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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-2017-05-02 1 City of Ithaca Cable Access Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes May 2, 2017 (as approved June 6, 2017) Present: Chair Rich DePaolo, Vice-chair Wies van Leuken, members Sue Perlgut, Wayles Browne, Common Council liaison Ducson Nguyen; studio manager Lauren Stefanelli. 01. Call to Order: Van Leuken 5:10. 02. Agenda Additions and/or Deletions: add discussion of WENY programming (Syracuse); add change of meeting time. 03. Public Comments: none. 04. Approval Minutes of the April 4, 2017 Meeting: approved with one clarification. 05. Access Studio Coordinator Report (submitted in writing). a. Spectrum TV’s Recommendations for 2018 Budget. Stefanelli submitted recommendations for the 2018 budget, proposing to let funds accumulate until next year. The next big purchase will be the replacement of the playback system, which will cost more than the revenues of one budget year. b. Annual Equipment Purchase Report Re: previous year's purchases. The report was due at the March meeting. Stefanelli will draft a report for the next meeting. c. Usage Fees Report for 2016 showing receipts, uses & final balance. The report was due at the February meeting. Stefanelli will draft a report for the next meeting. Spectrum has not yet designated an account to receive the 2017 Usage Fees . The AOC is appalled that Spectrum has not provided such an account. d. Studio Upgrade – update: still going as planned. See written report (attached). e. Spectrum’s Maintenance and Repair Report: see written report. 06. Member Reports a. AOC’s 2018 Budget Recommendations – Resolution. The AOC reviewed Spectrum’s recommendations and adopted the following resolution. Resolution - Access Oversight Committee (AOC) Tuesday, May 2, 2017 AOC Recommendations for 2018 Budget WHEREAS, Section 15.12 of the Franchise Agreement between the City of Ithaca and Time Warner Entertainment-Advance/Newhouse Partnership (TWC) of January 2003, and since assigned to Spectrum TV after its 2016 acquisition of TWC, requires the participating municipalities (City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, Village of Cayuga Heights) to provide it with an annual budget for Public, Educational and Governmental access operations (PEG) by June 30 of each calendar year, and 2 WHEREAS, the City of Ithaca's Ordinance #2003-17, Par 18-4-G, requires the Access Oversight Committee (AOC) to provide the Participating Municipalities with a recommended annual budget by May 31 of each calendar year, and WHEREAS, the AOC has reviewed PEG’s current equipment and determined that any break-downs are covered by warrantees and that no new equipment is needed in the immediate future, and WHEREAS, the AOC anticipates the replacement of the current playback system in the next few years, perhaps as early as the 2019 Budget year, and WHEREAS, such a purchase would exceed the available funds of one budget year, NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the AOC recommends to let the 2018 Budget funds accumulate and become part of the 2019 Budget, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the AOC forwards its recommendations for approval by the Common Council of the City of Ithaca, the Town of Ithaca Board and the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees, so that they may meet their obligation to provide Spectrum TV with an annual budget for Public, Educational and Governmental access operations. Approved unanimously b. Schedule for submitting 2018 Budget Recommendations to Municipalities : AOC will notify the municipalities by the end of June. c. AOC's Annual Equipment Purchase Report to City. Information for this report has not been received - See 05b. d. Report Publicity and Outreach Ad-Hoc Committee: Perlgut has written a document for outreach to non-profit organizations in the community, offering guidelines on how to work with PEGASYS. Stefanelli will offer suggestions. Perlgut proposes: an open house for producers and the general public after the studio upgrade is finished. Stefanelli suggests: an open house just for non-profits in the summer, one for the public in August or September, one for teachers in the fall. Producers can be invited to come and see the new studio whenever they wish; we'll schedule trainings on how to use it. The Ad-Hoc Committee will meet Wednesday, May 24, at 12:30. e. Communications RE quality of PEG cablecasts, faulty entrance door. Chris Mueller, the Director of Government Relations CNY Division, Northeast, has replied to DePaolo. His Email and the AOC’s response has been entered into the minutes as follows: " 05 Apr '17 1:41pm Rich, At this time we have no plans to add PEG channels to our Spectrum App. We’ll keep your request in mind as we continue to develop the product. Thank you for your interest." 