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Home My WebLink AboutMN-CABLE-2007-05-01Cable Access Oversight Committee Minutes. The Committee [AOC] met at Ithaca Town Hall on Tuesday, May 1, 2007, at 5 pm. Present: AOC members Will Burbank, Wayles Browne, Shane Seger [chair], Wies van Leuken, studio manager Lauren Stefanelli. Absent: Elizabeth Field (Bauchner) due to illness. 1. Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary. 2. Minutes of Apr. 10 meeting approved. 3. Public comment: none. 4. Members' reports. Seger hoped to draft a text to inform the Mayor about issues in working with Time Warner Cable and manager Tom Doheny. Asst. City Attorney Patricia Dunn favors a stronger stance. Mayor has thought of a joint meeting to discuss all the city's issues vis -a -vis TWC simultaneously, including getting a video line installed to the new Public Library (there was a line to the old Library building). The City Clerk is seeking to get new microphones from the money remaining from the old franchise; Doheny called and said no, he'd rather work through Seger. He sent a written response but then called and said we might work out some deal. Issues include: For the City, microphones for City Hall. AOC's concerns as stated in previous meetings. We have no date for such a joint meeting yet. Van Leuken: concerned that the user fees (collected from users of the access studio who live outside the 3 participating municipalities) are not going towards increasing the staffing of the studio. Seger: expects a new head of the NY State Public Service Commission. Burbank: concerned about legislative proposals at the federal and state level that may remove local franchise agreements (between cities and cable companies). Stefanelli: some states have done that, though not New York State. Seger: NYCOM (NY Conference of Mayors) mentioned the Brodsky bill in its alerts of new bills in State legislature. Burbank: That one would leave access fees in place but remove regulation of companies. Stefanelli: Even national proposals would allow 1 PEG channel, but change the use of fees. When broadcasting becomes digital, our present 3 PEG channels will be in demand for multiple digital channels. Burbank: Doesn't the franchise now say that the municipality will have to pay for "lighting up" a digital channel? Stefanelli: That's in addition to the 3 channels provided. Digital broadcasting will require conversion equipment, but the government will subsidize this equipment for low- income viewers. The new "box" will be a digital video recorder as well as a converter and screener. Van Leuken: If even proposed restrictive legislation will allow 1 access channel, should we seek to form a nonprofit organization to run it? Stefanelli: It's more reasonable to decentralize program - making. Our studio needs only 1 person to operate it; 'express' studios like it could be located in simple rooms in various buildings: Cooperative Extension or Sciencenter etc. Cornell is constructing a studio to be ready in September, using a "V- brick" that can send a signal to TWC's headend (which got a decoder from Cornell specifically for the V -brick signal) out of any laptop. Van Leuken: Will this method require staff time from TWC? Stefanelli: Just to connect the V- brick. - Students till now have been using the Public Access channel. It's not clear if they will use the Educational channel in the future. TWC can pick up a signal from the I -Net and put it on either channel. 5. Budget proposal from studio manager Lauren Stefanelli. This includes a video projector and screen, to help integrate PEG into the community by showing programs in front of an audience when desired. This isn't a budget for $40,000, but we've been asked for 2 x $12,000 for wireless microphones for city and Ithaca City School District meeting rooms, and we might decide to include them. "Nothing makes a meeting more unwatchable than bad audio." "Old franchise capital ": Tom Doheny envisions using it all at once to move PEG studio to a non -TWC location. But: only if PEG is at TWC are other expenses (light, heat...) covered. Seger: We should ask if the City has unused spaces. Stefanelli: Many PEG systems do production and editing at libraries or elsewhere (at city or county buildings). Seger: Should we use capital budget for mikes for ICSD and the city? Or try to use old funds for these? Stefanelli to Van Leuken's question: ICSD has no mikes except for 3 pzm mikes I loaned them to try out. It has no cameras, so no broadcasting yet (the money from the 2007 budget was going to be spent at the beginning of the year, but hasn't yet been). I've been forwarding excuses from the TWC bureaucracy in Syracuse to Kathy Hovis of ICSD. Burbank: moves to send a letter expressing our concern. Van Leuken will write a draft text. Van Leuken: Do we need more portable hard drives? Stefanelli: Maybe 1 year in the future. Some are coming in the 2007 budget. Stefanelli: Cooperative Extension has been presenting a consumer broadcast monthly for many years, featuring the Assistant State Attorney General, on the Government Access channel. 