HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-AOC-2020-12-01 1
MINUTES Access Oversight Committee (AOC) (as approved January 5, 2021) Tuesday, December 1, 2020 at 5 PM. The AOC held its meeting by ZOOM Conferencing (thanks to Paulette Rosa, Town
Clerk, Town of Ithaca).
Present: chair Rich DePaolo, Gossa Tsegaye, secretary Wayles Browne, Common Council liaison Rob Gearhart, vice chair Wies van Leuken; Access Studio Coordinator Lauren Stefanelli; employees of Charter: Mike Montesano (Sr. Manager, Programming, Charter Communications), Lauren Kelly (Director of Government Affairs - Finger Lakes
Region, Charter Communications), Mark Meyerhofer (Sr. Director of Government
Affairs); members of the public Jim Blizzard, Tony Ingraham, Fred Balfour, Paul Smith. 01. Call to Order 5:02 by DePaolo; introductions.
02. Agenda Additions and/or Deletions: none.
03. Public Comments a. Presentation by Jim Blizzard on alternative broadcast scenarios. Blizzard introduces himself. He has been cablecasting Tompkins County meetings on
Government Access Channel 15 for over 25 years. He also maintains the Channel’s
Bulletin Board. Lately he's been broadcasting City of Ithaca meetings as well. He says he is not an engineer, but a technician and he asked himself what he would do, as a tech, in case of equipment failure. He would look for an easy fix first, such as a very dusty fan or a burned-out component and he offered to do that for the crashed studio
NEXUS. He has done his playback on the Government Channel from a Windows computer without a NEXUS and can teach how to do that at the PEGASYS studio. He offered his help to get the City's NEXUS on line at PEGASYS. b. T. Ingraham: I've lived 50 years in Ithaca. I'm retired from Finger Lakes Region
of New York State Parks. For 8 years I've been making the series "Walk in the Park" for which I got a national award. The program is popular. For several months access channel 13 has been dead. §15.3 of the Franchise says the Franchisee must make repairs, but it hasn't done so. Makes me doubt Charter's motives. I will go public if this is not resolved.
04. Comments by AOC members. G. Tsegaye: "While Jim and Mike are still here: what are the rules for an outside person fixing items on Charter property?" Montesano replies: he'll have to look into it. Van Leuken: There is no language in the Franchise Agreement that addresses this.
DePaolo to Ingraham: There is a dispute on the acquisition of new playback equipment from the equipment fund because the AOC's opinion is that it should only pay for production equipment and not for transmission and I-net related items that are in the quote procured by Charter.
05. Approval of Minutes of the November 10, 2020 Meeting. Approved with one minor change. Moved by Van Leuken, seconded by Gearhart, adopted 5-0. 06. Access Studio Coordinator Report
2
a. Written report (provided in Power-Point form, rendered below as text), including purchase of 3 laptops and software. DePaolo welcomes that reports are once more submitted in written format but asks for a different format in future. Gearhart concurs. Van Leuken asks for reports on 6d and 6c. Montesano: Stefanelli can deal with subjects
not given in the report; I'll be working with her to provide reports. DePaolo asks if there
was a problem with previous reports. Montesano: No, just want to be accurate.
b. PEGASYS’ operations during the COVID-19 pandemic – report [Discussed under 07e].
c. Channel 13’s absence of programming since September 29th – report [Discussed under 07a-b]. 07. Member Reports
a. Discussion of Jim Blizzard’s presentation.
DePaolo: intrigued by the ability to program materials from a computer rather than from NEXUS. Van Leuken proposes we let Blizzard look at the old NEXUS. DePaolo suggests that Stefanelli make it available to him in the vestibule "airlock"; there is no risk in doing this.
Tsegaye agrees: he has confidence in Blizzard. Browne agrees. The Committee
concurs that Blizzard should take a look at the crashed NEXUS to see if there is an easy fix as described at 3a. DePaolo: Blizzard also offers to see what is needed for the City of Ithaca's NEXUS to be able to operate for PEG.
