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Home My WebLink AboutMN-CABLECOMM-1990-02-21 Cable Commission Minutes February 21, 1990 Present: Bill Demo, Richard Herskowitz, Pete Hess Chairman's Report *A complaint was received from Tom Fox from the Department of Social Services regarding one of his clients being charged for a selector box burned in a fire. *Veronica Horn sent a complaint about a customer charged $347.99 for a selector box lost in a break-in. *Beverly Harris protested rate increases. *Another phone complaint was received by Bill regarding rate increases. Ben Nichols referred to the Cable Commission consideration of a state proposal to assess cable operators for the NYSCAN state government cablecasts. Cable operators are opposed to this. We referred this back to Ben and Common Council- -does the city wish to give up revenues to support this and give up some cable revenues? Public Comment Bill McCormack suggested that if the state wants NYSCAn, it should find the money in tax revenues, and not turn to the cities. He asked whether the city could request that Channel 6 be a government access channel. Richard will prepare a governmental access resolution, and a request to ACC that the new converter should have enough space for extra access channels (up to nine). Bill suggested that the Commission meet with Access Board candidates. Since this was not feasible, he suggested that a joint meeting of the Access Board and Cable Commission be held soon, so that the Board's mandate would be clearly established. ACC Report (see ACC summary sheet for further details) *Regarding Tom Fox's complaint, no burnt converter or evidence of fire was presented to ACC. Horn should also produce a police report, and ACC will consider waiving the charges. Bill Demo pointed out that these people aren't insured and don't have documents. ACC will report back.... *Access Policies and Procedures have been published. *Channel changes are about to go into effect, which will address many customer complaints of recent months. Free converters will be distributed for basic service- only customers. *ACC has problems with our Op Ed piece--we are delaying its publication until Tom Terrizi returns. Access Board Ex-officio appointees Pete Hess and Lauren Stefanelli have indefinite terms. John Efroymson, Eloise Green, Bill McCormack, and Floyd Johnson were appointed to two year terms. Mary Jo Dudley (chair), Frances McKenzie, and Louis Metzgar were appointed to one year terms. Senior Citizens "The certification of income in the city's proposed document will be changed to total "income in my household." *Determination of the exact amount is being deferred till Barbara Lukens' return-- $12,025 or $15,000? Miscellaneous A request was made for the ACC reports promised in the franchise. The meeting was adjourned. Minutes submitted by Richard Herskowitz. ^ . ' AMERICAN COMMUNITYmABLEYISION Report to Ithaca Cable Commission, Feb. 21 , 1990 o Response to Commission Inquiry Evelyn Pugsley reported that she had had a senior citizen' s discount at one time, but was not getting it anymore. In checking our records we discovered that this was accurate. We believe that the computer code was accidently removed from her account . The discount has been reinstated retroactrive to the time when it was discontinued and Ms. Pugsley has been notified. We are rechecking all of the accounts for seniors to make sure • that no others were aaffected. Melvin Creswell ' s converter and remote control were allegedly damaged in a fire which took place at his apartment complex. ACC is working w/ Mr . Creswell to clear this up, but per ACC policy, he is being charged $110 for the replacement cost of the equipment (normal charge for lost equipment would be $275) . ACC is unable to locate Mr . Creswell to discuss this with him directly. He has apparently moved several times since this incident . Although the fire was not caused by Mr . Creswell , he was responsible for the equipment which had been loaned to or rented by him. o Selection of Access Advisory Board representatives ACC has chosen two new access users to represent them on the AAB. They are Frances MacKenzie and Floyd Johnson. A short bio for each individual is attached for your information o Access policies and procedures ACC has written policies and procedures for the operation and use of the public access studio in compliance with the franchise agreement . A copy is being provided to the Ithaca Cable Commission and to the NY State Commission on Cable Television. This document was reviewed by the AAB and many of their suggestions were utilized in making it a very usable and worthwhile guide. Lauren Stefanelli , ACC' s access coordinator , was the primary author of this document , and ACC would like to thank her publicly for the fine job she did. more. . . 1 519 West State Street Ithaca, New York 14850 607-272-3456 ' --t I ■. o Channel changes effective May 1990 - see previously delivered letter . o Commission Op Ed piece It appears that the Ithaca Cable Commission is attempting to solicit negative comments and/or complaints because the tone of the piece is negative and inflamatory. Some inaccuracies exist - ACC' s most recent survey (winter '89/90) indicates and equal interest in WBNG and WTVH (34% and 33% respectively) . Also, according to Steve Shaye at the NY State Commission on Cable Television, concern by local citizen' s about granting ACC a 15 year franchise was not the primary reason that they reduced the franchise term to 10 years. The reduction had more to do with avoiding a precedent and the fact that technologies change so quickly that in 10 years the system in Ithaca could be far out-moded. As a matter of fact , all of the letters received by the commission requesting they disapprove a 15 year franchise were from members of the access show "More Than the News" - hardly a public outcry as described by your letter . Would it not be more productive to write a letter which asks for public input , but which does not color the tone of the input , but instead is written in a more objective fashion? o Survey Results At an earlier meeting, Barb Lukens informed the commission that ACC had had a telephone survey done, and that the results of that survey would be shared with the commission. A summary of the results are attached. o Installer Post Cards Since December , ACC installers have been leaving a post card with new customers requesting feedback on ACC' s performance as it relates to the installation process. A summary of the responses received is attached for your information. I think you will see that responses are generally very favorable. We will soon be providing similar response cards for service calls. • Newsletter Responses We included a "Please Let Us Know" form in our January newsletter . To date we have received about 50 responses from subscribers, and have either called them or written them with our answers. 