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Home My WebLink AboutMN-AOC-2022-09-06 1 MINUTES Access Oversight Committee (AOC) as approved Nov. 2, 2022 Tuesday, September 6, 2022 at 5 PM The AOC met by ZOOM Conferencing. Present: chair Rich DePaolo, secretary Wayles Browne, vice chair Wies van Leuken, City of Ithaca Common Council liaison Jorge DeFendini; Lauren Kelly (Director of Government Affairs - Finger Lakes Region, Charter Communications), Michael Montesano (Sr. Manager, Programming, Charter Communications). 01. Call to Order by DePaolo 5:02. 02. Agenda Additions and/or Deletions: none. 03. Public Comments: none. 04. Comments by AOC members. Van Leuken: appreciates now getting e-mails from Charter staff using the <PEG.NYIthaca@charter.com> address that clearly identify the sender. 05. Approval of Minutes of the July 5, 2022 Meeting. Moved by van Leuken, seconded by DePaolo. Approved without change 4-0. 06. Access Studio Coordinator Report. Submitted by Montesano in .doc format (attached below). a. Studio Coordinator Vacancy - report. Montesano: We have hired Alex Wiers [pronounced like "wires"], a grad of Tompkins Cortland Community College who has done many local video projects. Users of the studio like him. He lives near Syracuse but is looking to relocate in Ithaca. He is full-time, on the same schedule as former coordinator Lauren Stefanelli was: 5 days a week, so he is here Fridays too. To van Leuken: We'll ask him to e-mail producers to introduce himself. b. Maintenance and Repairs of Studio Equipment [see attached]. c. Discussion. Van Leuken asks if the next Report could include information on what is happening in the Studio, like information on new programs, new producers, and training sessions. Montesano: yes, that can be done. 07. Member Reports a. Streaming Channel 13 - Follow-Up. DePaolo has talked to Pinney, who worked on this with Jim Blizzard, but Pinney is not present today. Rich will contact Pinney, get more information and share it with the committee. b. Contact person for Channel 15 and 16 Bulletin Board. DePaolo has contacted Dominick Recckio, Communications Director, Tompkins County Administration, who put him in touch with the county's Media Production Assistant Rob Henry. Henry is amenable to working with AOC and Pinney; DePaolo hopes to meeting with them. c. AOC Vacancy. DeFendini talked to Mayor Lewis and learned that two people applied for the position. An appointment will probably be made in October. There is some discussion about the AOC making a recommendation. DePaolo: has AOC ever expressed preferences for a candidate? Browne: doesn't recall that happening. Van Leuken: AOC has never expressed a preference or been 2 asked to do so. It is my understanding that the Mayor and Common Council make these appointments. DePaolo: we'll leave it to the Mayor. d. Common Council meetings on the Government Channel - Resolution. Van Leuken asks why no Ithaca City Council meetings are cablecast on channel 15 any more. Montesano: spoke with the City Clerk in late April. She said that city staff would download the recordings of meetings from their YouTube channel and put them on channel 15. (The City live streams and archives most meetings on their YouTube channel.) Van Leuken: the Franchise Agreement calls on Charter to be responsible for this. Montesano: But the City has agreed to take it on. Browne: Council meetings are viewable on Zoom and YouTube, so it should be possible to carry them simultaneously on channel 15. DePaolo: will ask the Clerk for details of her decision. AOC agreed not to pass a resolution on the topic yet. e. Purchase of Studio Equipment. Van Leuken returns to the question of getting new equipment: we got a quote of $20 thousand for updating the Mini Studio but haven't seen an itemized list. Asks Montesano for a detailed budget. Montesano: will ask the vendor for this and could ask the vendor to attend a meeting. Van Leuken: I believe we also need equipment for the larger studio to enable live cablecasts. Montesano: the donated NEXUS from the City of Ithaca doesn't have a switcher with multiple inputs (newer Nexuses are all made this way). Its one input is used for WRFI radio providing the audio for the Bulletin Board. We'd need to buy an external switcher. DePaolo: asks for a quote on an external switcher. Montesano: sure. Van Leuken: does the studio need further equipment? Montesano: not at the moment; the main studio hasn't