The Committee accepted that offer. Van Leuken: Are we asking Blizzard to bring the City's NEXUS to the studio and install it? DePaolo: I'm in favor if he can, but does Charter oppose it? Kelly: in our call last week we reiterated our stance that we favor a replacement using new equipment, not something that could break down again.
DePaolo describes the small meeting requested by Charter last week between himself, Gearhart, City Attorney Ari Lavine, Town Supervisor Rod Howe and Charter’s Kelly, Montesano and Meyerhofer: our counter to that was, isn't some interim fix better than nothing? I appreciate Charter's advice, but in the meantime it's up to AOC to allow interim measures.
Van Leuken quotes from section 15.3-2 of the Franchise Agreement’s: “The Participating Municipalities shall approve the timing, use and amount of PEG access equipment and facilities to be acquired each year….” (this responsibility was delegated to AOC). I propose we immediately approve Blizzard's proposal to use the same equipment that he uses for Government Access (without NEXUS, just with computer).
Montesano: Re the Windows Text Scheduler: Stefanelli updated me on it. The Public Access channel has much more content than the Government one. Stefanelli: Blizzard gave me a lesson in using it plus a device. In theory I could use it. It lets you choose events and program them, but only a few, and it doesn't track time conflicts. The NEXUS has a scheduler that can deal with Channel 13’s bigger schedule.
DePaolo: So it doesn't sound optimal for Channel 13. But is there any other event scheduler for Windows? Let's look into it offline. b. Playback System replacement. DePaolo: On the City's NEXUS: Can we get it?
3
Gearhart: it is available now; favors it as an interim solution. The City would support this in order to get us back on the air. DePaolo: AOC can authorize spending money to get technical expertise, as long as Charter is unable to provide an engineer.
Tsegaye: reminds Charter of the generosity of the community to PEG. There is a long
history of donated equipment. DePaolo: Van Leuken distributed a draft resolution on Playback System Replacement. Van Leuken moved the resolution; it was seconded by W. Browne. Van Leuken moved to amend the resolution by putting in "12/8/20" instead of
"December 31, 2020." This was seconded by Browne.
The AOC discussed if this was a reasonable deadline. DePaolo: We've been asking for engineer support for months. We could make it Dec. 15 but not later. Vote: 4-1 in favor of the amendment "12/8/20." The AOC voted on the amended resolution.
Playback System Replacement WHEREAS PEGASYS’s Playback System (the "NEXUS”) crashed on May 6, 2020 and could not be repaired; and
WHEREAS, PEGASYS’ staff could continue the programming of Channel 13 by using the City of Ithaca’s NEXUS until September 30 when it was disconnected by the City; and WHEREAS, on June 15 the Access Oversight Committee (“AOC”) received a Sales
Quote for the replacement of the NEXUS for $29,320.00 that was prepared by Audio Video Corporation at the request of Charter Communications (“Charter”); and WHEREAS, a review of the Quote found that it included equipment for the i-Net and transmission services that cable companies themselves must provide pursuant to the
Franchise Agreement of 2003 and Section 16 CRR-NY 895.4(c)(7) of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations; and WHEREAS, the discussion of these issues between Charter and the AOC is ongoing, and
WHEREAS, Channel 13 has been off the air since September 30; and WHEREAS, the City of Ithaca has donated its NEXUS to the AOC; NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the AOC accepts the City’s NEXUS to be
installed at PEGASYS to restore Channel 13’s programming, and to be used until a permanent solution is reached; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the AOC requests Charter’s assistance to install the NEXUS at PEGASYS at their earliest convenience, but not later than December 8, 2020,
after which time, AOC will investigate hiring a qualified installer. Resolution passes 5-0.
4
c. I-Net “end equipment” maintenance cost shift. DePaolo reports on last week's small meeting (see 7a). Lauren Kelly provided details on an E-mail she had sent out earlier in the day. Since some AOC members had not had a chance to review it, no further discussion took place.
d. Inclusion of PEG Channels on Spectrum App. DePaolo: at last week’s meeting (see 7a) we also discussed inclusion of PEG channels on the Spectrum app. I made the case that only PEG channels require a set-top box; this is an unlawful paywall. We are awaiting Charter's investigation of this.
