HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-2014-11-03 1
Access Oversight Committee (AOC) minutes
Monday, November 3, 2014, 4:30 PM
Meeting Room, PEGASYS Access Center, 519 West Green Street, Ithaca, NY
As approved March 2, 2015.
Present: chair Rich DePaolo, AOC members Wayles Browne, vice-chair Wies van Leuken,
Michael Brutvan, Liaison from Common Council (City of Ithaca) J.R. Clairborne; studio
manager Lauren Stefanelli.
01. Call to Order by DePaolo 4:45.
02. Agenda Additions and/or Deletions: none
03. Public Comments: Christopher Church wants to observe the meeting. He lives in the City
of Ithaca.
04. Approval of Minutes of the October 13, 2014 Meeting: approved 4-0-1 with one change.
05. Access Studio Coordinator Report: attached.
a. Recommendations for 2015 Budget: Studio manager Stefanelli will add a provision for
internet access in the studio. For renovation of the interior space: T. Doheny never got a quote
for this work. There is a list of vendors approved by Time Warner Cable (TWC). DePaolo: Can
we get the list? Van Leuken: can we talk to Doheny's assistant Cindy? Stefanelli will e-mail
Cindy with a CC. to AOC.
b. Recommendations for Facility Improvements. AOC is concerned about the half-finished
state of the entrance, where there seems to be no progress since early October. J.R. Clairborne
points out that there is no City permit posted on the job site.
c. Maintenance and Repair Report. See attached.
d. Report of Inquiry RE Quality of PEG Channels: Can we reduce the number of
conversions—from one format to another—which the signal has to go through before it is
cablecast? Stefanelli is trying to learn more about this.
06. Member Reports
a. Annual Review Business Hours, Usage Fees, Staffing Levels. DePaolo has contected
TWC Director of Government Relations David Whalen to request needed information but hasn't
heard back. No report received.
b. Meeting with TWC’s Director of Government Relations: Follow-Up. No new
information.
c. Report 9/3/14 Common Council Meeting RE TWC-Comcast Merger. Clairborne: the
statement of conditional approval of the merger passed the Council. [Text of Resolution from the
Sept. 3, 2014 Minutes of the Common Council meeting attached below.]
d. Publicity. DePaolo: requests for inclusion of programs in the Channel Guide and for a
Web Site are part of our requests for the 2015 budget.
e. PEG’s place in the community: Follow-Up. On cooperation with radio station WRFI,
see Access Studio Coordinator Report. - No reply received from our invitation to new WRFI
manager Felix Teitelbaum. - DePaolo is going to talk to Chris Wheatley (manager, TV and
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Radio Operations, Ithaca College) about the possibility of students helping with PEG's
operations, also to the WRFI board.
f. Quality of PEG Cablecasts: High Definition and Stereo. See Access Studio Coordinator
Report. AOC discussed this briefly and hopes Stefanelli can get additional detailed information.
g. Comments on PEGASYS' Policies and Procedures Manual. None of the forms are on
the web at present. TWC wants to use these standard forms for PEG studios throughout the NE
Region. After discussion, Van Leuken can now work on the final wording. We should discuss
the forms at the December meeting.
07. Old Business
a. Franchise Agreement. DePaolo: TWC responded to TCCOG's proposed text, making
many redactions and deletions in it. TCCOG and TWC will have a conference call in 2 weeks for
further negotiations.
08. New Business: none.
09. Next meeting: 4:30 PM, Monday, December 1.
10. Adjournment: 6:25.
Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary.
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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 2014 <jclairbo@cityofithaca.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>
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November 2014
Access Studio Coordinator Report
- Educational and Governmental Access News
Ithaca High School has continued to produce sports – their latest is a soccer
game using an ESPN audio feed for commentary. They also started up their bi-weekly
student-produced series, entitled IHS TV, submitting their first episode.
Ithaca College has had its remote connection for ICTV upgraded to fiber [from
coaxial cable].
- Public Access Producer News
5 Ithaca Times reporters have started training to produce a reporters’ roundtable
discussion to go over the week’s local news.
One local WRFI radio producer, Ute Ritz-Deutch, who produces a weekly news
commentary show, “Human Rights and Social Justice,” will be starting to simulcast on
channel 13 from 4-5pm on Fridays. She has submitted a cablecast agreement. Instead
of Ute submitting media, we will be running this radio program live directly through our
system, using a jpg for the video to identify the program. This will require no post-
production or media delivery by Ute, and will add another platform for potential listeners
to access Ute’s locally-produced show.
- Equipment and Facility Maintenance and Repair
Entranceway improvement: I have been promised that this work will be
completed before winter. Meanwhile, guests are being directed to the ramp entrance.
2015 Equipment and Facilities Fund
At the last AOC meeting, the group directed me to include the following in a 2015 PEG
funding plan:
1. Live web-streaming of channel 13
2. A website for Ithaca access services that links to Time Warner’s website, so that
viewers can get program and training information, as well as access the live
stream.
3. Web archiving of some public access programs.
4. Renovation of the access center’s main interior space to improve its
professionalism and utility for training
5. Upgrade channel 13 from mono to stereo
6. Pay whatever fee needed to enable us to submit programming information to
Time Warner’s on-screen program guide.
