FSTV was founded in 1995, evolving out of The 90’s public television show and The 90’s Channel on cable television, both of which were started in the Denver-Boulder area in 1989. Between 1995 and 2000 FSTV provided weekly programming for 50 community cable channels. The organization was a result of a populist struggle—an alliance of citizen movements—that gained cohesive momentum after collaborative meetings and protests, in a war of position and sometimes a war of movement, at the 1999 World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Seattle, Washington.