Mark Meyerhofer asks about DePaolo's home setup: Charter is surprised that DePaolo
gets certain other channels without a set-top box. This is how we provide the service; the [New York State] Public Service Commission has approved it. DePaolo: how would it not be a paywall if I couldn't access PEG? Meyerhofer: there are other channels that we offer that you can't get without a set-top box.
DePaolo: is it for technical reasons or is it policy to not provide PEG channels on the
app? Meyerhofer: We're in compliance. I will leave it at that. Browne: Couldn't you switch on the app for them in a few hours? Meyerhofer: Our tech guys say no. Browne to Kelly: If you're in charge of government relations, do you think that it's good
government relations to decide not to provide elected officials with their channel to
address themselves to wide segments of the public? Kelly: It's a higher-up decision in the company, but we do give input from these conversations to the company. DePaolo: is this a nation-wide policy? Kelly: I don’t believe so. DePaolo: If what I'm saying is true about channels on my app, to me that's a paywall
and I'm sure a judge would see it the same way. e. PEGASYS building re-opening per NYS reopening plan for “Media Production”. DePaolo: last week we agreed with Charter that it's probably prudent to keep the facility closed, but we hope for Charter to evaluate this in a more targeted way.
f. PEGASYS Access Rules - annual review. DePaolo: Last week we discussed the role of the Access Coordinator. She has been helping with programs for a long time including those with her in front of the camera; Meyerhofer cited the rules (Policies and Procedures, p.6) "producers are responsible for
assembling their own crew" and "Producers may not expect PEG staff to serve as crew"; I said we'd propose a change in the rules to permit discretionary participation by staff. Tsegaye is concerned: he warns of conflicts of interest. "I don't want to put future public access coordinators in a tricky situation." Gearhart: I see that; but during the training the
coordinator does participate. So I think we need to make it possible. Van Leuken: There's never been a problem with that till now. We can amend the Manual when problems come up. DePaolo: "Sole discretion of staff" is not to deprioritize other responsibilities of staff. Tsegaye: How do you define "discretion" here? DePaolo: = the ability to say 'yes' or 'no'.
I think we should continue the decades-long tradition. Tsegaye: But if Charter finds it's not a good use of company time? DePaolo: I see this as an expansion of doing the Charter job.
5
Tsegaye asks Montesano: is this part of the coordinator's job to help make shows? What does Charter feel? Montesano: The Coordinator is for tech support and training. Stefanelli would be allowed to produce only on her own time. That's Charter's policy. DePaolo asks for a policy document. Mike will get back to DePaolo on that.
DePaolo: Where is the problem that we're trying to solve by imposing such a policy on
Stefanelli? Is it uniformity across all facilities? Is it anticipating a potential future problem? There was no response. Van Leuken explains proposed amendments to sections of the Policies and Procedures
Manual (“the Manual”). DePaolo proposes additional changes. Gearhart moved and
Browne seconded the following resolution. Resolution of Approval to amend Sections III, IV, VII and VIII of the Policies and Procedures Manual of March 3, 2020 as amended
WHEREAS, the current Policies and Procedures Manual (“Manual") for the PEGASYS Community Media Center (“PEGASYS”) was approved by the Access Oversight Committee (“AOC”) on March 3, 2020 and amended on November 10, 2020; and
WHEREAS, the AOC wishes to amend Sections III, IV, VII and VIII of the Manual;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the AOC approves amending the Policies and Procedures Manual, as described further in the attached document, “Policies and Procedures Manual – Amendments of December 1, 2020”.
