Those are Emergency Alert System (EAS) notices. FCC requires every CATV serving over 1000 subs to carry EAS notices, and to keep a record of all such notices.
The Kansas EAS Plan is at
EAS notices can come from state or local sources, or even from the President of the United States.
These channels are called, respectively, Educational, Government, and Public Access Channels. Collectively, they're usually specified in the following order: Public, Educational, and Government; hence, the abbreviation "PEG channels."
That term is consistent with common CATV industry practice:
- "Basic" identifies the single tier of channels that must be available to all subscribers.
- "Premium" means any channel offered at a per-channel charge (HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, and The Movie Channel); at a per-program charge (PPV); or as part of a group of two or more channels offered as a package under a common brand name (Encore; Starz).
- "Extended basic" means any multichannel tier other than basic or premium.
- "Fat Basic" means the basic tier if the CATV system doesn't carry any extended basic tiers.
Under FCC rules, the basic tier includes:
- All broadcast stations for which carriage is required pursuant to the must-carry rules or to a retransmission- consent agreement.
- PEG channels if required by the Local Franchising Authority.
- Any additional channels that the cable operator carries voluntarily.