HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLECOMM-1993-04-13 City of Ithaca Cable Commission
Minutes of the Meeting of April 13th, 1993
Present:
Commission members: Jim Ferwerda, Rick Gray , Peter Hess, Tom Terrizzi
ACC: Tom Doheny
Public: Robin Palmer, Rick Lawrence
1. The meeting was called to order at approximately 7:30 pm.
2. No minutes were yet available from 2/9 or 3/9 meetings.
3. Chair Reports:
-Ferwerda reviewed several items pertaining to FCC actions:
>The FCC has said that responsibility for monitoring the performance standards dictated by the
Cable Act of '92 rests with the franchising authority.
>FCC will shortly issue "benchmarks" for rate regulation. If rates were above benchmark level
on 9/30/92, franchising authority or subscribers may petition to reduce.have them rolled back.
>New rate increases may not go into effect for 120 days (from April 1?)
>Localities will regulate basic rates; FCC will regulate tier rates.
>Franchising authorities may file for authority to regulate basic rates 30 days after publication of
the ruling.
>Stations must soon decide whether to opt for "must carry" or "retransmission consent".
>Hess said that he recently spoke to Steve Shay who said he would be willing to come to Ithaca to
talk to us about our responsibilities under the Cable Act.
-Ferwerda also announced that ACC is proposing new rates for service to commercial customers,
such as bars and TV equipment retailers. To date there has not been a rate card for these
subscribers.
4. Announcements: none
5. ACC report:
-Ray McCabe is unable to attend tonight's meeting; is involved in labor negotiations.
-Tom Doheny, representing ACC, reported that McCabe had received the correspondence for the
City Attorney, but was not prepared to comment on it yet.
-Doheny reported on behalf of McCabe that area subscribers should not expect a 10% rollback of
rates, due to enforcement of FCC rate regulation, as has been suggested by some press reports.
There will probably be some, as yet unspecified, rollback.
-McCabe is working on a response to the Access Capital recommendations of the CAAB. Lauren
Stefanelli, John Herwin and McCabe are preparing a list, and will contact Rick Gray to set up a
meeting. Gray noted that the "ball is in ACC's court" and ACC agrees. Doheny will pass on to
McCabe that we feel that the timetable set out for this procedure is not being met.
-Ferwerda asked about Cable New York . It has been shown of the Government Access channel
and is cablecast, Sundays 9 am to 1 pm. This programming is sponsored by one of the cable
networks, not NY State and is interspersed with commercials. Although this disqualifies it as
access it is permissible for ACC to insert it into the schedule under "fallow time" provisions.
6. Public Comment
Rick Lawrence:
a) Recent telethon for the Strand was in violation of access rules because there was a solicitation
of money. He wondered why the cable commission or the CAAB had not acted. Doheny said
that ACC had informed the producer that such solicitation was a violation. The Commission
noted that it has not received a complaint. Robin Palmer said that he had submitted a complaint
in the complaint box at the access center and thought it would be forwarded to the Cable
Commission. Lawrence asked if it was the policy of the Commission to back off from Bill
McCormick and Jean Finley . Commission members responded that there was a procedure for
dealing with disputes that could not be resolved by access staff. It involved bringing a complaint
to the CAAB, which acted on behalf of the Commission in these matters.
b) Lawrence says he is having trouble getting studio time because he doesn't have a regular series
time slot. Gray acknowledged that the system for allocating studio time may be in need of
revision to make it more fair. Ferwerda said that this can be resolved by CAAB. Gray said that
there will be a meeting tomorrow of some CAAB members with Lawrence and Stefanelli to try
to resolve this.
Robin Palmer: Robin spoke against allowing triple reruns. He also noted that cable operators
may now prohibit "indecent" programming. Tom Terrizzi noted that these were new rules and
for that reason have yet to be invoked.
7. Access Reports.
Gray reported that the government access committee is thinking about establishing a contact
with the NYSCC. Ferwerda asked if there was a chain of authority among the various access
groups. Gray replied that there wasn't.
Gray reported that there were a number of things that were "not moving forward":
>Capital budget
>Configuration of playback for access
>Expanding the access studio
ACC has extended an offer to access to make a proposal for the Four Seasons space. The
Commission discussed some possible strategies for pursuing this.
9. Old Business
Progress on access issues: Facility hours have not been extended since the hiring of Paul Smith
as new access staff. Doheny said that he will look into expanding facility hours and convey to
ACC the feelings of the commission that this is needed to increase accessibility and bring a
response to the next meeting. (See above for discussion of expansion of facility and this year's
capital budget.)
Other items of old business such as the impact of recent FCC rulings were discussed earlier.
Discussion of the progress of negotiations in the franchised default proceedings was deferred to
executive session.
--submitted by Peter Hess