Policies and Procedures Manual – Amendments of December 1, 2020 III. RULES WITHIN THE PEGASYS CUMMUNITY MEDIA CENTER (“PEGASYS”)
III.1 Hours of Operation PEGASYS has the following hours of operation: 5:30 PM - 9:30 PM Monday, Tuesday and Thursday
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM Wednesday. PEGASYS will be closed at certain holidays. Hours may change during staff vacations. Notification of closings or changes in hours of operation will be posted on the PEGASYS Notice Board and forwarded by Email to all
producers as well as the members of the AOC. IV. THE PRODUCTION PROCESS IV.1 Production Planning
Staff is available to help Producers get the most from PEGASYS’ production facilities. It is best to make an appointment for time-intensive production consultations. This is mandatory for New Producers.
6
IV.2 Production and Equipment Reservations Production time and equipment will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
To reserve studio, editing or portable facilities or equipment you must: a. be a Certified Producer; b. have a current Public Access Cablecast Agreement and Producer Responsibility Contract on file; and
c. have an individual or series project profile created by Staff.
Cancellations of reservations must be made no later than one week before the scheduled date.
Producers are responsible for assembling their own crew. All technical crew
must have completed PEGASYS training. Although producers may not expect PEGASYS Staff to serve as crew on their productions, Staff may serve as crew on productions, at the sole discretion of Staff.
Reservations for non-PEGASYS related projects will be possible on a short-
term basis and only when the requested equipment is not reserved or used for PEGASY projects. Such rentals are subject to the Rental Fee Schedule, attached at Section VIII-9. Staff will determine if the renter’s prior training on the PEGASYS equipment is sufficient. Disputes should be brought before the
AOC for a final decision. VII.4 Bulletin Boards The Community Bulletin Board (CBB) is an electronic calendar of upcoming
community events, running on the Public Access channel when local programming is not scheduled. It is available at no charge for non-commercial events. Space is limited to a few lines of text: what, when, and where the event will be held, and contact information, if desired. Items for the Community Bulletin Board should be Emailed to PEGASYS Staff at
Lauren.Stefanelli@charter.com. The Governmental Bulletin Boards runs on the Governmental Access and are administered by the Tompkins County Clerk and the City Clerk.
VIII APPENDIX 9. Commercial Rentals Commercial Rentals
PEGASYS facilities are available for commercial rental during hours not designated for PEG access use. Facility rentals do not include Staff. Pre-requisite for use is prior training on PEGASYS equipment or equivalent experience. Reservations for studio or editing facilities must be made at least one week in advance. Reservations for portable
7
equipment are available on very short-term basis only. Confirmation can be made no more than 48 hours in advance in order to preserve priority for access use. Payment is required at the time of rental.
Current Rates are: Main Studio $110 / hour Non-Linear Editing Computer on-site $50 / hour
[Adobe Premiere CS6] JVC GY150U Digital Camera [including tripod, AC adapter, mic and 2 batteries] $60 / up to 24 hours Sony NX5 Digital Camera [including tripod, AC adapter, mic and 2 batteries] $75 / up to 24 hours GoPro Hero 2 Digital Camera [including 1 battery and 1 mount of choice] $25 / up to 24 hours
Accessories Type A: [per item] $10 / up to 24 hours [individual lights with stands/reflectors, Mics [wired or wireless], tripods, other smaller items] Accessories Type B: [per item] $40 / up to 24 hours [multiple light kit, Premiere edit laptop, Video switcher, digital audio recorder] Vote 4-1; the resolution passes.
[T. Ingraham leaves the meeting.] g. Usage Fees – annual review of impact, collections, levels and use. The AOC agrees not to change the fee structure or the allowable uses of the fees.
h. Staffing levels and Business Hours - annual review and recommendations. DePaolo: To discuss this, we need data from Charter that hasn't been forthcoming for some years. Are the hours of operation 20 hours a week? Stefanelli: 16. DePaolo: are we OK with the choice of hours?
Tsegaye: Are we getting feedback from producers on the hours? Stefanelli: The hours that we have are mostly working well and satisfying producers. Some particularly like the Wednesday afternoon hours. DePaolo: the issue of access to personnel costs is being taken up in franchise negotiations. We won't get into it now.
