HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-2010-01-12Cable Access Oversight Committee minutes Jan. 12, 2010
(as approved March 9, 2010)
The Cable Access Oversight Committee (AOC) met at 4:50 pm on Tuesday, Jan. 12,
2010, in the PEGASYS studio, 612 W. Green St.
Present: AOC members Wayles Browne, Mike Brutvan, Rich DePaolo, Svante Myrick
(appointed by City of Ithaca to replace Jennifer Dotson as Common Council liaison);
studio manager Lauren Stefanelli.
0) Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary.
1) Rich DePaolo called the meeting to order.
2) The minutes of the Dec. 8, 2009 meeting were approved with no changes.
3) Comments from members of the public: none.
4) Member reports:
a. Quarterly Franchise Fee Reports from the City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, and Village
of Cayuga Heights: R. DePaolo has sent information from the Town of Ithaca to W. van
Leuken in the form of a spreadsheet; for the City of Ithaca, J. Dotson has asked Steve
Thayer for updates.
b. M. Brutvan is still working on a survey of TV -show producers. It will cover equipment
priorities, wishes for scheduling, and whether producers want a mechanism for being in
touch. He will also ask them about Internet needs. He has received a list of producers' e-
mail addresses.
c. Responses from Time Warner Cable (TWC) to the AOC's resolutions passed at the
Aug. 4 and Sept. 8, 2009 meetings: presented by Studio Manager L. Stefanelli in writing
at last meeting. Nothing further since then.
5) Studio Manager's report.
- Maintenance and repair:
a) Engineer Paul Cullings has finished installing the 2 timebase correctors in the control
room and replaced 2 SVHS decks, also a timebase corrector in the Channel 13 playback.
(A timebase corrector is a device that converts 30 -per- second analog frames to digital
information, and also stabilizes and synchronizes signals, enabling signals from more
than one source to be mixed. It also fixes problems on the edges of frames. It can then
reconvert the digital format to analog. It allows producers to modify and deform frames.)
b) Producer Theresa Alt reported a malfunctioning camera; has been sent out for repair.
c) No progress in equipping the one - person studio.
2
- Award competition for best 2009 programs: entry forms have gone out to producers.
We now need judges. (S. Myrick volunteers to be a judge.) The awards ceremony will be
in February, and the best programs will be sent on to the nationwide ACM (Alliance for
Community Media) Hometown Video Awards [see http: / /2009.acmhometown.org /].
- A former LACS teacher, now unemployed, is producing a series "U and U" on
unemployment.
6. Old Business.
- Stefanelli will ask for AOC's reactions to proposed revisions in the Cablecast Rules and
the Producer's Handbook.
- Communication with producers, e -mail contact list: M. Brutvan now has it.
- Ways to get publicity for PEGASYS programming, so that Ithacans are aware of it: the
program schedule is on the website [below]. There are now lines for channels 13, 15, and
16 on the Preview Guide on TWC channel 98, but these three lines carry only the words
"To be Announced." TWC has asserted that it would take significant amounts of money
to get the schedules on the Preview Guide, since the TV Guide company would have to
add them by hand. Stefanelli will ask about the possibilities once again.
We need to keep publicity on the agenda.
We thought of inviting Prof. Peter Johanns from Video Production, Ithaca College, to
come to our meeting, or we could visit him at IC (and ask for a tour of the IC TV
facility). Stefanelli: IC TV closes after Thanksgiving and reopens only in February. Will
try to get in touch with Johanns after that.
Other users of educational and government access channels who would presumably be
interested in making program schedules more publicly available: Ithaca College, City of
Ithaca, Tompkins County, the Ithaca City School District, Cooperative Extension...
7. New business:
- Elections: R. DePaolo was elected Chair, M. Brutvan Vice Chair, W. Browne Secretary,
all unanimously.
- Meeting time: 4:30 to 6, 2nd Tuesday of the month (perhaps skipping a couple of
months in the summer).
- L. Stefanelli will send out a letter to area schools, requesting proposals for equipment
loan and asking for a review of their use of equipment and production of programs in the
past year. This should be sent out during January; Stefanelli will send a draft text to AOC
members first.
- Possibilities for creating an on- demand web archive of our PEG programs? Brutvan will
add this to the survey of producers.
- Outreach to under - represented groups in the Ithaca community. We wish to expand the
circle of producers. We can inform the public of opportunities for training through
newspapers. Svante Myrick works at the Learning Web, which offers mentoring to young
people: learning TV production is a fine opportunity for this. L. Stefanelli has been
reading about the importance of multi - platforming of programs: web - streaming as well as
TV broadcasting.
- Getting English - language news programs from Deutsche Welle = German Radio /TV?
For Feb. meeting. [Some Deutsche Welle material is on Pegmedia.org.]
- Pegmedia.org services (website that accepts video files and makes them available to
PEG producers around the country). For Feb. meeting; all members should look at the
site before then.
8. Next meeting: Tuesday Feb. 9, 2010 [postponed to: March 9], 4:30. Place: PEGASYS
studio.
9. Meeting adjourned 6:20.
Contact information for AOC members:
Svante Myrick, Common Council liaison <smyrick @cityofithaca.org>
Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2 e,cornell.edu>
Rich DePaolo, chair <rd @richdepaolo.com>
Wies van Leuken <pmv4@cornell.edu> and <WIESVL@cityofithaca.org>
Michael Brutvan, vicechair <noidea @lightlink.com >, <mbrutvan @mac.com>
Web site for the PEGASYS studio, with program schedules: http: / /www.peizasysaccess.org/
studio location: 612 West Green Street, Ithaca, New York
mailing address: 519 West State Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
phone (607) 272 -7272
fax (607) 277 -5404
PEGASYS staff. studio manager Lauren Stefanelli lauren.stefanelligtwcable.com