Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-1992-03-24 / CABLE ACCESS ADVISORY BOARD 1 Minutes of March 24, 1992 Members present: Jim Blizzard, Harvey Gitlin, Rick Gray, Peter Hess , Robert Manvell , Lauren Stefanelli Recorded by Harvey Gitlin • Meeting called to order at 7 : 50 PM • Minutes of February 25 meeting read & approved • Membership: Suggestions were made for new board members to replace the three vacancies left by the departure of Eloise Green ( institutional representative) , Floyd Johnson, and Cathy Johnson, (city resident positions) . Joe Edkin (a possible city nominee) had indicated that he may not be available due to time constraints . Joe Powers had also indicated a possible interest as well as Jeff Hetzel who works with Joe Edkin on the "Nothing Sacred" show. Additional members from the CAAB educational access committee may also be available for nomination to the advisory board as institutional representatives . • Amendment to the Agenda: Robert Manvell requested that we add to the agenda a discussion of the meeting of the Educational Committee on March 10 . (see below) . • Access Coordinator ' s Report : Lauren discussed further correspondence from ACC regarding 2% budget negotiations and forwarded the information to Rick. Submissions for annual ACE awards were being received. Rick Gray had suggested the name "PEG-A-SYS" for the combined system of public, educational , and governmental channels that now fall under community access auspices . A Knox K-40 character generator is to be employed as a bulletin board on channel 53 with the purchase of additional software. A rebate on the estimated 2% budget from 1989-90 was calculated to the amount of $2095. 95. • - Access Coordinator ' s Report (cont 'd) : The Hitachi editing decks at the access studio were supposedly fixed, including an upgrade for the audio section, but had not yet been returned. There was an extended discussion regarding attempts by access producers to circumvent the non-commercial restrictions on community access programming, such as giveaways identifying businesses which donate prizes , and "announcements" with implicit commercial messages . Such cases must continue to be evaluated individually with flexible disciplinary options depending on the intentionality and degree of the infraction. • Cable Commission Report : Submitted by Peter Hess . The Ithaca Cable Commission approved the decision that the CAAB should set it ' s own agenda and operating guidelines rather than the Cable Commission. Jim Ferwerda is continuing to research possible I - Net sites . The petition to include educational radio station WRVO on the FM cable band was denied based on the fact that ACC receives no additional remuneration for their FM transmissions . There was discussion about ACC' s concern that the cablecast of WSKG-FM on the audio track during unused access TV time, might violate non-commercial franchise provisions and offers preferential treatment over competing NPR-type stations . Suggestions were entertained the by CAAB about replacing it with Musak or locally originated audio. Budget negotiations between the Cable Commission and ACC were postponed pending a subsequent , non-public, committee meeting. • Educational Committee Report : Robert Manvell presented minutes of Educational Committee meeting on March 10 (see separate document) . GIAC is as yet unrepresented on this committee despite its accessibility as the I-net site. GIAC was to be contacted regarding their interest in participation. Autonomy for the educational access committee was granted, to the extent that it need not necessarily be chaired or populated by members of the CAAB. Robert gave copies of a letter regarding the discontinuation of state distributed NYSCSAN programming for educational access to Peter and Lauren. s _ -3- - Discussion of Proposed 1992 Budget : - Itemized preliminary 1992 budget proposal presented by Rick for CAAB equipment recommendations . It was decided to delete from the next draft certain editorial comments expressing dissatisfaction with ACC' s extended definition of equipment and services appropriate for the 2% access allocation. Specific discussion of immediate points of contention included office computer equipment for access staff and (once again) playback equipment for PEG channels .