HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-2010-06-08Cable Access Oversight Committee minutes June 8, 2010 (as approved July 13, 2010)
The Cable Access Oversight Committee (AOC) met at 4:45 pm on Tuesday, June 8,
2010, in the PEGASYS studio, 612 W. Green St.
Present: AOC members Wayles Browne, Mike Brutvan, Rich DePaolo, Svante Myrick,
Wies van Leuken; 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 May 11, 2010 meeting were approved without change.
3) Comments from members of the public: none.
4) Member reports.
a. Budget resolutions to be passed by the three participating municipalities.
Van Leuken: The budget resolution will be on the agenda for the Village of Cayuga
Heights meeting June 15.
DePaolo: It was passed by the Town of Ithaca board on June 7.
Myrick: It was passed at the City of Ithaca Common Council meeting last week. The City
will have a new Asst. City Attorney and he /she will begin working on the next franchise
[for after the current franchise expires in 2013].
b. Policy on rerunning shows. Brutvan has gotten some feedback from producers. Van
Leuken will, for the next meeting, write up a proposal for a new policy to be tried until
the end of the current calendar year. The majority of members felt that it should include
these points:
- new showings of a locally - produced program above the customary 1 premiere and 2
reruns can be bumped by other programs.
- syndicated shows will be under the same rules as before.
AOC has asked the Studio Manager to fill the usually blank time slots between 2 AM and
8 AM with repeats of programs as far as possible.
c. Report on Time Warner Cable (TWC) response to resolutions passed at 8/4/09 and
9/8/09 meetings. R. DePaolo, TWC Manager T. Doheny and Studio Manager L.
Stefanelli met and discussed:
- accounting of incoming revenues. Doheny is willing to promise monthly reports of
numbers of subscribers for the 3 municipalities. Multiplying these by 0.15 will give
accurate figures for monthly revenues for 2009 (and clear up the previous problem with
months showing negative numbers). He also wanted to discuss increasing the user fees
for producers coming from outside the 3 municipalities. His eventual hope is that more
municipalities will join; can AOC suggest to e.g. Lansing that it should join?
2
- an Internet connection for the studio. Doheny would support using money from the
capital budget for a TWC Roadrunner subscription. He will talk to someone in the TWC
Syracuse office. DePaolo will follow up with an e -mail to Doheny.
- contingency plan for closures of the studio: Doheny doesn't want to put any time into it,
but AOC could do it ourselves. Since the unplanned closure time in summer 2009 has
been made up, he sees no remaining "debt" to AOC.
Members' reactions:
Brutvan: Roadrunner has low upstream bandwidth in case we want to upload TV shows.
DePaolo: Let's start small and cross that bridge when we come to it.
d. Report on survey of producers on unmet production needs.
AOC discussed the replies to M. Brutvan's 3rd question.
- Bruce McKee wants several seminars for producers; can we find people to give them?
- An additional laptop was asked for.
Stefanelli: another one is to be bought.
- Tripods wiggle. This could be due to lock screws or the need for lubrication.
Stefanelli: four new ones are coming.
5) Studio Manager's report.
a. The "one- person" studio is almost complete, and will be ready for a demo in 2 weeks.
It still needs:
- an intercom
- a telephone line
- an .mpg player
To DePaolo: there is a backdrop (with a blue surface or a gray surface) but it needs to be
mounted in the studio.
b. The equipment that came out of City Hall. Stefanelli has sorted it and is trying to learn
from vendors what the cables needed in order to use it will cost. The Ithaca City School
District, the Lehman Alternative Community School and the County are all interested in
using parts of the equipment. AOC should create a process for allocating it.
c. The Capital Purchase Report for 2009: we have the information on capital but we still
don't have the information on about $5K operating expenses.
6) Next meeting: Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 4:30. Place: PEGASYS studio.
7) Meeting adjourned 6:10.
Contact information for AOC members:
Svante Myrick, Common Council liaison <smyrick @cityofithaca.org>
Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2Acornell.edu>
Rich DePaolo, chair <rd @richdepaolo.com>
Wies van Leuken <12mv4kcornell.edu> and <WIESVLkcityofithaca.org>
Michael Brutvan, vicechair <noidea @lightlink.com >, <mbrutvan @mac.com>
Web site for the PEGASYS studio, with program schedules: http: / /www.pegasysaccesLgig/
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.stefanelli(ktwcable.com