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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-1990-12-17 . , ~ � v` � � ~ ~ Minutes of the Community Access Advisory Board ?�' Meeting of 17 December 1990 The meeting was called to order at 7:09 PM, Tompkins County Public Library Present: Mary Jo Dudley (Chair) , John Efroymson Eloise ' | Greene, Jim Blizzard . Rick Gray, Lauren Stefanelli i (Ex officio) ; Chair, City Cable Commission : Tom Terrizzi ; Public : Bill McCormick Minutes were approved (after several corrections by ES) for the meeting of 3 December 1990 Prior to setting the Agenda, ES expressed her strong disapproval of the procedures used at the December 3, 1990 meeting of the CAAB, particularly with respect to public comment and discussion and voting on subject matter not on the agenda. See attached memorandum from ES to the CAAB for particulars. She noted that this was a waste of Board time and informed the Board that ICB-TV programming would be in compliance with all Cable 13 Policies and Procedures when it resumes cablecasting February 3, 1991 . • , The Agenda for this meeting was declared by MJD as follows: ' :- '.• 1 . Public Comment `_• 2. Production / Cablecasting Crunch: Suggestions and advice to solve it, possible rule changes 3. Establishing procedures for orientation of new CAAB members 4 . Clarifying role of CAAB [Public Comment was curiously overlooked] 2. JE suggested discussion of Production / Cablecasting Crunch . be limited to the latter as this was the more critical . All concurred . LS revealed her worst nightmare would be for January 2, 1991 to arrive with new and/or returning producers at the door step with ambitious programming plans and no changes in current cablecasting rules to free up additional time. How might one "balance ' first-come, first-served ' with equitable access to all segments of the community"? MJD wondered what programming currently on Cable 13 would be transfered to partially activated Channel 53. LS stated that only the Common Council Meetings ( four prime time hours a month) would be transfered to the new channel , other city committee meetings were previously taped and cablecast at non-prime time hours. County Board meetings are only now being initiated on Channel 53, never having been on Cable 13. Channel 53 will only accept a live feed at this time / ' `. ` ` ~ . . . . RG inquired of EG why ICB-TV was reluctent to transmit its programming on the designated Educational / Governmental Channel ( 53) if it was technically feasible at this time. EG stated a '^'\ number of inconveniences and costs associated with the change and � ., : the requirement of more time to properly plan for it She further informed the Board that a more formal request for an . additional educational channel would be forthcoming from ICB-TV within a month. . JB suggested cablecasting some Cable 13 programming on Channel 53 to make it somehow more palatable to ICB-TV ( less lonely?) BMc interjected that it was technically possible to use the play back at the studio to switch between the two channeIs ^thus providing some flexibility in programming of the type JB suggested . LS was dubious; but promised to check with engineering and report back on the feasibility and cost of this quick-fix . . TT reminded the CAAB that both the City Cable Commission and ACC recognize Channel 53 to be exclusively for educational and governmental uses as required by New York State Access Standards . He went on to inform the Board that the CCC will shortly meet in executive session to discuss and plan a course of action to resolve many of the long-standing disputes between the City and ACC especially with regard to Community Access (channel designation , capital costs, etc . ) . [Public Comment suddenly emerged] 1 . BMc criticized virtually all of the ACC proposed means of �� . placing limits on cablecasting , based principally on the "first- come, first-served" phrase in the Cable Franchise; and the importance of the audience as users of Community Access ( the users often neglected when policies and procedures are discussed and changed ) . 2. JE wrapped up the discussion of this item with a few more suggestions. A lottery: allot the programming schedule by the luck of the draw. Limit reruns: similar to ACC' s proposals, simply cut back number of reruns during prime time. To facilitate this LS said all series producers will be required to number shows thus making it easier to identify and prevent reruns masquerading as first-run shows. Finally, JE proposed that studio hours be expanded or at least shifted so that more prime time programming could be produced in the slot ending at 11 :00 PM, i .e. , remain open until 11 :�0 PM each day and if necessary cut back an equal amount of time from one or more days by opening later. 3. Under the heading of orien tati on of new mem b ers, this may more appropriately be described as the reorientation of an old member. JE asked LS to inquire from Floyd Johnson his intentions of future representation on the CAAB. Due to successive absences ,� the Board unanimously agreed to request his replacement if he did H- ' ' - . , � . ' not respond forthwith to such an inquiry with some commitment to serve (appear?) . On a more constructive note, JE urged a joint meeting of the CAAB and the CCC in early March as one method of '- orienting new CAAB members to the tasks at hand . 4. MJD proposed , due to time constraint, that a subcommittee be 'formed to work on defining the role and functions of the CAAB. Jim Blizzard , Peter Hess, and Bill McCormick volunteered and were summarily accepted as the subcommittee which will report their deliberations back to the Board at the next scheduled meeting . ' MJD requested LS to draft a statement to arress volunteers_ -� regarding the CAAB' Concomitantly, the -osition of-(]�b�� sperson was observed to be vacant ( last held valorously by the soon to expire Louis Metzgar) . Rick Gray was volunteered for this position and summarily agreed to by all members with the exception of one strong abstention . RG noted that service in this position is not to exceed four months the term having been set at its inception (April 2, 1990, see meeting minutes) . The meeting was adjourned at 904 PM NEXT MEETING MONDAY 7 JANUARY 1991 , AT TOMPKINS COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY / AGENDA . 