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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLECOMM-1990-08-14 ' A CITY OF ITHACA CABLE COMMSSION Minutes of Meeting August 14, 1990 Present: Richard Herskowitz, Acting Chairperson, Peter Hess, Tom Terrizzi 1) Meeting called to order at 7:35 pm. Minutes of the July 10, 1990 meeting were approved as submitted. 2) Public Comment. The Commission has received complaints regarding ACC's decision to drop station WVIA (channel 44, the Scranton, PA PBS affiliate) from its basic service. Barbara Lukens read a statement outlining ACC's position. ACC's licence to broadcast from its Conn. Hill tower was revoked by the NYS Parks Commission. ACC had been receiving the WVIA signal at that tower. ACC cannot receive the signal independently and rebroadcast it and meet the NYS standards for cable quality. ACC has realigned the basic tier to include CSpan and has moved TNT to the expanded tier. Mr. Herskowitz asked if the the tower was removed because of non- payment of rent as well as the improper use of park land. Ms. Lukens said they were told that it was improper use of park land and that ACC had not paid rent during the period of dispute. Carl Steckler stated that the signal is clear enough with rabbit ears to pick up the signal near ACC's tower on Snyder Hill. He is in touch with a knowledgeable person at Cornell, Kurt Dunham, a former Cable Commissioner, who has tested the signal and is willing to give us information on what he found. Mr. Steckler spoke with Bill Kelly, Station Manager of WVIA who said that WVIA had 425 subscribers in the ACC area. It is the 10th most watched PBS station in the country and has only a 40% overlap in programming with other PBS stations. Mr. Steckler also spoke with Bill Myers, the chief engineer at WVIA who told him that they wanted to work with ACC to figure out a solution but were told to get off ACC's back. Mr. Steckler presented a petition with the signatures of 40 ACC subscribers' requesting that WVIA be put back on the air. Ms. Lukens stated that they are willing to talk to WVIA or anyone who has an idea on how to get an adequate signal from WVIA. Mr. Herskowitz stated that he only received one complaint letter although he thinks that all commission mail was probably not forwarded to him. Ms. Lukens stated that ACC received approximately 50 letter of complaint. Mr. Herskowitz summarized the actions to be taken: a) ACC will investigate any evidence that the WVIA signal is strong enough for proper reception at its Snyder Hill tower. b) ACC will check with the engineering staff at WVIA to see if they will boost their signal or use a satellite to transmit it. c) report back at next months meeting. Bill McCormick stated that ACC has recently made a decision not to expand the access studio space. They have signed a new lease with Four Seasons Greenhouse, who occupy the front of the access studio building. 3) ACC Report: The written report of ACC presented by Barbara Lukens, is attached to these minutes and made a part of them. In responding from a question from Mr. Herskowitz, Ms. Lukens stated that ACC will activate a government access channel by the end of 1990. Attached to these minutes is a report prepared by Eloise Greene regarding various programming options for a government access channel. 4) Access Advisory Board Report: Minutes of the August 6 and 13, 1990 meetings of the AAB are attached to these minutes. Peter Hess, the Cable Commission liaison to the AAB, raised a number of issues. a) Why was there no response from ACC to the June 15th letter from Mary Jo Dudley, AAB Chair, requesting information about equipment request for 1990, budget information and possible plans for the expansion of the access facility. Barbara Lukens stated that she was remiss in not responding to the letter. b) When quarterly reports on the operation of the access studio are presented to the AAB by ACC they should include a list of the items purchased for access under capital expenditures. That list should also include the prices of the items purchased. Ms. Lukens said that she didn't think that listing the items purchased would be a problem. Mr. Herskowitz stated that ACC should list the prices for the items purchased or provide a justification for not doing so. c) The AAB would like a status report on the I-Net system. Ms. Lukens stated that the cable has been installed and is ready to go. She contacted all I-Net locations to see if anyone wanted a drop but received no response. The city Hall location is being used to broadcast Common Council meetings. The County Courthouse is being used to broadcast the Kinge trial. The Fire Department has expressed an interest. Mr. Herskowitz suggested that an I-Net coordinator might be needed to get the institutions together. He suggested holding a I-Net Conference to get people together and then establishing an I-Net Board to get follow through on organizing the system. d) The AAB would like to see the issue of political endorsements on access resolved. Mr. Herskowitz stated that he would contact the NY State Cable Commission to get a formal opinion on it. Ms. Lukens said that she would consult with her attorneys to determine how ACC will proceed. e) The AAB has given ACC a list of priorities for the purchase of new equipment. f) The AAB requested information on the Four Seasons lease. Ms. Lukens stated that the Four Seasons lease allowed them to renew for a new term expiring in June 1993. It is the last extension they are entitled to. Mr. Herskowitz stated that Mr. Withiam, the former General Manager of ACC, promised to expand the access studio space into the rest of the building when the space became available. