HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-2012-08-14Cable Access Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes
August 14, 2012 (as approved October 9, 2012)
The PEGASYS Access Oversight Committee (AOC) met at 4:45 pm on Tuesday,
August 14, 2012, in the PEGASYS studio, 612 W. Green St., Ithaca, NY.
Present: AOC members Wayles Browne, Mike Brutvan, Wies van Leuken, chair
Rich DePaolo; studio manager Lauren Stefanelli; member Cynthia Brock excused.
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 June 12, 2012 meeting: approved with small changes.
4) Tompkins County's Request for Funding - discussion. 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. At the June 12 meeting they asked AOC to provide $25K out of a much larger sum
needed. A letter from County Administrator Joe Mareane dated July 30 lists needed items
in detail, with prices. Brutvan: could DePaolo ask the County about the possibility for the
public to use the new Old Courthouse facilities when not needed for meetings?
The AOC feels installing a fiber line is not the same as capital equipment. DePaolo:
the current franchise continues in force until a new one is ratified. But we (AOC)
presently don't know how much money remains for capital expenditures, so we can't yet
offer very much to the county for equipment. We can offer $7K in 2012 and $5K in 2013.
DePaolo will write and ask Mareane for a more formal request; we could then pass a
resolution in September.
5) Public Comment: none.
6) Franchise Agreement. ADC's advice to negotiators of the future (2013) franchise:
insist on regular, transparent reports. Van Leuken has drafted detailed notes based on the
Rotterdam, NY agreement. AOC will look these over for the next meeting, and continue
discussion then.
7) Member Reports.
a. Participating Municipalities' approval of the 2013 Capital Budget: the Town of
Ithaca and the Village of Cayuga Heights both approved it in June.
b. Use of staff time for Production and Transmission Services - no new report.
c. Loss of Channels 13, 15 and 16 to some subscribers - no new information but
we'll keep it on the agenda.
d. Results of Survey: M. Brutvan asked a few people about cameras. There is some
interest in 3 -D broadcasting. He will write a Letter to the Editor about the loss of
channels 13, 15 and 16.
e. Recommendations re continuation of schedule change: see 8b.
f. Usage Fees: review of pay structure and use of fee receipts: see 8a. Discussion
next meeting.
8) Access Studio Coordinator Report. Attached (p. 3 below).
a. Report on use of Usage Fee receipts: will be used to pay a replacement for
Stefanelli during her September vacation.
b. Review effect of Change in Schedule (Wednesday afternoon instead of Wed.
evening): several producers find it useful.
9) Old Business: Programs produced by schools receiving PEGASYS equipment -
we hope for recipients' reports at next meetings. DePaolo: will talk to all schools. At
Boynton the principal was promoted and there is a new principal now; at LACS there are
new responsibilities for video teacher Mike Levy.
10) New Business. DePaolo: Let's invite Carol Jennings of Ithaca College TV to a
meeting once again, to further cooperation between PEG and ICTV.
11) Next Meeting: Tuesday Sept. 11, 2012, 4:30 p.m. [may need to be rescheduled]
12) Adjourned 6:25.
Contact information for AOC members:
Cynthia Brock, Common Council liaison <cbrock @cityofithaca.org>
Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2 @comell.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 August 2012
Access Studio Coordinator Report
- Educational and Governmental Access News
Several staff members from City Hall went through our training in July in
anticipation of producing programming for the City Channel.
LACS completed its annual mid -East Debates program, a 5 -hour debate
amongst students portraying leaders from across the Middle East. It was shown
on channel 16 throughout July.
- PEGASYS Schedule Evaluation
As far as I can tell, the new Wednesday hours are appreciated. 3 series
producers now have regular reservations on Wednesday afternoons. 2 of them
complete a weekly show in their production blocks, one in the main studio and
one in the mini - studio. The other does editing. All three prefer these new hours
over evening time.
- User Fees
$360 in user fees have been collected to date in 2012. Adding that to the
$238 collected in 2011, we have $598 to use to pay a temporary staff person to
cover my vacation time in September. Details are not finalized at this writing.
- Access Capital
Equipment under the 2012 budget has been ordered and should be
arriving shortly.
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.
- Equipment Repair
The studio had operational problems on 2 occasions in July that forced
last- minute cancellation of studio shows. In the first instance, someone turned off
the air conditioning in the control room, resulting in a failure of the special effects
generator [SEG] for the first producer the next day. The SEG returned to normal
once cooling was reestablished, and a notice has been posted by the AC control.
In the second instance, a power strip failed suddenly, minutes into a live
show, causing a loss of power in the control room. It was replaced the next day
by our engineer.
2 camcorders were returned as not working during the Grassroots
Festival. One has been sent out for repair. It had a broken pinch roller. The other
is still being tested to determine the cause of the problem.
A storm on Saturday August 11 caused a power outage which disrupted
our playback for the rest of the weekend, as one of our hard drives went down.
This was corrected on Monday.