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Home My WebLink AboutMN-CABLE-2012-10-09City of Ithaca Cable Access Oversight Committee Minutes October 9, 2012 (as approved November 13, 2012 The PEGASYS Access Oversight Committee (AOC) met at 4:45 pm on Tuesday, October 9, 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. 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 August 14, 2012 meeting: approved. 4) Public Comment: none. 5) Tompkins County Legislature's modified Request for Funding: we didn't get a proposal resubmitted to us after the Aug. 14 meeting. 6) Access Studio Coordinator Report. Attached (p. 3 below). Discussion: let's ask the ICSD's new Audio - Visual Media Engineer Steve Cass to our AOC meeting (Lauren will invite him). He was formerly at Oswego High School. Conflicts may arise between ICSD and Ithaca College TV on the use of Channel 16 Tuesdays at 7; they want it for a meeting broadcast and a scheduled news program respectively. Educational and Government users are allowed to form a committee to decide on priorities in such cases; in the absence of such a committee, the Coordinator can decide if necessary. Money still remains in the users -funds account to cover 4 days of substitute staffing: some but not all of Lauren's postponed vacation (planned for November /December). 7) Member Reports. a. Quarterly Franchise Fee Report from City, Town and Village: the Village of Cayuga Heights has provided the 2nd Quarter report. b. Loss of Channels 13, 15 and 16 to some subscribers - this was mentioned at a City of Ithaca Common Council meeting and two members confirmed they haven't been getting Channel 15. c. Usage Fees for producers living outside the City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, and Village of Cayuga Heights: review of pay structure and use of fee receipts. The existing rates are $30 for the firsr 6 months and $20 per 6 months after that for individuals; AOC adopted a resolution by a 4 to 0 vote to raise them to $40 every 6 months from individuals living outside the 3 municipalities, and $100 every 6 months from organizations if they have people living outside the 3 municipalities, as follows: Resolution Access Oversight Committee Tuesday, October 9, 2012 Resolution to Increase Usage Fees for PEG users who do not reside in participating municipalities WHEREAS, Section 15.6 -4 of the Franchise Agreement between the City of Ithaca and Time Warner Entertainment - Advance /Newhouse Partnership (TWC) of January 2003 requires that the participating municipalities (City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, Village of Cayuga Heights) assess a Usage Fee to PEG access users who do not reside in these municipalities, and WHEREAS, a Usage Fee Schedule was first adopted by Resolution by the City of Ithaca at their regular meeting of December 7, 2005 and endorsed by Resolution by the Town of Ithaca at their regular meeting of December 12, 2005 and by the Village of Cayuga Heights at their regular meeting of December 19, 2005, and was put into force effective January 1, 2006, and WHEREAS, TWC is collecting said Fees, pursuant to Section 15.6 -4 of the Franchise Agreement, and WHEREAS, at their Regular Meeting of October 9, 2012 the AOC reviewed the current Fee Schedule and determined that an increase was warranted, now therefore be it RESOLVED, That the current Usage Fee Schedule shall be amended as follows: effective January 1, 2013 PEG Access Users not residing in the Participating Communities shall be charged a bi- annual fee of $40.00 for Individuals or $100.00 for Organizations, which is due when Users first receive training, and every six months thereafter, and be it further RESOLVED, That the provisions of the Resolution of June 13, 2006 governing the Collection, Disbursement and Reporting of Usage Fees remain in effect. Approved unanimously. It will take effect in January 2013, the beginning of the upcoming 6 -month period. For each week of substitute staffing, slightly over $600 is needed. d. Business hours and staffing: we don't have all the figures we need so as to be able to discuss this. e. PEGASYS access rules: for discussion at next meeting. 8) Next Meeting: Tuesday Nov. 13, 2012, 4:30 p.m. 9) Adjourned 6:20 p.m.. 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 @cornell.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 <Iauren.stefanelli@twcable.com> Access Studio Coordinator Report October 2012 - Educational and Governmental Access News ICSD has hired Steve Cass as the A/V Media Engineer for the school district. I met with him early this month. His mandate is to create a new video studio in the high school. The City has started experimenting with their live- streaming capability for city council meetings. Apparently the audio is good, but the video has some technical problems, so I think further troubleshooting will be needed before this resource is made available to the public. - Access Capital Equipment under the 2012 budget has arrived. • The new field equipment storage / training room is mostly assembled. • The new version of Premiere and Windows upgrades are being installed on our computers one unit at a time. Jim Blizzard is helping with this project. - Equipment Repair The camcorder sent out for repair in August has been returned and is back in service. Two tripods with broken LANC jacks have also been repaired, so that all of this type tripod have working remote control capability. On Wednesday, October 3, 1 found we suddenly had no ability to access our channel 13/16 digital scheduler [called NEXUS]. Since I had most programs already entered through the end of the week, there was little impact to regular scheduled programming other then 3 series with Thursday and Friday premieres, who didn't submit their media until Wednesday. They were informed of the problem and will be rescheduled. The problem has since been resolved. On Tuesday, September 25, the ICSD BOE was unable to cablecast its live meeting [although it did produce a tape for rebroadcast, which played at regularly scheduled times]. Our engineer determined that the problem was a failed modulator. We sent a new modulator to them last week. We have contacted ICSD staff about doing some testing to ensure a good signal for future live programs. - User Fees Users fees were used in September to hire a substitute staff person to cover for me while I was — not on vacation as planned, but out with a broken ankle. Fortunately, all the prep for arranging for substitute staffing made this arrangement quite smooth for producers. The down side is that I will have to reschedule my vacation before year end, and will have less sub time to cover it, so there will be some facility closure in November /December. I will notify all producers when this is scheduled.