This study examines the relationship between public television and the urban community in three cities--New York, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta--from 1952 to 1975. Analysis of the results indicates that, between 1952 and 1966, there was virtually no interaction between the urban black community and educational television, the predecessor of public television, and that the production of black public network television programs brought interaction to a peak between 1968 and 1973. Subsequent decentralization of the public broadcasting system moved federal funding and the campaign for black involvement from the national level to local communities. In 1974 and 1975, the last two years examined by the study, the interaction between the urban black community and public television had diminished. (Author/GW)