The AOC agrees to leave things as they are. i. Terms of Board Members. Gearhart: only DePaolo's term is listed as expiring on the City website.
8
j. Publicity, outreach and networking - Subscriber Information. Van Leuken cites §15.9 of the Franchise Agreement: "Subscriber Information on Access. The Franchisee, at a minimum, shall provide each
subscriber information on the availability of the access channels, production equipment,
training and the Franchisee’s address and telephone number on an annual basis.” She asks Montesano and Kelly about it as she cannot remember receiving this information from Charter. Kelly: will look into it. - Outreach/Networking to NY PEG entities (Rob G.). Gearhart explains that
each semester there are students at Ithaca College that participate in Government and
Media projects. This could include research of New York State’s PEG facilities. Tsegaye: reminder: faculty teaching a particular IC course has to buy into such a project. My suggestion: Park Scholars do it as a community service. DePaolo: When do we propose it for next semester? Gearhart: by early February.
DePaolo: Let's us 3 discuss it.
- Outreach Pamphlet for Not-for-Profits. Van Leuken presented the pamphlet that was put together to explain PEGASYS to not-for-profits. Let's look at it for the next meeting.
08. Old Business a. Franchise Agreement. DePaolo: still waiting for a draft proposal from Amanda Lanham, Director of Local Government Affairs and Franchising of Charter (was to be sent last month).
09. New Business. 10. Next meeting: 5 pm Tuesday, January 5, 2021.
11. Adjournment 7:05.
================ Authority: City of Ithaca code Chapter 18, "Cable Access Oversight Committee". Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Ithaca 11-5-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-17. Available at https://ecode360.com/8386207. Contact information for AOC members: City of Ithaca: Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu>. City of Ithaca: Rob Gearhart, Common Council liaison 2019- <rgearhart@cityofithaca.org>. City of Ithaca: member Gossa Tsegaye <gossavision@twcny.rr.com>, <tsegaye@ithaca.edu>. Town of Ithaca: Rich DePaolo, chair <rd@richdepaolo.com>, <RDePaolo@town.ithaca.ny.us>. Village of Cayuga Heights: Wies van Leuken, vice chair <pmv4@cornell.edu>.
Web site for the PEGASYS Community Media Center studio, with program schedules: https://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
9
Access Oversight Committee Meeting PEG Coordinator Report | Ithaca, NY 14850 December 1, 2020 Equipment Maintenance/Repair Issues: • Request for purchase of edit laptops and software in progress. Paperwork was submitted to Government Affairs. Accounting department will generate B&H Photo check. Equipment Recommendations: • Before each meeting PEG Coordinator will evaluate equipment in facility to see if any recommendations need to be made. There are no new recommendations this month. PEG Rules and Guidelines: • The PEG Rules and Guidelines document is currently under review. We would like to make suggestions to update policies and procedures at the beginning of the year. Cablecast Common Council/Other Meetings Monthly Summary: • 11/4- Ithaca Common Council Meeting- Prepared for playback on Gov. Access Channel. • 11/18- Planning and Economic Development Committee Meeting- Prepared for playback on Gov. Access Channel. • 11/25- City Administrator Committee Meeting- Prepared for playback on Gov. Access Channel. Non-resident summary: Current balance for PEG Usage Fees as of November, 2020 is $459.00. PEGASYS Usage Fees Report: Fees Collected and Spent through November, 2020
Total Balance 2019 $495.00
Name Municipality Period Amount Status
Greg Levins Rental 2/20/2020 $25.00 PAID
Wies van Leuken Awards Entry Fee 3/2/2020 $15.00 PAID
Fred Balfour Dryden Town Jan-June $20.00 PAID
Andy Finkle Dryden Town Jan-June $20.00 PAID
Total Fees 2020 $80.00
Authorized Payments To For Payments Date
PEGASYS Awards Judges Lunch -$20.00 3/8/2020
PEGASYS Awards Tumblers -$14.00 3/8/2020
Production HD Webcam -$82.00 3/8/2020
Total Payments 2020 -$116.00
Total Balance 2020 $459.00