HISTORY OF NAPERVILLE COMMUNITY TELEVISION, CHANNEL 17
In 1984 The Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act allowed local government to require a Public, Education, and Government channel, and in 1987 Naperville Cable Television was conceived to carry out the Public and Education component of the 1984 act. Even though cable television’s origins date back to 1948, original programming hadn’t seen its full potential until the early 70’s. In 1987 cable television was still a regularly new phenomenon and the fear amongst the citizens of smaller communities had grown and people were afraid that their local communities wouldn’t have a voice amidst the wide variety of programming, thus Naperville Cable Television came into existence. The primary goal for NCTV was to promote or encourage educational, research and civic purposes and activities. Just as today, NCTV was organized on a not-for-profit basis exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes.

In the early part of the 21st century Naperville Cable Television morphed in Naperville Community Television, Channel 17. NCTV transformed into NCTV17, or a more community based model through collaborative crew. The combination of a professional staffer, community crew member, and a student intern all work together to create programming beneficial to the community, and that is community television. Naperville Community Television, Channel 17’s vision is to be: Your Channel for Your Voice for Our Community. NCTV17 presents a variety of television programming including:

  • “Naperville Sports Weekly”
  • “Naperville News 17”
  • “Business Connection”
  • “The Red Zone”
  • “Cardinal Report”
  • “Spotlight on Naperville”
  • Historical Documentaries
  • Election and Parade Coverage
 Led by Emmy award-winning Executive Director Liz Spencer, NCTV17’s mission statement is: Naperville Community Television, Channel 17 provides a voice to educate, inform, preserve, entertain, assist, and celebrate one another through diverse programming that reflects the character and spirit of our community. In addition to airing on Channel 17 in Naperville, all of the programming can be watched around the globe through simultaneous video streaming at NCTV17.com. The recipient of numerous production awards, NCTV17 was also named as the 2008 Not-for-Profit of the Year by the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce.