By Rachel Brahinsky

For several years Zane Blaney has managed San Francisco's public access cable television station with little visible controversy. Tall, silver-haired, and smooth-mannered, with the cultured voice of a radio broadcaster, he recently offered a tour of his new Market Street television studio. Appearing somewhat nervous, he showed off everything – down to the squeaky-clean bathrooms.

"I don't usually show the rest rooms," Blaney said, "but I wanted you to see the makeup mirror, which some of the producers have been asking for, for years."

Blaney spoke cautiously, and he may have good reason to be concerned about his public image. In just four months the city contract that permits Blaney's group, the San Francisco Community Television Corp., to control public access channel 29 is up for renewal. And just last week an internal struggle that has been festering for more than a year erupted publicly.

It all started with a clash over a basic question: how to dish out time slots for shows. The conflict has escalated into a small war over the future of the channel, reflecting what some say is a deep divide between CTC's board and its programmers. On Feb. 5 board member David Miles, who produces the Monday-night show Skatin' Place, was placed on probation for 60 days by his colleagues.

The station works with more than 100 programmers who produce dozens of eclectic shows like Miles's, which is partly a funk-dance show, partly a skating-enthusiast video zine.

In the past, programmers who had a regular time slot were able to keep it as long as they wanted to. New programmers got in on a first-come, first-served basis. Blaney and several board members opposed the policy because it set up a sort of caste system, where some got first dibs simply because they'd been around for a while. Their proposal, which passed last November, dictates that the channel employ a lottery at regular intervals, to continually reapportion popular time slots.

Miles opposed the plan, defending the right of longtime producers to have seniority. However, his opponents on the 11-member board say Miles is contentious, and they point to a publicly distributed e-mail in which he compared them to the Taliban. Miles has since apologized for the remark, but board members justify the probation, charging that he violated their trust in airing his gripes. In fact, the board has a written policy that prevents members from speaking out publicly against board decisions.

Beneath the personal sniping remains the core issue: should San Francisco's public access station try to develop long-running shows with loyal audiences, or should it prioritize being open to as many voices as possible by switching up time-slot availability on a regular basis?

Miles and Steve Zeltzer, another producer, said that local producers are nearly unanimously opposed to the lottery concept.

The root of the problem, board member Bill Fiore told the Bay Guardian, is that the board is "not fully in touch" with the programmers. "Only two members of the board have been active producers. They've never really used the station's facilities. [Establishing the lottery system] is almost like a company taking the wishes of its workers into consideration last," he said.

Zeltzer, whose show Labor on the Job has run every other Thursday since 1983, was galled by the lottery plan. Zeltzer told us that changing his program schedule could eviscerate the audience he has cultivated in his 19 years on the air.

"Community-access TV is really the only uncensored vehicle for people, which is why we got involved," he said. "It's very critical that it be defended. If you're not on television, you're marginalized, because that's how people get their information."

Though the board has already approved the new lottery process, programmers like Zeltzer are pressing for a revised plan. They also want the station to be run by an elected board (currently it's self-appointed), and they want local programming to be prioritized over out-of-state shows.