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm. - _-^- 'ACC r:eport to the Ithaca Cable Commission Sept . 18, 1.990 * ACC along with representatives from The Discovery Channel , CNN Newsroom and Bravo met with educators representing 8 local schools to discuss the use of cable television in the classr^vm' The meeting was highly successful ' (See attacThad lett'., / . ' 'm Boynton Middle School . ) * During student return, future customers had to wait no longer than 1 week for an installation . This is exceptional service. * A power outage last Friday caused us to lose service for about 1 hour . Our emergency generator , which tested fine on Thursday, did not come on immediately. The cause is being investigated. • • . ^ • Report of CAAB meetings, 8/6 and 8/13 1. 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. The CAAB, by a vote of 4 to 2 resolved to discuss the issue of religious programming at a future meeting. 3. The main part of the agenda of the evenings meeting was allocated to discussion of the 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 for production equipment only. We felt however that this remained an unresolved issue and call on the Cable Commission to resolve it. D. 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. 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 so that we could devote the meeting to discussing priorities rather than to re-creating the list. 5. The Cable Commission was asked for a copy of correspondence from NYSCC regarding political endorsements. 6. The CAAB resolved to support the concept of Local Programming Week, September 9th - 15th. 7. At our meeting of August 18th 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. We are hopeful that there is capital to acquire all or most of this equipment. A. New Channel Capacity: Equipment needed to implement additional access channels. B. Post Production Equipment: an SVHS to SVHS editing station. C. Off-Site Production: a portable switcher module. D. Portable Equipment: (2) AG460 SVHS camcorders; (2) Low-cost character generators for field use; additional camcorders to replace used-up equipment as budget allows. E. Studio Improvements: Low cost non-vertical interval chroma-key switch; multiplexer for slide-video transfer; installation of 2nd SVHS deck. F. Playback enhancement: no needs prioritized at this time. A,1-,,4..,:-$:{ v: _ : RECEIVED AUG 2 9 19 AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION • ,, _. 'Nf� A(I 0 TA clir atk, L990-\ Ithaca, N r fl, ,- August 23, 1990 yrr. ,./ c.'' 1) ' Anne Dalton, Municipal Consultant j` '} `'"" NYS Commission on Cable Television w £1. � - � Tower Building - Empire State Plaza Albany, NY 12223 Dear Ms. Dalton: I just wanted to inform the commission that American Community Cablevision will be increasing rates for new installations and service activation from $20 . 00 to $40 . 00 effective September 1 , 1990. This change , while not fully covering actual costs, is a more reasonable reflection of those costs . It affects new customers only and includes up to 2 outlets per transaction. Effective October 15 , 1990 there will be some additional changes which I 've outlined below and which'• will affect existing customers . New rates : was will be Outlet relocation $20 $40 • Additional outlet installation/activation $20 $40 • . VCR hookup $20 $10 ( free at the time of connection - no change ) If you have any questions regarding these , please call me . Sincerely, A4.. Barbara L. Lukens General Manager • cc: Town and Village Clerks ,r Callista Paolangeli, City of Ithaca -CC ✓ Carolyn Roberts, Town of Candor e4 Pat Osborn, Town of Caroline Gz-2- t- ,--c"1J Don Kenyon, Town of Covert ( Supervisor ) Carol Sczepanski , Town of Danby Susanne Lloyd, Town of Dryden 519 West State Street Ithaca, New York 14050 G07-272-14`r; A 6 Collene Pierson, Town of Groton Jean Swartwood, Town of Ithaca Bonnie Boles, Town of Lansing Joe Hutchinson, Town of Newark Valley Lois Minteer, Town of Newfield Marsha, Georgia, Town of Ulysses . Gina Currie, Village of Candor Anne Krohto, Village of Cayuga Heights Mary Jane Neff , Village of Dryden Liz Brennan, Village of Freeville Charles Rankin, Village of Groton Sylvia Smith, Village of Lansing Margaret Cornwell, Village of Newark Valley Dolores Chase, Village of Trumansburg • • • • • V g • ACt,_ AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION August 30, 1990 Mary Jo Dudley Access Advisory Board 81.2 First St. Ithaca, NY 14850 Dear Mary Jo: My apologies for taking so long to answer your letter. s. Since so much has happened since I received your letter, I will simply say that I have seen the prioritized list for equipment, and Lauren and I have discussed it. She will be