HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-2012-06-12City of Ithaca
Cable Access Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes
June 12, 2012 (as approved Aug. 14, 2012)
The PEGASYS Access Oversight Committee (AOC) met at 4:35 pm on Tuesday, June 12,
2012, in the PEGASYS studio, 612 W. Green St., Ithaca, NY.
Present: AOC members Wayles Browne, Mike Brutvan, Cynthia Brock, Wies van Leuken,
chair Rich DePaolo; studio manager Lauren Stefanelli; county administrator Joe Mareane,
county public information officer Marcia Lynch.
0) Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary.
1) Rich DePaolo called the meeting to order.
2) Agenda Additions and/or Deletions: none.
3) Minutes of the May 8, 2012 meeting: approved with small changes.
4) Tompkins County's Request for Funding - presentation and discussion ( Mareane,
Lynch). The County Legislature is moving from the present Courthouse to the Old Courthouse
building and wishes to cablecast its meetings from the new location. This will require extending
an optical -fiber line. They ask AOC to provide $25K out of a much larger sum needed. Van
Leuken: Should AOC fund a fiber line or rather fund equipment? DePaolo: If AOC donates
money for this County purpose, should it also put money into cablecast- enabling the Borg -
Warner meeting room in the Library- -also a (partially) County - funded facility? Probably this is a
separate question.
DePaolo: we'll consider the county's request within the context of how much money we
have. Van Leuken has compiled estimates for capital expenditures: available about $180K, spent
thru this year about $120K, therefore 60K remaining; if the budget for 2013 is 30K, then 30K
remains and could be allocated to something else.
Discussion: should money from PEG fund cables and/or cameras for the county?
Studio manager Stefanelli clarifies that the optical fiber I -Net is now only for the city. 4
cameras of the type used in City Hall to broadcast meetings cost 4 x 5K = 20K. She understands
that Time Warner Cable (TWC) would be willing for AOC to turn unspent 2012 budget money
over to the County now (in 2012).
AOC decides to wait for details from the County and then discuss the County's request at
the next AOC meeting.
Brutvan: could the space in the Old Courthouse then be used for live PEG broadcasting at
hours when the PEG studio is closed? He will take that up with Mareane.
5) Public Comment: none.
6) Access Studio Coordinator Report. Attached (p. 3 below). Discussion: M. Brutvan got
three responses to his survey. One stated interest in helping to pay for an Internet connection, one
expressed lack of interest in a waterproof camera, and one was entirely null. He and Stefanelli
will look at such cameras at Best Buy.
7) 2013 PEGASYS Capital Budget - report. The Town of Ithaca has not yet passed the
budget resolution, due to the first June meeting being cancelled. The City passed it with no
comments. The Village of Cayuga Heights passed it June 11; the Mayor and the Village Board
are supportive of public access TV.
8) Member Reports.
a. Use of staff time for Production and Transmission services. R. DePaolo: will be taken up
next month.
b. Loss of Channels 13, 15 and 16 by some digital subscribers: DePaolo has received a
response from TWC (Time Warner Cable) manager Thomas Doheny stating there are no
systemic issues. DePaolo will forward it to AOC members.
c. Survey of Producers. See point 6. Brutvan expects further responses (to be discussed
next month).
9) Old Business: Programs produced by schools receiving PEGASYS equipment -
presentations: none. We hope for some next month.
10) New Business: thinking ahead to upcoming franchise agreement (for discussion next
month).
11) Next Meeting: Tuesday July 10, 2012, 4:30 p.m.
12) Adjourned 6:35.
Contact information for AOC members:
Cynthia Brock, Common Council liaison <cbrock @cityofithaca.org>
Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2 @cornell.edu>
Rich DePaolo, chair <rd @richdepaolo.com>
Wies van Leuken, vice chair <pmv4 @comell.edu>
Michael Brutvan <mbrutvan @me.com>
Web site for the PEGASYS studio, with program schedules:
http://pegasys.webstarts.com/index.html
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 @twcable.com>
To: AOC
June 2012
Access Studio Coordinator Report
- Educational and Governmental Access News
Tompkins County has been inquiring about equipment needed to do cablecasting from their
new location in the Old Courthouse. They plan a presentation at this meeting.
- Equipment Repair
A storm on Monday, June 11, caused a power outage in the west end of Ithaca, leaving us
without power and playback for several hours. A new phone installation disrupted our playback
for a half day when they eliminated the url [IP address] that connects us with our NEXUS server.
This was repaired with the assignment of a new url the following day.
No other PEGASYS equipment was out for repair this month.
- User Fees
$220 in user fees for residents outside participating municipalities was collected in the first
half of 2012. Report attached.
- Access Capital
Equipment has been ordered as per the 2012 capital plan to do the upgrades to our Adobe
Premiere computers and software and to outfit the back office as an equipment storage and
training area. 2 additional items requested by AOC members last month were considered, but not
added at this point pending further information.
* Wies suggested a floor mic stand was needed for her co- producer Jurden Alexander's
shoots. We have about a half dozen floor mic stands, with boom attachments and clips, and
Jurden checks them out when he needs them. Jurden or Wies have not told me what different
type of mic stand they need.
* Mike asked for a waterproof sport camera that costs about $350. I asked him to survey
producers to see if there was any demand [besides his] for such an item. He has done so and I am
interested to see the response.
In addition, Time Warner prepared its budget process so that it is possible to add the
County's equipment request to 2012 spending if the AOC decides to do so.
Summary of PEGASYS Fees - First Half 2012. Account 3520 -31- 9900 -49101
Municipality
Jan -June 2012
Status
Jul -Dec 2012
Status
Groton
$30
PAID
Danb
$30
PAID
Dryden
$30
PAID
Ulysses
$20
PAID (May-Oct)
Caroline
$20
PAID (May-Oct)
Caroline
$30
PAID (Jun -Nov)
Dryden
$30
PAID (Jun -Nov
Dryden
$30
PAID (Jun -Nov)
Subtotal
$220
$0