As all of these items require approval from Time Warner management, I have submitted
this plan to my boss, who has sent it up the chain of command for review. He promised
to keep me posted on this.
I also asked about recommended media specs to ensure good quality on our digital
channel. The fact that we now have High Definition-capable cameras and editing may
enable us to format media in such a way that we have less quality loss on our Standard
Definition channel. I am trying to find out more about this.
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COMMON COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS
CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK
Regular Meeting 6:00 p.m. September 3, 2014
...
September 3, 2014
[page 13]
10.3 Time Warner Cable Northeast LLC Conditional Consent to Transfer Control
of - Resolution
By Alderperson Mohlenhoff: Seconded by Alderperson Clairborne
WHEREAS, Time Warner Cable Northeast LLC (“Franchisee”) is the duly authorized
holder of a franchise, the term of which has expired and is pending renewal, as
amended to date (the “Franchise”), authorizing Franchisee to serve the City of Ithaca,
NY (the “Franchise Authority” or the “City”) and to operate and maintain a cable
television system therein (the “System”); and
WHEREAS, Time Warner Cable Inc. (“Time Warner Cable”) is the ultimate parent
company of Franchisee; and
WHEREAS, on February 12, 2014, Time Warner Cable, Comcast Corporation
(“Comcast”) and Tango Acquisition Sub, Inc. (“Tango”), entered into an Agreement and
Plan of Merger (the “Agreement”), pursuant to which Time Warner Cable will merge with
Tango, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Comcast, with Time Warner Cable as the surviving
company, and Time Warner Cable will thereby become a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Comcast (the “Transaction”); and
WHEREAS, Franchisee now seeks approval of the Transaction and has filed an FCC
Form 394 with the Franchise Authority with respect thereto; and
WHEREAS, the Franchise Authority has considered and approves of the Transaction.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE FRANCHISE AUTHORITY AS
FOLLOWS:
1. The foregoing recitals are approved and incorporated herein by reference.
2. The Franchise Authority consents to the Transaction, subject to each of the
following express conditions, the satisfaction of which shall constitute a
condition precedent to the effectiveness of the Franchise Authority’s consent:
a. Franchisee’s provision of, and commitment to hereafter provide on
thirty days’ notice from the City, financial accounting for the PEG
Access operations within the City, known as PEGASYS, including
revenue receivables such as the PEG fees collected by the Franchisee
within the franchise area, and including staff and equipment
expenditures at the PEG facility in the franchise area.
b. Franchisee’s commitment to maintain open PEG studio time with
appropriate staff present of not less than 24 hours per week, including
during the vacation and other authorized absences of the regular staff
member at the PEG studio.
c. Provision at no charge to all subscribers in the franchise area, in
satisfaction of section 15.1 of the existing Franchise Agreement, of
i. informational materials regarding subscriber ability to access
PEG channels (13, 15, and 16) using digital adapters, and
ii. fully functional digital adapters permitting older television sets to
access said PEG channels, with such functionality to be
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determined by the City’s testing of 20 such adaptors, obtained
at random, at least 19 of which must perform with full
functionality on initial test.
d. Maintenance of picture quality equal to or better than the quality
provided by Franchisee immediately prior to the transition from analog
to digital transmission in this area.
e. Provision of equipment for the PEG studio purchased using a given
budget-year’s funds within 60 days of the Franchise Authority’s
Request for the purchase of same.
[page 14]
f. Provision of high speed internet access using budgeted funds for the
PEG Studio.
g. Successful renegotiation of a renewed franchise agreement, and
execution of the same between Franchisee and Franchisor.
3. The Franchise Authority confirms that the Franchise is expired but
remains in force pending negotiation of a renewed Franchise. No certification is made
as to defaults under the Franchise, and any defaults that may at this time exist are not
waived by this Resolution, and may be raised by any legal means, including in further
negotiations related to renewal of the Franchise. Subject to compliance with the terms
of this Resolution, all action necessary to approve the transfer of control of the
Franchisee to Comcast has been duly and validly taken.
4. Comcast or the Franchisee may (a) assign or transfer its assets, including
the Franchise, provided that such assignment or transfer is to an entity directly or
indirectly controlling, controlled by or under common control with Comcast; (b)
restructure debt or change the ownership interests among existing equity participants in
Comcast; (c) pledge or grant a security interest to any lender(s) of Comcast’s assets,
including, but not limited to, the Franchise, or of interest in Comcast, for purposes of
securing any indebtedness; and (d) sell equity interests in Comcast or any of Comcast’s
affiliates.
5. Upon closing of the Transaction, the Franchisee shall remain bound by the
lawful terms and conditions of the Franchise.
6. This Resolution shall be deemed effective upon adoption.
Alderperson Mohlenhoff expressed her thanks to the Access Oversight Committee for
holding a special meeting to work with Common Council to develop the conditions of
this consent.
Discussion followed on the floor regarding the actions of other nearby municipalities
regarding the consent of the transfer of their franchise agreements.
A vote on the Resolution resulted as follows:
Carried Unanimously
Source:
http://www.egovlink.com/public_documents300/ithaca/published_documents/Minutes_of
_Meetings/Common_Council/2014/MN-CC-2014-09-03.pdf