Houston- Until now, the battle over Houston MediaSource’s programming largely has been waged on a limited front: the public-access channel’s supporters against City Councilwoman Addie Wiseman.

Funny how airing nudity can change that.

Several council members who’d been ambivalent about the issue now say they can’t support the channel’s $800,000 contract with the city after a show featuring nude women aired Wednesday night.

“This absolutely has changed the dynamic of this whole debate,” said Councilman Michael Berry, who said he now would vote against renewing the channel’s contract. “This is no longer a free-speech-versus-censorship issue. This is about basic accountability and people who have no business putting on public programming.”

The show in question, which KRIV (Channel 26) taped off the MediaSource channel, aired about 11 p.m. Wednesday – after almost 20 supporters appeared before the City Council to defend the channel against Wiseman’s complaints of raunchy late-night programming.

Wiseman on Friday asked Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal to examine the footage – which showed several topless or nude women as a group of men looked on – to see whether it violated the state’s misdemeanor obscenity law.

Houston MediaSource’s executive director, Patti Garlinghouse, expressed regret Friday that the tape aired before the 2 to 6 a.m. time slot reserved for content citizen producers label sexually explicit.

The producer, a University of Houston student, said Friday evening that he accidentally sent the wrong tape in place of his intended show, a music-video compilation called Club H-Town.

“I don’t know how it got mixed in with the tapes,” said Reggie Hough, 22, who was suspended from airing shows for 90 days, pending Rosenthal’s review. “I’m willing to deal with the consequences. I just want to apologize to everybody.”

Hough did not explain the history of the material that ran, except to say that it was old and not intended for broadcast.

Under its deal with nonprofit MediaSource, the city moves fees collected by cable providers to MediaSource to provide a forum for citizens that is free of government interference. No city funds are spent on the public-access channel.

MediaSource doesn’t operate the separate government-access channel that broadcasts council meetings and other official programs.

Mayor Bill White said Friday that he hadn’t seen Hough’s video, and that he isn’t yet sure whether he will support renewing the contract when it comes before the City Council on Wednesday.

He said he wants to ensure the channel has quality programming that complies with the law.

“I don’t think that Houston MediaSource should get a contract unless there are some changes that would prevent an abuse,” he said.

MediaSource programs, Garlinghouse said, aren’t screened for content before they run because producers promise in writing that they won’t violate the law.

Even if the channel did view programming in advance, it wouldn’t restrict a producer’s speech because of the First Amendment.

“I understand totally the concerns of elected officials,” she said, adding that the timing of the show while MediaSource is under council scrutiny was unintentional. “I don’t like indecent programming.”

The racy footage made its way around council offices Friday.

And council members didn’t like what they saw.

“It’s pretty obvious that they are not going by any type of standards,” said Councilwoman Toni Lawrence, who decided to vote against the contract after viewing the footage.

The controversy, until now, had been mostly a one-woman crusade.

It surfaced several weeks ago when Wiseman issued a tag – a procedural move delaying a council agenda item. A vote was delayed again June 29 after Wiseman told the council about an early-morning comedy routine that she felt was obscene.

As her council colleagues mostly sat silent, Wiseman waged a verbal battle during Wednesday’s City Council meeting with several channel supporters – one of whom labeled her a “political hack” – over what they said was an unfair attempt to abridge free-speech rights.

On Friday, she felt vindicated.

“Oftentimes, seeing is believing,” she said.

Councilwoman Carol Mims-Galloway said she was shocked to see the content of the show.

She said she supports toughening the channel’s rules – and making sure they are enforced – but not scrapping the contract altogether.

“I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water,” she said.

Some other council members said they would withhold final judgment. A council committee meeting is scheduled for Monday so that members can pose questions to Garlinghouse and other channel officials.

Councilman Mark Goldberg, who chairs the committee, said he planned to show the video so his colleagues could see the material for themselves and ask for explanations.

“The purpose of the station is good,” he said. “But if they are showing material that is a violation of our laws, we should reconsider whether or not we renew the contract.”