been used since March 2020 (due to COVID). Alex is testing all equipment and will let us know. f. Covid Guidelines. Montesano: same guidelines as before; wear masks in common areas, don't have to in studios. DePaolo asks about Charter employees. Montesano: employees wear masks. g. Charter's Disclaimer - Resolution. Charter's legal counsel, in his letter to AOC of July 8, 2021 that addressed AOC's concerns about the Disclaimers posted before and after each program on Channel 13, had stated that "If you have issues with the way they are worded, we are willing to consider your suggestions." DePaolo screen shares a draft resolution that suggests such alternative wording. The resolution was moved by van Leuken and seconded by Browne. WHEREAS, Public, Educational and Governmental (“PEG”) Access Television was created to provide a public free-speech forum; and WHEREAS, in accordance with national, state and local regulations, Charter Communications, Inc. d/b/a Spectrum in New York State (“Charter”) and municipalities may not exercise editorial control of program content on Access Channels, except to prohibit commercial or obscene programming; and WHEREAS, the City’s 2003 Franchise Agreement and Chapter 18 of the Code of the City of Ithaca give the Access Oversight Committee (AOC) the authority to make rules for PEG Access in Tompkins County; and WHEREAS, Charter in 2021 began posting a Disclaimer on PEG Channel 13, which runs for 15 seconds before and after each program, or soon thereafter if there is no 3 immediate available time between programs, stating "PUBLIC ACCESS -Charter Communications is not responsible for the programming aired on this channel which does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the staff and management of Charter Communications", which replaced the Disclaimer previously posted on the Channel's Bulletin Board by Time Warner Cable "WHAT IS PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION? - Public access television was created by the 1984 Cable Act to provide a free speech venue for people within their own communities on cable. - Programs on PEG channels are produced or submitted by local residents, who are exclusively responsible for program content. -Time Warner is proud to provide this service to our community" and WHEREAS, the AOC did ask Charter per Resolution #58 of April 6, 2021 that Charter discontinue its Disclaimer; and now, therefore be it RESOLVED, that pending a final resolution to the AOC's request to remove said Disclaimer, it requests that Charter change its wording to "Programming on this channel is produced and submitted by local residents who are solely responsible for its content". The resolution passes 4-0. DePaolo hopes that the new language will protect Charter's interests just as well as the previous version. h. PEGASYS’ Operations. Van Leuken points out that on the PEGASYS website https://pegasys.webstarts.com/index.html it still says "by appointment only" for studio hours. She asks to have AOC meetings listed on the website and for the schedule at https://pegasys.webstarts.com/channel_13 to be fixed so that it is easier to read. Montesano: we can update the website and we will look at the schedule and see what can be done to improve readability, but we are working with outdated technology. DePaolo: sees the schedule is in low-resolution. 08. Old Business: none. 09. New Business: none. 10. Next meeting: Tuesday, October 4 at 5 pm, mode to be announced. 11. Adjournment 5:33. ================ Authority: City of Ithaca code Chapter 18, "Cable Access Oversight Committee". Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Ithaca 11-5-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-17. Available at https://ecode360.com/8386207. Contact information for AOC members: City of Ithaca: Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu>. City of Ithaca: Common Council liaison 2022- Jorge (George) DeFendini <gdefendini@cityofithaca.org>. City of Ithaca: (vacancy) Town of Ithaca: Rich DePaolo, chair <rd@richdepaolo.com>, <RDePaolo@town.ithaca.ny.us>. Village of Cayuga Heights: Wies van Leuken, vice chair <pmv4@cornell.edu>. Web site for the PEGASYS Community Media Center studio, with program schedules: https://pegasys.webstarts.com/index.html studio location, mailing address: 612 West Green Street, Ithaca, New York 14850 phone (607) 272-7272 fax (607) 277-5404 e-mail PEG.NYIthaca@charter.com PEGASYS staff: Alex Wiers. 4