2 ACCESS ADVISORY BOARD Some of her productions include : APPOINTMENTS Investment Strategies , a series of programs giving tax advice ; Behind At the February 21 meeting of the the Veil , a documentary on the Ithaca City Cable Commission, the Mirage belly dancing troupe ; City of Ithaca and ACC made Gentle Giants , a study of local new appointments to the Access draft horses which has won a Advisory Board . Under an agreement number of regional awards ; two and made in January, the appointments one half hours of coverage of last are divided between 1 and 2 year year's Empire State Games ; terms . Christmas concerts by the Cornell Chimes and Sage Chapel Choir ; a ACC's appointees are : series of beautiful studies in local landscape and a set of logo 1 City Resident - 2 Year Term tapes for the access station . Floyd Johnson She has also helped other Floyd Johnson has been involved volunteers in their efforts . She with community access for more is a regular cast member for Take than ten years . He has produced 1 , and has served as a host and and directed a number of series as Interviewer for -Round About well as individual programs . His Ithaca , What's Happening , and Our two best known series were Tai Chi Community. and Pearly-Mae Time , produced in the early to mid-1980s . In the real world , Frances works at Emerson Power Transmission as a He has also worked, in assorted market analyst. crew positions, on a variety of other access productions , includ- ing Take 1 , The Imani Hour , and _ Family Focus . In addition, Floyd served as one of our CABLE 13 A. C.E. judges last year. Aside from his work with public access , Floyd works as an Emergency Shelter Manager for the Red Cross. 1 Non-City Resident - 1 Year Term Frances McKenzie Frances McKenzie has been one of our most active and productive volunteers for the past 4 years . She has produced and participated in programs of a bewildering variety . Her technical and organi- zational abilities have set a high standard for other volunteers to strive for . ' . -. KEY FINDINGS Ithaca Subscriber Survey December 1989 o The basic-cable-service-only* subscribers mainly like their cable service for the broadcast channels on it and the reception. CNN and ESPN also drew a fair percentage of mentions as things liked. Their major reason for not taking the standard cable service is that they don't watch much TV. o The standard cable** subscriber ' s favorite channels on the channels other than 2-16 (or their perceptions of this service) are ESPN, USA Network, MTV and Nickelodeon. o WIXT-channel 9 is the clear preference between the ABC affiliates, with 56% of the standard cable service subscribers choosing it , while only 14% chose WENY-channel 36. o WSTM-channel 3 is the clear preference between the NBC affiliates, with 54% of the standard cable service subscribers choosing it, while only 19% chose WICZ-channel 40. ' o The two CBS affiliates apparently have similar appeal , with 34% of the standard cable service subscribers choosing WBN8- • channel 12, and 33% choosing WTVH-channel 5. o Almost two-thirds (64%) of the standard cable service subscribers would be satisfied if the PBS channel WVIA were replaced by American Movie Classics, while 28% would be dissatisfied. ( 18% would be "not at all satisfied. " ) o Approximately 56% of the total subscribers feel that it is important for the cable company to provide studios, equipment and a cable channel for community access programming, while 41% do not feel that it is important . o • Very little use is made of the Prevue Guide channel , with 45% of the subscribers never using it , and 22% seldom using it . o Ithaca' s basic-cable-service-only subscribers are more likely to be older , less likely to have children in the household, and more likely to be in the lower income groups than are the standard cable service subscribers. o basic cable service as defined in this survey is channels 2-13. ** standard cable service as defined in this survey is channels 1-26 or 1-43 excluding channels 14, 15 and 16) . 1 YES NO • Was your connection of cable service completed at the time it was scheduled? 6.9 YES NO If not,did we call to reschedule your connection? YES NO • Was your cable connection completed to your satisfaction? 6-6 If not,please explain. • What was your Impression of the people who did the work? 1 Excellent Good Average Poor AO a) Courteous '! /'f b) Properly Identified I/ 17 4 c) Neat about the job `i' __L d) Neat In appearance _ --/7 `� & .3 • Old our representative explain: �y}0 N/� a) Your new channels and service? 4 _L b) How the channel selector works? 'iS 7 c) What prices to expect on your first bill? _ 3 • Do you have any other comments or suggestions? Name Telephone Address Date City/State/Zip 3r/o� /vi= _. //e . / f t � /� / 90 • ITHACA CHANNEL LINE-UP MAY 1990 PAY-PER-VIEW B ABC-9/WIXT B NBC-3/WSTM B PBS-24/WCNY B CNN B* FOX-68/WSYT B THE WEATHER CHANNEL/L. O. /PPV BARKER B NEWSCENTER 7, M_F 6-11PM ON THE HOUR B PBS-46/WSKG B WWOR-9 B ESPN B WPIX-11 B CBS-12/WBNG B THE LEARNING CHANNEL B CABLE 13, PUBLIC ACCESS + HBO + CINEMAX + THE DISNEY CHANNEL B CBS-5/WTVH B NBC-40/WICZ B* PBS-44/WVIA B ABC-36/WENY MTV USA NETWORK * FNN C-SPAN * NlCK/NICK-AT-NITE * ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT AVAILABLE IN REBUILT AREAS CNBC MSG/TRAVEL CHANNEL BRAVO/C-SPAN II DISCOVERY * AMERICAN MOVIE CLASSICS/TWC HEADLINE NEWS THE FAMILY CHANNEL NASHVILLE NETWORK * JC PENNEY' S SHOPPING VIDEO HITS 1 LIFETIME BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TURNER NETWORK TELEVISION THE LEARNING CHANNEL QVC THE WEATHER CHANNEL THE COMEDY CHANNEL B=BASIC SERVICE CHANNEL +=PREMIUM CHANNEL *=CHANNEL CHANGE