1 . Report of the Subcommittee on the Role and Functions of the � CAAB � 2. Review and Response to the ACC Occp:s C�pit.411 Speadi[ q. •|/ Procedure and the Acgesa Capital SppntiILa Timelj�le for 1991 c . Minutes respectfully submitted 6 January 1991 , by Rick Gray | . • `^- . Ithaca college Ithaca. New York 14850 607-274-3242 Roy H. Park School of Communications M E M O R A N D U M • TO: The Cable Access Advisory Board FR: Eloise Greene , CAAB member • DT: December 17 , 1990 11 I would like this statement added to the minutes of the December 17 meeting . As a Board member , I question the procedure followed for the meeting of December 3 , when I was not present , of protracted discussion and votetaking on the subject of ICB-TV sponsor credits . We had had an agenda for that meeting and underwriting was not part of it . CAAB rules for public comment at its meetings are : Someone wishing to address the CAAB during the public comment period of meetings should first submit a written summary to the board . Comments should be limited to three minutes per issue . ( reviewed at April 2 , 1990 meeting) As general manager for ICB-TV, I object to the discussion and subsequent vote without representation by ICB-TV in order to respond and comment . This was a wasteful and undemocratic use of time , necessitating an additional meeting (Dec . 17) in order to address the issues not covered December 3 . The Board ought to have tabled the discussion and put it on an upcoming agenda or scheduled a special meeting . mm -, - Minutes of the Community Access Advisory Board meeting; December 3, 1990 Present: Mary Jo Dudley, Chair.; John Efroymson, Jim Blizzard; Peter Hess and Lauren Steffanelli, Ex officio; Bill McCormick, Rick Gray,Jorge Cuervas, public Public Comment: Jorge Cuervas as ked the CAAB to recommend immediate suspension of access programming by Ithaca College as a result of their violation of the guidelines regarding program sponsorship. (see CABLE 13 Policies arid procedures, p. 23). Jorge cited an acknowledgement for Rogan's which included the sponsor's price for "wings". Jorge said that as a producer, he works hard to find sponsors and feels he competes at a disadvantage because he complies with the rules. Lauren was asked to comment. She said that most iC produced programs are not in compliance with sponsorship guidelines;that a letter was sent to iC in the Fall of this year, citing deviations from sponsorship guidelines by IC producers (though it was not a "warning"letter). Lauren has also spoken to Eloise Greene about thi3 problem. No representative of IC had signed the forms that independent producers sign. While noting that the access staff can act against producers who violate access rules, the CAAB passed the following recommendations: 1. All producers including government and educational users should be required to complete and sign the same forms that independent producer sign. 2. ACC should keep a record of all warnings, written and verbal. Producers receiving a verbal warning should initial the record of that warning. 3. Access staff should immediately issue a written warning to IC that if they do not comply with regulations immediately, their programming will not be cablecast on the access channel. Bill McCormick made the following statements: 1 ) Rules should apply uniformly to all access producers including those from educational and governmental agencies 2) The Access Advisory Board should be involved in decisions about any "hub" equipment purchased for new or existing access channels. 3) ACC staff ti me is bei rig used i mproperl y by ACC, in "cross-trai ni ng" that does rot benefit access. 4) Phones in the access studio are placed where they cannot conveniently be used by volunteers as a production tool. 5) Agents of Ithaca police and the Secret Service had approached access staff with a request for a tape of one of his shows. No tape existed, but Bill wondered if the staff would have stood up to official intimidation. 6) Demand pressures for studio time could be reduced by cutting studio training time by using video taped training and on-the-job training. The board passed the following motions in response to item (5) of Bill's concerns: 1 ) The CAAB reiterates to the Cable Commission that as per access Rules and Pegs, access staff is not authorized to make copies of programs without the producers permission. This prohibition includes requests for copies from ACC. 2) Since some producers wish to have the widest possible distribution of their programs, items should he added to the cablecasti ng release forms on whicch the producer can authorize viewing and/or copying of his/her program. ` ! Equipment purchases Peter He reviewed the discussion of capital purchases that occurred at the last cable commission meeting. He reported that Barbara Lukens announced that the new access equipment for budget year 1990 had been ordered. Peter told Barbara that the CAAB had met in November,in the sincere understanding that there was still time for board input. Peter stated his belief that precedent and Cable Commission mandate require that AAB recommendations should be a major determinate in decisions on access equipment purchases. After much discussion, Barbara agreed to review the purchases with Lauren with a goal of bringing ACC purchases in line with CRAB recommendations. Where ACC believes that CAAB recommendations cannot be implemented, ACC would negotiate with Mary Jo Dudley as chair of the CAAB. In the event any of these negotiations reached an impasse, the issue would be brought to the cable commission. Peter also reported that the cable commission has requested the CRAB to devise a set of procedures and a time line for future capital purchases. Mary Jo said that although she had spoken to Barbara the day after the cable commission meeting, no negotiations had taken place and that Barbara said that she was unwilling to discuss the content of purchases,though she would discuss future purchasing procedures. Mary Jo feels that the CAAB had been dealt with dishonestly by ACC in this matter. Lauren said that as of the November Cable Commission meting, most equipment had not yet been purchased, though the plan for its purchase had been approved by Barbara. This may have led to misunderstandings. Lauren presented the CAAB with copies of ACC's position with regard to the Access Capital Spending Procedure and the Access Capital Spending Timeline for 1991 (attached). John expressed his extreme dismay that the CAAB has been denied a meaningful dialogue with ACC regarding the substance of its recommendations regarding access equipment. Mary Jo said that she resents the ti me she spent i n meeting on equipment purchases with the expectation that the CAAB recommendations would be heeded. She said that she is very frustrated by ACC_ failure to recognize the CAAB. She called for clarification of the role of the CAAB, particularly with respect to ACC. Mary Jo rioted that there is a need to replace several members of the CAAB and wondered how effectively we will be able to recruit for a "powerless" body. Another meeting was scheduled for 12/17 to deal with agenda items not addressed at this meeting. Submitted by Peter Hess