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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-2013-06-13Access Oversight Committee (AOC) minutes MONDAY, JUNE 3,2013,4:30 PM Meeting Room, PEGASYS Access Center, 519 West Green Street, Ithaca, NY (draft, comments welcome) Present: AOC members Wayles Browne, Michael Brutvan, chair Rich DePaolo, liaison from Common Council (City of Ithaca) J.R. Clairborne, vice -chair Wies van Leuken; studio manager Lauren Stefanelli. 01. Call to Order by R. DePaolo at 4:38. 02. Agenda Additions and/or Deletions: none. 03. Public Comments: none. 04. Approval Minutes of the May 6, 2013 meeting. W. Van Leuken: minutes should stick closer to the headings on the Agenda. - Minutes approved with some rewording, 4 to 0. 05. 2014 Budget reports from municipalities. Budget will be considered by the City on June 5, by Cayuga Heights and the Town of Ithaca on June 10. 06. Access Studio Coordinator Report a. Semi - Annual Usage Fees Report (paid by producers from non - participating communities). [The report included here is a revised and corrected version as of June 4.] DePaolo asks why L. Stefanelli's replacement had to be paid out of usage fees. Stefanelli: a question for you to take up with management. - DePaolo will indeed discuss this for the new franchise. Van Leuken: does this deficit come out of future usage -fee collections? Stefanelli: it seems so. DePaolo: If the staff is not available for the contracted 24 hours /week, why should AOC funds subsidize replacements? Losses ought to be paid by TWC [Time Warner Cable]. The agreement for 24 hours should still be in force. We'll have to address this issue going forward. Van Leuken is surprised that we only now find out about the size of the deficit [note - -it was greater in the initial version of the report, much smaller in the corrected figures]. DePaolo: I'll send a message in writing and we should get a written reply. But to whom? To the new Directors of Government Relations who signed the [attached] letter on changing PEG channels to digital. b. Other reports. AOC members welcome Stefanelli's ad for PEG and asks her to make Xerox copies available to producers and AOC members for further distribution. They suggest making "Access TV Center" bigger and putting two on a page [both have been done; see attached]. DePaolo questions the announced switch to digital channels, feeling that Time Warner Cable is not using the municipalities' money well. The public loses bandwidth by the switch to digital channels 97 -3, 97 -4, and 97 -5. It should get some compensation back. Stefanelli: At present PEG channels are both analog and converted to digital (conversion causes a 4- second delay). J. R. Clairbome suggests: DePaolo should recommend to the Cable subcommittee of TCCOG that it consider the legality of this switch. DePaolo: will circulate a draft. At 5:45 the chair had to depart; the meeting continued under the vice - chair. 07. Member Reports a. Review of PEGASYS' Policies and Procedures. Members will look at the old (2000) and new versions for the next meeting. b. Distribution of AOC's Handout for Producers. Van Leuken gave a paper version to Stefanelli and will send her a .doc file. This does not supersede the existing Complaint form. c. Public Visibility of PEG (update) and Review PEGASYS PR handout. See 6a. d. Publicity for PEG programs: for next meeting (Van Leuken). e. Report on interviews with producers — follow -up. See 6a. Stefanelli: now finally all laptops are running the same version of the editing program Adobe Premiere, ergo, more laptops are available for use. - There is no single solution to the problem of users wantonly changing the settings on equipment. f. Current use of equipment and program production. For next meeting. g. Producer's costs to produce programs. For next meeting. 08. Old Business [a. Use of staff time for Production and Transmission Services.] Not considered. [b. Loss of Channels 13, 15 and 16 to some subscribers.] Not considered. c. Quarterly Franchise Fee Report from City, Town and Village. Needed for 2012. d. Franchise Agreement. Not separately discussed. e. Equipment Recipients' reports. Not separately discussed. 09. New Business. Van Leuken: Anne Marie Cummings (Ithaca Journal) will do an article on PEG. What topics can we suggest? For next meeting. 10. Next meeting: 4:30, Monday, July 1. [Later changed to: Monday, Aug. 5.] 11. Adjournment at 6:20. Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary. Contact information for AOC members: City of Ithaca: Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2 @cornell.edu> City of Ithaca: Michael Brutvan <mbrutvan @me.com> City of Ithaca: J. R. Clairborne, Common Council liaison 2013 - <jclairbo @cityoiithaca.org> Town of Ithaca: Rich DePaolo, chair <rd @richdepaolo.com> Village of Cayuga Heights: Wies van Leuken, vice chair <pmv4 @cornell.edu> 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 2013 Access Studio Coordinator Report - PEGASYS Ad The AOC requested a printable ad that could be circulated locally. A draft ad is attached. - Reports Usage Fees Expenditures v. Collections Report through the end of 2012 is attached. It shows that we used slightly more money in temp staffing than we had collected. Total collections so far in 2013: $160. - User Survey I looked over the 5 producer surveys given to me by the AOC last month. They date from February of this year. Producers were invited to make suggestions for improving PEGASYS services. Suggestions were for additional hours [4], additional laptop computers [3], additional specialized mics [2], internet access [1], bloggie -type cameras [11, more publicity [1]. There was also some frustration about equipment that either malfunctioned, had settings changed by previous user, the producer was worried might malfunction, or was out for repair [4]. 