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Home My WebLink AboutMN-CABLE-2006-04-25Cable Access Oversight Committee Minutes The Committee [AOC] met at the PEGASYS studio on Tuesday, April 25, 2006, 4 -6 pm. AOC Members present: Wayles Browne, Wies van Leuken, Will Burbank [chair], Shane Seger, studio manager Lauren Stefanelli [ex officio]. 1. Notetaker: W. Browne. 2. Minutes of March 20 meeting: decided to include the memo from the Ithaca City School District. Accepted with small amendments. 3. No public present. 4. Lauren: The Alliance for Community Media lobbies on behalf of community media. It feels any state or federal media bill should insure survival of PEG access (six principles listed). Some bills are now in committee in Congress. If a bill providing a national (instead of local) franchise is adopted, it may make obsolete the existing local franchises (instantly, or as they expire). Mayors and governors have also been lobbying in favor of local control. A proposed "floor" of 1 % of franchise fees would be significantly lower than present cable- company -- local- jurisdiction contracts. Issues on "redlining ": phone companies may want to provide broadband service only to rich areas. Danger of being "left behind" with analog TV and digital TV when the Internet is taking over. Burbank: When does TWC switch to all- digital? The city will have to pay for "lighting up" the new digital channel, right? Lauren: It is not known yet when Ithaca TWC will switch. Van Leuken: How do we join our voices with the lobbying effort? Lauren: Contact members of Congress. Look at the A.C.M. website http: / /www.alliancecm.org/ . Seger: The City Council might pass a resolution. Lauren: Names of bills may change, but it will still involve the phone companies wanting to compete, as broadband service providers, with the cable TV companies. The present law says cable is a common carrier - -open to all, like a road. The phone companies want the Internet to be "their own speech" rather than a common carrier, or to split it into "fast and slow lanes ". 5. We accepted van Leuken's draft yearly month -by -month schedule for AOC. 6. Studio Manager's report (see appendix). Lauren: the 2004 and 2005 reports show capital expenditures of about $20,000 and $15,000, respectively. The total for 10 years (duration of the current franchise) was estimated to be $200,000, but will depend on the real amount of fees. Some access equipment belonging to TWC is being used by the County for governmental programming, in addition to a lot of the County's own equipment. Lauren's NEXUS playback system now records each program as it is being broadcast for the first time, and then reruns of the show within the same week are files that are in the system already and can therefore be programmed a long time in advance. The capital budget proposal includes funds for carpet replacement. Seger: will consult city attorney Dan Hoffman about whether this counts as capital or "facilities ", and also get a ruling about the relative priority between the franchise and the local ordinance (which one governs if the two don't say the same thing ?). He will also check with the City Clerk about how and where the AOC's records should be kept. Lauren will make a 2007 proposal in May, and will get a report on the 15- cent - per -month "Cable Peg fee" on monthly TWC bills. 7. Next meeting: May 16, 2006, 4:00. 8. The meeting adjourned at about 6:00. Appendix: Access Manager Report April 2006 Playback The NEXUS playback system is finally on -line. No wonder every access manager who gets a digital server falls in love with it! I am working through the bugs but am now able to do about 60% of playback through MPEGs, and to accept DVDs. Policies Time Warner Cable wishes to update the PEGASYS Policy Manual to include current franchise conditions, such as channel lineup, hours, eligibility, etc, and to coordinate the different access departments in the Syracuse /Binghamton division. I have been asked to work with TWC access managers in Binghamton, Cortland and Syracuse to do this. Access Networking A NY Chapter of the Alliance for Community Media has just been created. It will have its first meeting this Friday at Manhattan Neighborhood Network in NYC. I plan to attend. I opened special hours for one producer whose studio time would have been cut, and thanks to NEXUS, no playback will be missed! Administration /Fees 2 people in the current class have paid $30 to begin a course at PEGASYS. PR /Hometown Awards We will be the judging site for 2 categories of the Hometown Awards. Volunteer judging panels will be working on this between now and May 15. Anyone want to be a judge? Outreach /Training Classes have been very full so far this year, with all classes fully or over - enrolled. Off -site Video Group Needs I met with Fe Nunn at Boynton Middle School to discuss the needs of his video group. He returned several items of equipment not being used by them [1 tripod, a titlemaker and a VCR], and may return several more when the custodian digs out the storage room they have been kept in. He said he does not need capital equipment at this time, but does need a little technical help, which I am arranging for him. I met with Jim Blizzard to discuss the equipment needs of Tompkins County. I believe I can meet all his needs by recirculating equipment we presently own. I have already transferred a $2000 Winsted rack to the county and freed up a smaller road case he had been using for availability of ICSD. His other needs can probably be met by equipment freed up with our playback upgrade plans. I.H.S. has not made a capital request. ACS has asked for $2000 worth of camcorders and accessories. 2006 Access Capital propose the following expenditures for this year, and $20,000 for 2007: Editing Upgrade Premiere computer Create second Premiere workstation Create fleet of 10 hard drives for users $2500 Playback Purchase 16 -input video switcher compatible with NEXUS $3000 Purchase DVD player /changer Such as Sony DVP- CX777ES $518 Installation labor [40 hrs x $63.16/hr] $2526 Portable Purchase 2 DV field VCRs $2000 Purchase 1 Steadycam Jr. $700 Purchase 4 Lilon batteries $600 Studio Purchase 1 replacement camera cable $550 Purchase 1 replacement Kliegle Floodlight [scoop, Cat #3452] $300 Building Replace carpet Off -Site: ICSD Purchase 2 Sony EVI -D30 cameras With wall mounts and cables- Off -Site: ACS Purchase 2 DV camcorders and Accessories [see request] Dubbing Purchase 1 Hard -drive DVD- burner Subtotal $19,644 Add 10% tx /frt $21,608 $2100 $1500 $3000 $350