madison Campaign for Free Speech on Cable TV will hold their first public event today, a four-film screening, to bring a progressive television network to local cable company Charter Communications.

The campaign is working to convince Charter Communications to add FSTV to their basic cable package, local campaign coordinator Jill Hopke said. It was founded in 1995 and is currently available in more than 24 million homes through the satellite DISH network and on public-access channels across the country.

“We wanted to give the public of Madison the chance to view some of what they could be seeing if FSTV was offered through Charter Communications, our local cable company,” Hopke said.

Programming for FSTV includes many independently produced documentaries ranging from social and political issues to cultural and environmental issues. In addition to films, there are televisions series, such as Democracy Now!.

Bill Keys, a member of the campaign, said citizens of Madison and University of Wisconsin students are eager for a channel such as FSTV.

“It’s an alternative media that appeals to a lot of folks in Madison that are interested in [those] kind of things,” Keys said. “Whether it’s the artistic presentation or the high political interests and social interests, it’s like a blog on cable.”

Hopke said members of the campaign met with Tim Vowell, the vice president of government regulations for Charter Communications, to present information on FSTV and encourage them to add the channel to their basic cable package. The cable company has not yet approved FSTV, but, according to Hopke, the campaign will show Charter there is local support for the progressive network.

Hopke said the campaign wants to reach out to the Madison community and to students. She said she hopes people who have had the experience of flipping through dozens of channels without finding anything to watch will join the campaign.

“I think cable would be making a severe mistake if they didn’t include Free Speech TV because it would increase the subscriber rate of Charter, and the subscriber rate is going down,” Keys said. “It’s going down because there is nothing on there, not for folks that want alternative sources.”

According to Robert Drechsel, a UW professor of journalism and mass communication, alternative sources of news and information is always a good idea.

“The more alternative sources, the better,” Drechsel said. “I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t want access to alternative views and sources.”

The event, a four-film screening titled, “Free Speech TV: What You Won’t See on CNN, 4 Stories Shut Out of the Mainstream,” will be held tonight at the Electric Earth Café, 546 West Washington Ave., at 7 p.m.

The screening will include a film on American soldiers in Iraq, a documentary exploring the veils of Arab women, a comedic parody on Mexican perspectives of the United States and a case study on the history of gay rights focusing on a gay and lesbian bookstore in Vancouver.