HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-1990-08-06 •
Minutes of CAAB meetings, 8/6 and 8/13 - Submitted by Peter Hess
August 6, 1990
1. Public input.
Francis MacKenzie received several items of public input in response to
her announcement of this meeting which were not access related and is
passing them on to the Cable Commission:
A. Betty Leonardo requested a religious channel and supplied a
brochure from EWTN (Catholic Cable Network). Her husband has
spoken to Barbara Lukens about this and received an unfavorable
response.
B. Nancy Brown called to say that her cable box was very hot and
wondered why there was not an on/off switch.
C. Mildred Steinbaugh complained about the loss of Ch. 44.
2. Religious programming on access
The CAAB, by a vote of 4 to 2 resolved to discuss the issue of religious
programming at a future meeting.
3. Equipment budget:
A. Mary Jo expressed dismay that Barbara Lukens did not respond to
her letter of June 15th in which she communicated a CAAB resolution
which requested a detailed written report to CAAB members of all
equipment requests, with prices, for CY `90 prior to the meeting. She
also asked for information about possibilities for future expansion of
the access facility and other budget information that could help us
"make accurate recommendations for access".
B. Lauren passed out the 2nd quarter quarterly report which listed
access capital expenditures only as broad categories: 1) New Equipment
and 2) Equip. refurbish projects. Several members, including myself
were dismayed by the lack of detail in this report and felt that it
prevented us from acting intelligently in an advisory role regarding
capital expenditures. We felt it was necessary to know precise
information about equipment acquired and its cost. It was pointed out
there is no way to monitor the fulfillment of the 2% requirement of the
franchise with such meager information.
C. Most of the rest of the discussion of this evening centered around
implementation of additional access channels. It was the feeling of
the board that ACC bears responsibility for playback and transmission
equipment for these channels and that the access budget was intended
l for production equipment only. We felt however that this remained an
C
• unresolved issue and call on the Cable Commission to resolve it.
The franchise very clearly states ACC's responsibility to construct and
maintain an Instructional Network (I-Net) which could become the
backbone for distribution of governmental and educational access
programming. The CAAB would like to know where this project stands.
4. Additional meeting to discuss equipment
We were running out of time at this meeting and so scheduled another
meeting on August 13, devoted solely to the equipment budget. Lauren
was asked to bring a list of equipment that was requested by access
volunteers.
5. Other topics
A.The Cable Commission was asked for a copy of correspondence
from NYSCC regarding political endorsements.
B.The CAAB resolved to support the concept of Local Programming
Week, September 9th - 15th.
C.Meeting was adjourned at 9:05
August 18th, 1990
1. Equipment needs
A. Lauren provided us with a report which listed equipment in six
categories. We established priorities, as indicated below, for the
categories, and selected items within them which we felt were
critically needed.
1. New Channel Capacity:- Equipment needed to implement
additional access channels.
2. Post Production Equipment: an SVHS to SVHS editing
station.
3. Off-Site Production: a portable switcher module.
4. Portable Equipment: (2) AG460 SVHS camcorders; (2)
Low-cost character generators for field use; additional
camcorders to replace used-up equipment as budget allows.
5. Studio Improvements: Low cost non-vertical interval
chroma-key switch; multiplexer for slide-video transfer;
installation of 2nd SVHS deck.
6. Playback enhancement: no needs prioritized at this time.
2. Adjournment
Our next meeting is scheduled for September 10th at the usual time and
place. The meeting was adjourned at 9:05