3 AOC observed that there was no response to the question about quality of cablecasts on PEG channels 13, 15, and 16. DePaolo wrote back during the meeting, with Cc. to AOC members and City, Town of Ithaca and Cayuga Heights officials: " Tue 02-May, 6:29 PM Dear Mr. Mueller- Thank you for your response regarding the AOC's outstanding requests. Regarding the inclusion of PEG programming on the Spectrum app and channel guide, AOC is aware that these services are available to TWC/Spectrum subscribers in other areas, Lockport, for example. Please explain the reluctance to make these services available to Ithaca-area subscribers, considering that it appears there is no technological barrier to doing so. Also, please respond to our outstanding request to report on or investigate longstanding quality issues related to PEG channel broadcasts. Kindly reply to the current (the original) email recipient list. Regards, Rich" f. 2016 Franchise Fee Reports from City, Town and Village. Spectrum has difficulties in getting worksheets (i.e. fee calculations) to the correct recipients. Payments and worksheets arrive at different times and from different addresses. Van Leuken has concerns about the information on the worksheets. 07. Old Business a. Franchise Agreement: no new report. b. Spectrum - update: this item could be dropped from the agenda. c. PEGASYS' Access Rules. Van Leuken got forms used hitherto from Stefanelli. The forms contain language that seems unnecessarily punitive. Stefanelli: these were required by Time Warner Cable's lawyer, and can't be changed. Van Leuken wants City Attorney Ari Lavine to review the language and hopefully challenge the necessity of some of it. Nguyen: will see Lavine tomorrow and ask for more timely legal advice. Van Leuken: the forms do not provide all the information a producer needs. So there is a need for some sort of a manual that provides what the forms do not cover. 08. New Business a. WENY. Nguyen: Charter seemingly wants to keep Syracuse programs on its cable service and drop duplications from Binghamton and Elmira (WENY is an ABC- affiliated station in Elmira/Corning). b. Change of Meeting Time. The AOC agreed to change its meeting time to 5 PM on the first Tuesday of the month. 09. Next meeting: Tuesday, June 6, 5 PM. 10. Adjournment: 6:45 PM. 4 Contact information for AOC members: City of Ithaca: Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu>. City of Ithaca: Ducson Nguyen, Common Council liaison 2016-17 <dnguyen@cityofithaca.org>. City of Ithaca: member Sue Perlgut <sperlgut@gmail.com> (as of 30 April). Town of Ithaca: Rich DePaolo, chair <rd@richdepaolo.com>. Village of Cayuga Heights: Wies van Leuken, vice chair <pmv4@cornell.edu>. Web site for the PEGASYS studio, with program schedules: http://pegasys.webstarts.com/index.html studio location: 612 West Green Street, Ithaca, New York mailing address: 519 West State Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 phone (607) 272-7272 fax (607) 277-5404 PEGASYS staff: studio manager Lauren Stefanelli <Lauren.Stefanelli@charter.com> 5 May 2017 Access Studio Coordinator Report  2016 Equipment Fund: Studio Upgrade to HD Our new studio installation is scheduled to begin on May 10. The main studio will be closed for about a week, but rest of the facility will be open regular hour s without interruption.  PEGASYS Facility Maintenance Our 3 new exterior fire doors have been ordered. There is a contractor ready to install them as soon as they arrive. Our interior security camera system has been replaced with new HD cameras that can “see” in total darkness.  PEGASYS Equipment Maintenance and Repair One of our JVC digital camcorders and a wireless handheld mic are still out for repair. A laptop with power problems was also sent out, and has just been returned. One of our new tripods has a broken screw. I am looking into repair options.  Outreach I met with Aurora Ricardo, Managing Director of the May Silents Roar! Film Festival and rep of the Wharton Studio Museum. We will partner with them, having the participating youth filmmakers appear on channel 13 at the end of May.  Interesting Community Programs Tom Stern, who produced “A Gourd’s Life,” completed a short video told from his grandson’s point of view: “8 Years Old.” Some of the videography is pretty interesting: Yep, this is the kid who spilled a bottle of water on our laptop while doing his voiceover narration.