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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLECOMM-1989-02-14 Cable Commission Minutes--February 14`, 1989 Present: William Demo, Richard Herskowitz, Tom Terrizi, Chris Heila, Janice Streb, David Lytel representing City Council Call to Order: 7:40p.m. Minutes of 1/10/89 meeting approved. Addition to agenda accepted--public comments to precede and follow ACC report. Acting Chairman's Report Bill Demo discussed letter from Alan Cohen complaining about a noisy transformer box outside his home. Mike Withiam stated that ACC had responded to the complaint, found no problem, and no more complaints had followed. Oswego has passed the "Cable Bill of Rights, " and discussion about a similar resolution to City Council in Ithaca was added to the agenda. Public Comments Bill McCormack asked whether the Commission would meet with Access Advisory Board applicants before selecting members, and the Commissioners replied that they would decide on the basis of the application letters. Bill requested that ACC be cited for breach of the franchise. He also asked the Commission to press ACC to publicize the existence of nine access and nine unaffiliated commercial channels, and its terms for making these available for use. Janice asked that Mike report on the company's procedures. David Lytel asked when government cablecasts would commence. He also asked what the Commission could to to promote knowledge of local origination channels. ACC Report New rates are going into effect March 1. Mike asked the Commission to oppose the proposed application of sales tax on cable service. It will add a 7% fee to consumers, and the Commission should be looking out for their interests. Stage Two of the System Rebuild went into effect the night before. The public access equipment was purchased at lower rates than anticipated, so $3600 remains unused. ACC will hold on to this money and wait to see what is needed after the equipment arrives. The new access facility is on schedule. The temporary studio opened on February 1. Physical construction will continue through March. On the local origination channels: Ithaca College and the Tompkins County Library have been invited to move to these channels, but are not yet interested. On government coverage: the portable switcher has not yet arrived to permit acceptable coverage. Mike claimed that ACC had till June 1 to comply, but David Lytel questioned whether an extension had been granted by Council past March 1. The Commissioners and Mike Withiam discussed the itemization of the franchise fee on the bill, which Chris felt created bad will towards the city, but could not be prevented. Janice asked for the ACC report agenda in advance, and Mike agreed, asking also for suggestions as to what he should address. Mike said that there was no rate structure for purchasing use of the commercial LO channels, but that ACC will negotiate this. The company generally offers time on Channel 7 to interested parties. The Commission discussed the resolution opposing sales tax on cable. Bill McCormack thought that premium channels only should be taxed. Public Comments Ben Nichols asked that ACC speed up its access studio construction. Bill McCormack stated that the mention of the franchise fee in the bill was a spiteful and gratuitous act, and Council should have been warned. Consumers should be made aware of the market value of the land the city has given to ACC for stretching cables. Sean Killeen asked about the new rate schedule and the senior citizen discount. Mike explained that the 279 people listed by the city as senior citizens would receive notification of this discount. In discussion, the Commission felt that many senior citizens, particularly renters, are falling through the cracks. This problem will be added to the March agenda, and a new method of determining senior citizen status, to be administered by the city, should produce a new list, which Mike agreed that ACC would abide by. John Efroymson raised the issue of why there is no discount for those who own their own cable box. In the franchise, ACC agreed people could own a box, but now give them no discount. Chris Heila said there was not much the Commission could do. In response to Bill McCormack's question about the absence of a dated equipment order list, Mike said that the orders were placed two weeks earlier, preceded by a bidding process. Mike will provide copies of the invoices to the Commission. Selection of Committee Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson Janice Streb was unanimously elected chair, and Bill Demo Vice- Chair of the Cable Commission. The secretarial position will rotate among the members of the Commission. Selection of Access Advisory Board Members INSTITITUTIONAL REPRESENTATIVE: Marilyn Rivchin, Cornell University. Louis Mezgar, Tompkins County Public Library. The Commission unanimously approved these two nominees for institutional representative. Mike Withiam objected that Marilyn Rivchin does not represent Cornell University. Richard Herskowitz pointed out that she is a video production lecturer at Cornell, and that the position did not require an officially-appointed representative. NON-CITY REPRESENTATIVE: Anne Sevocco, Newfield. Anne was unanimously selected. The other candidate was Robin Palmer of Cayuga Heights. CITY REPRESENTATIVES: Mary Jo Dudley and John Efroymson. Mary Jo Dudley received 5 votes, John Efroymson received 4 votes, and Bill McCormack received 1 vote. The .other candidate was Floyd Johnson. . • CITY GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE: Richard Herskowitz, Cable Commission. A non-voting member, Richard was also unanimously voted as chairman of the Access Board. Mike Withiam objected that it was inappropriate for an "ex officio" member to be a chairman, but Ben Nichols stated that it was Council's intention to have the Commission representative serve as Chair, in order for it to have more clout. Richard promised that the board would meet in three weeks. It was suggested that the meeting be in the access facility and cablecast. Cable Bill of Rights Deferred to next meeting. Status of Public Access Studios The issue discussed was whether ACC was in violation of the franchise with its new temporary studio. Tom Terrizi called the space "inadequate. " John Efroymson said it was not a studio, but just a room. There is no space to move cameras and for sufficient lighting. Richard Herskowitz said that having the director and switcher in the same small room created an impossibly sloppy situation for cablecasting. Mary Jo Dudley, Jim Ferwerda, and Bill McCormack all shared this view. Bill stated that since December 5 there had not been a studio under the terms of the franchise, which represented a serious breach. Mike restated his expectation that the new studio would be completed by late April. The hiring of a third access employee was discussed, and Mike stated his opinion that the deadline was shifted to June 1, with which David disagreed. Chris reminded the Commission that it had cited ACC for being in violation of the franchise in early January, but had decided not to take action in order to observe developments with the access studio in later months. Now that the temporary studio was in operation, the issue was: is this a studio, and, if not, should action now be taken? The Commission unanimously voted the following resolution: The Cable Commission finds ACC to be in violation of the franchise agreement for failure to proide adequate public access facilities under Section 22.2 of the franchise. ACC will receive a notice of the violation from the City Attorney and will have 30 days to correct it. Commissioners also stated that if a new access person was not hired by March 1, a franchise violation will be cited for this as well. Mike said that the deadline was extended to June 1, and so Ralph Nash will be consulted. Sales Tax Issue Chris suggested that we pass this issue to the Council without a recommendation. Richard Herskowitz thought that if we wished to support a notion of cable as a public service, we should keep it tax-exempt. Bill McCormack agreed, but believed that premium services could still be taxed. The Commission voted not to make a recommendation to Council--3 in favor, 1 opposed, and 1 abstaining. WAER Reception Bill Demo asked why WAER was no longer available, and Mike explained that it was difficult to receive. The meeting was adjourned. Minutes submitted by Richard Herskowitz