2 camcorders are a reasonable contribution to this. [Request from John Hill is attached to these minutes.] Burbank: Coop. Ext. is a nonprofit entity, not governmental but funded by country, city, Cornell. Stefanelli: Coop. Ext. uses the I -Net, has a 24 -hour bulletin board, contracts out to Cornell for shows. They have a potential to do even more for educating the public. Other nonprofits might also ask us for equipment for programming. Van Leuken: Shall we add the mikes for the ICSD to this budget? Seger: favors the city pursuing old money for City Council chambers wireless mikes. Stefanelli: it's easier to add an item now and later delete it. Van Leuken: But then we couldn't get the old money for the city mikes. Seger: Let's agree to remove the city council mikes from this request, but include the ICSD mikes. Stefanelli: That would cost about $12,000 for long - lasting mikes, plus $2000 for an audio mixer and cables. The City has a mixer already; ISCD doesn't. - No requests have been receiveed from Ithaca High School or Boynton or DeWitt. Moved by Burbank, seconded by Van Leuken: Add $14,000 to the budget for ICSD microphones and equipment, for a total (including 10% for tax and freight) of $39,270. Adopted unanimously. Seger: We now each go to our municipalities: Seger to City, Burbank to Town of Ithaca, van Leuken to Cayuga Heights, and ask for a budget resolution to be passed at their June meetings. Stefanelli will create a revised budget and e -mail it [attached to these minutes]. Van Leuken moves to accept the budget as amended. Adopted unanimously. 6. Studio Manager's report. She has heard from Cornell students that Cornell's studio will be running in September. To Burbank's question: commercial sports programs are sometimes being put on Channel 16, instead of Access Education New York (= news and school subjects). TWC holds that AENY is not educational access because there is no local provider for it. 7. Next meeting: Tuesday, June 19, 5 pm. Adjourned about 6:30. Attachment 1: May 1, 2007 Request for Support Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County (CCE- Tompkins) CCE- Tompkins links current research, knowledge and technology to the needs of individuals, families, businesses and communities in Tompkins County. This results in practical education for dealing with critical economic, societal, environmental and agricultural issues. Our programming is tailored to meet local needs and priorities established by those within our community. Program Delivery Traditionally, CCE- Tompkins has delivered educational information through consultations, demonstrations, visits, workshops, classes, 4 -H Clubs, publications and newsletters. Though these methods continue to be used effectively, our delivery systems increasingly include the telephone (Foodline, Consumer HelpLine, Growline, and Compost Rotline), satellite downlink teleconferencing, web site development and local cablecasting. For nearly eight years we have been producing Educational and Governmental Access programming on a regular basis for PEGASYS. The majority of this programming has been through the hour -long Consumer Issues Series that has been on -going since June 1999. During this period CCE- Tompkins has taken the opportunity to produce additional programming in taped form as well as cablecasting interactive satellite downlinks and live, on -site programs. Projected Equipment Needs Over the years, our current equipment has shown wear and new equipment needs have arisen. The two S -VHS record decks are in need of repair or replacement. One (Panasonic AG -7350) records sound with no video, while the other (Panasonic AG -7300) records a poor quality of video. Our two cameras (SONY Handycam Hi8) are also showing their age (over 10 years old, I suspect). We have tried to improve the signal quality and find that the limiting factor is the camera signal. One of the cameras is also producing a low contrast, washed -out image. In the past years, we have managed our own programming on Mondays on Government Access channel 15. We have put together a series of consumer grade VHS decks and consumer grade appliance switches to facilitate the program changes. As we consider more diverse programming, this jury- rigged system is showing its limitations. We could use a more professional switching system. In summation, our equipment requests are as follows: • S -VHS Record Deck Two Cameras for video capture Switching Device Video production and cablecasting is one more way that CCE- Tompkins would be able to reach youth, adults, and families enabling them to build strong and vibrant Tompkins County communities. Please contact John Hill at 272 -2292 or jeh24 @cornell.edu with any questions. Attachment 2: 2008 Access Capital Budget Proposal as amended May 1, 2007 Playback Replace Audio Preview Amplifier $400 Replace ch 13 Time Base Corrector $1,500 Editing Replace Time Base Corrector $1,500 Portable Digital Field Switcher Kit $4,000 [Focus MXDV4 Kit] Purchase wireless Handheld mic kit $400 Purchase replacement SVHS and XLR cables $200 Purchase mountable light systems And batteries for camcorders $1,400 Studio Purchase video projector and screen $3,000 Replace Time Base Corrector $1,500 Replace several 13" monitors $1,000 Replace Audio Preview Amplifier $400 Off -Site: LACS Purchase 3 Sony EVI -D70 Cameras $2,500 wall mounts and cables- $500 Purchase DVD recorder $400 Transfer old mobile studio unit to LACS $0 Off -Site: County Purchase basic computer / monitor For digital meeting playback $1,000 Transfer a tripod with bad LANC jack from PEGASYS $0 Transfer 2 9" color monitors from PEGASYS $0 Off -Site: Coop Extension Purchase 2 Mini DV Camcorders / batteries $2,000 Transfer a Mini -T Switcher from PEGASYS $0 Transfer a record VCR from PEGASYS $0 Off -Site: ICSD Purchase Wireless Mic System $12,000 Purchase 16 -input audio mixer and XLR cables $2,000 Subtotal $35,700 Add 10% tx /frt $39,270