reporting back to the �'CAAB at the next meeting. , It' s great to have the CAAB' creatively involved in generating a list of desired equipment because it makes our jobs somewhat easier. At least we can see if priorities are at all aligned and attempt to serVe the greatest need. I see no reason why we should not continue to have such input in the future . As regards expansion possibilities for the future, I can say only that ACC ' s lease with Four Seasons will not expire until June 30, '1993. While I don ' t know that it is necessarily true , I am presuming that a fairly large amount of remodeling would be required to convert the space occupied by Four Seasons to a space which would be useful for access . I cannot promise that I would ' be able to obtain funding for such a project. We will keep the lines of communication between the CAAB and ACC more open than they were in the past, though. I cannot provide detailed information on our operating budget; however, if the advisory board feels that ACC ' s access operation or-any function of access is not being performed adequately, we would certainly want to know that. Again, I 'm sorry I dropped the ball on staying in touch, but let' s keep talking. Si cerely, i L L L ✓� /i Barbara L. Lukens General Manager cc: Lauren Stefanelli Peter Hess . • 519 West State Street Ithaca, New York 14850 607-272-34SG photocopy 145 North Sunset Dr Ithaca NY 14850 August 30, 1990 Barbara L. Lukens, General Manager American Community Cablevision 519 West State St Ithaca NY 14850 Dear Ms Lukens: Thank you for your letter of August 27. The adjustment you propose seems entirely reasonable, and our check for the balance due, $48.31 , is enclosed. We note that your response does not address the only really serious problem. Our complaint was not about an additional cost of forty dollars are so; it was about having been seriously misinformed over the tele- phone about the state of our account, and about your representative on the phone (whoever it was) not having made proper record of what we were told. The next-to-last paragraph in your letter deals with matters similar to that; we hope that as part of your revamping you will see to it that misinformation of the sort we were given will not be inflicted on others--or on us another time. Sincerely yours, Charles F. Hockett cc: Bill Demo, Ithaca Cable Commission Carol Jamison, NYSCCT ITHACE CITY SC SSL DISTRICT BOYNTON MIDDLE SCHOOL 1601 N. CAYUGA STREET ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 l.hri _ Doyle nn h 51 S W . State Street t NY 14850 Dear 1=:h r i _ : The September 10th workshop intr :du ir,_ the : d = t networks and their pr•oor•a.rn_ to edu = _ ,:car _ p,, t on L' _'_ an : your staff at ACC i:.1.?.= a r•e•_•ound1 !lo =u rte''=•_ . The i - _ rr.3,t i r; 'i 'shared by Bravo, the Discovery Channel , and CNN Newsroom , ''.Nand Hcc itself I'•1i 1 1 be valuable to teachers , ?.t'a.ff :_.rld `students at Boynton Middle School . Your L..Ji l l IrIo_rl = = to __r that Boynton has access to the in to these pro,or•ams will oive our teachers an i, n ;r• t._. ,. :1 , t.001 to help i n tecrate curriculum with the = :<p l cd i r _I ° of; information I t i = also ex = i t i r,: to anticipate tr'' 1`F.o ,__• itri l i t of hayin X-F•re_• E...chai=loe available r I . ' _ .computer via cable . Students today need to be kept }'up-to-date in varying t e c h n i q u e s of r e t r i e v i n g information `rby. computer . • }c, it ` .` `rcru provided your audience with . orea. t deal of '�" information , but you also provided 'Boynton r,;, , ti, trand r e.., te1evI IGn and VCR . We were overwhelmed r,y our f3.rrf t=•t1 :. ;.fortune in h _r prize �r a ink lri t e oo r The Bo'.'rj t„r, ':c f;`R,'Jr, i t,: • which includes to iciler• _. , staff , sti.r: ir?•rrt•.. and p _ir _ r. . • r.. i 1 l benet i t oreatly from th i •a wonderful dd i t i c•n to :audio-visual offerin'_s . Written thanks does not Heerrr :rrc'•Io because of your oerlerosi ty k.nowi no that y0Url'_ mind... I:., I 1 1 stretched and ch_.l 1 enoed is thanks in i tse 1 f . Sincerely . • cc Dr . Js.i.rne s Lor thr i doe F'hy 1 i = Brodhe _ • Mr . John Stewart Librarian Mr . Jerry i=sloenhcur Boynton Middle _hc'o1 • • American Community Cablevision Report August 14, 1990 * The live broadcast of the Shirley Kinge trial started on 8/13/90 and is going very well . We are attempting to be sensitive to the needs of the community by returning to the Weather Channel as warranted by weather conditions. * We are experiencing an earlier student rush than normal , however we seem to be on top of the situation as best we can. * • ACC initiated a new technical program designed to deal with service problems more quickly and to better utilize manpower . * A programming survey has been included in August bills to determine what type of programming is most desired by our subscribers. Included were questions designed to determine the community' s desire for more public access. * ACC cannot properly purchase equipment nor activate a governmental access channel without more input regarding its planned use. Aalizpvwsijr.4-a-A^ 64=rri-4 *e" c(. ceptif-e' ' � � ^ ^*�a�_ ��cc a-4217 ' ._ ,-- text '~ �m� �� .��,°,�x***� � ~- _ _ _ _