‘Olelo Community Media’s community-access channels will not be forced to move following an order of the Cable Television Division of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

The DCCA’s March 23 decision and order will keep the channels in their current locations until 2036, ‘Olelo announced today.

Spectrum had previously said it was moving ‘Olelo’s community-access channels to higher-numbered channels, which critics called digital Siberia.

But ‘Olelo fought back in a community campaign that described the new channels as difficult to find. ‘Olelo argued that the move would impose significant hardship on local community producers and viewers.

Sanford Inouye, president and CEO of ‘Olelo, said in a press release: “Mahalo to DCCA Director Catherine Awakuni Colón and the Cable Television Division staff; Cable Advisory Committee; our Congressional delegation; state legislators; the Honolulu City Council; all four county mayors; neighborhood boards; local producers; our neighbor island community-access TV counterparts Na Leo, Ho‘ike and Akaku; and the many hundreds in the community for their support. Thanks to all of them, our local community-access media has been safeguarded for the next 18 years.”

‘Olelo said it would keep its community-access programs on channels: 49, 53, 54 and 55 on Spectrum, as well as in high-definition on 1049 and 1053 on Hawaiian Telcom.