1 think these issues are all useful ones to keep in mind going forward and I appreciate the AOC doing this survey. - PEGASYS Facility The air conditioning system installed over the winter to provide a protective backup for our playback equipment on extra -warm days was brought into use last week. It works great, and helped keep us running smoothly over a week with a number of days with temperatures in the 90s. - Equipment Repair The X10 camcorder sent out for repair last month is still out. It will need its video heads replaced and has been sent out to a New Jersey repair facility to have this done. Another X10 went down during the Ithaca Festival. It will also be sent out for repair. - Cable System Time Warner has just announced that starting near the end of July, PEG channels will be available as digital channels only. A press release on this subject is attached. PEGASYS Usage Fees Expenditures v. Collections Report 2012 Total Usage Fee Collections through year end 2012 $360.00 Total Expenditures for temp staff 2012 [pay rate $12; bill rate $14.05] 12 hours week of 9/10 -14 $168.80 8 hours week of 12/3 -7 $112.40 8 hours week of 12/10 -14 $112.40 Total expenditures $393.40 Total deficit: $33.40 PEiiA YS our voice PIONSYS Access TV Center is the public, educational and governmental access television center in Ithaca, NY. Community members can learn to use camcorders, editing software and a television studio to make their own TV shows for Channel 13 — and beyond! • Training starts with a free orientation and a tour of the facilities. • Studio and field production training are available monthly. • No pre- registration for the orientation is required. • Location: 612 W. Green St., Ithaca. • Contact: 272 -7272 / lauren.stefanelligtwcable.com • Web: http: / /pegasys.webstarts.com/ PEiG YS. its your voice PIRRSYS Access TV Center is the public, educational and governmental access television center in Ithaca, NY. Community members can learn to use camcorders, editing software and a television studio to make their own TV shows for Channel 13 — and beyond! • Training starts with a free orientation and a tour of the facilities. • Studio and field production training are available monthly. • No pre- registration for the orientation is required. • Location: 612 W. Green St., Ithaca. • Contact: 272 -7272 / lauren.stefanelligtwcable.com May 30, 2013 Dear Municipal Official: Effective on or about July 23, 2013, Time Warner Cable ( "TWC ") will take another important step towards adding additional programming and improving Internet speeds by reclaiming bandwidth through providing existing programming in digital format only. In order to continue offering customers the advanced services they expect, we must continue our efforts to manage bandwidth utilization more efficiently. Since analog channels require up to 14 times more bandwidth than channels in digital format, we began the process several years ago of converting analog channels to digital -only format. As part of this ongoing initiative, on or about July 23, 2013, Time Warner Cable will convert additional analog channels to digital format, including Public, Education, and Government ( "PEG ") Access channels, which will now be carried in digital format on the Basic Service Tier ( "BST "). At that time, the PEG channels will no longer be transmitted in analog format. We intend, however, to "channel map" the PEG channels so that they will remain visible on their pre- existing channel numbers when accessed through a TWC - supplied digital set top box, a Digital Adapter ( "DA ") or a CableCARD equipped Unidirectional Digital Cable Product ( "UDCP "). A majority of our customers have already participated in previous digital conversions. Those remaining customers not subscribing to digital services will need digital equipment — for example, a television equipped with a QAM tuner, a DA, or a CableCARD- equipped UDCP — to view these channels. For the limited customers who do not already have digital equipment we will, upon request, offer DA(s) and remote control(s) in order that those customers may continue to have access to the PEG channels. Customers should contact TWC by September 23, 2013 — to obtain DA(s) and remote control(s) at no cost until December 31, 2014. Beginning January 1, 2015 each adapter will cost 99 cents per month. Just as is the case today, no customer will be required to subscribe to a tier higher than the BST in order to continue to view the PEG channels. I would ask that you or your designee contact me as soon as possible so that we can identify any equipment needs you may have in order to ensure a smooth transition for your account. May 30, 2013 Page Two TWC will provide customers with at least 30 days advance written notice to make this change as seamless as possible. We would also like to enlist the help of the community's local access channel(s) to provide information to customers on this transition. As noted above, TWC will "channel map" the PEG channels so that they will continue to be found on existing channel numbers when a TWC - supplied digital set box, a DA or a CableCARD- equipped UDCP is used. Customers using other devices to receive the digital channels, such as a digital television with a QAM tuner, will find the PEG channels as follows:' PEG 97 -3, 97 -4, and 97 -5 As always, we are available to discuss this matter at any time. You can reach us by using either Option noted below: David. Whalenktwcable. corn or by calling 607 -584 -0612 Alice.Kimktwcable.com or by calling 315- 634 -6170 Sincerely, David J. Whalen Director, Government Relations CNY Division, Northeast -*- j I-Ll-- Alice J. Kim Director, Government Relations CNY Division, Northeast The actual channel number displayed on your ClearQAM device may vary depending on that device's manufacturer and /or model number. In addition, it may be necessary to perform a new channel scan before you are able to view these channels. The procedure for performing a channel scan varies from device to device. If the customer experiences any difficulties, we recommend that the customer consult the manual that came with the ClearQAM device or contact the manufacturer directly.