TC 09-03-97 Cupertino Teleeommnnleations Commission
Regular Adjourned Meeting
Sept. 3, 1997
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Ernest Tsui at 6:30 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Commissioners Present: L.T. Guttadauro, Bill Mannion, Sal Algeri and Ernest Tsui.
Absent: Mike Wincn
Staff: Donna Krey, Laura Newman
De Anza College: Ron Fish
TCI: Dave Walton, Bruce Dinger
Guests: Linda Grodt, Dean Chamberlain
REVIEW OF COMMISSION'S 1997 GOALS
Telecommunication liaison: Commissioners clarified the scope of this project, agreeing
that present liaison activities be confined to the Los Altos sister channel. They indicated they
- wanted to see a copy of the Los Altos producer agreement and asked Krey to find out when the
Los Altos cable board's next meeting would take place. Krey said she would ask Wincn to
provide that information. Wincn will continue to act as the liaison and other members voiced
interest in attending the Los Altos meetings as well.
Mannion made a motion to formalize the goal through the creation of a liaison between
the Cupertino Telecommunications Commission and the Los Altos cable board for the purpose of
understanding how they conduct business and to offer an open channel of communication. Algeri
seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
Production of videotapes: Tsui said he was unable to contact Marquita Byrd to find out
the status of her project on cultural richness, but he offered to be the lead on pursuing the project
and requesting from her a status report. He said he would ask for a written or verbal report by
Oct. 1. He also said the Public Safety Commission has plans for producing a videotape and
suggested deleting the public safety videotape from the list of projects. Guttadauro made that
motion; Mannion seconded and it passed unanimously.
Mannion then moved to consolidate "stewardship" with "cultural richness." Guttadauro
seconded and the motion passed with Tsui dissenting. Commissioners also agreed to delete "local
news" from the list, saying that was a videotape project that Fish could pursue. For the "annual
report" video, Mannion offered to be the lead and said the tape could be played on the access
channel, as well as given to the council. Tsui will work with Mannion to develop a script for the
tape, which will be available to commissioners at the next meeting. Commissioners were asked
to e-mail to Tsui their ideas for what accomplishments should be included. Guttadauro made a
motion to meet a half-hour early at the October meeting to discuss the annual report. Mannion
seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
Communily educa~on event: Commissioners discussed possible topics for an event in
1998 and agreed to keep this as a goal. This will be agendized for more discussion at the October
meeting.
Promotion/as, at, ness of access channel: Commissioners agreed ~his is an ongo'mg goal.
Web page: This. too, is an ongoing goal, commissioners decided.
Special award for access producers: Krey said she would make the nomination
applications available to a subcommittee, which would meet prior to the next commission
meeting. The subcommittee will review all nominations and make a recommendation to the
whole board at the October meeting.
APPROVAL OF AUGUST 6, 1997 MINUTES
Mannion made a motion to approve the minutes as written; Algeri seconded and the
motion passed unanimously.
COMMUNICATIONS
Oral: Dean Chamberlain from The Better Part asked Fish what the status was on the
repair of the Toaster in the access facility. Fish reported that three .edit suites have broken down
and the Toaster is the most serious, because computer repairs take longer than VCR repairs. To
fix the other two suites, he stripped the Toaster. This piece of equipment will be repaired as soon
as possible.
Outtadauro told commissioners he attended TCI's open house event at the new facility,
and was very impressed with the operation, noting that the beadend will be installed at the
beginning of next year.
Written: Krey distributed copies of a San Jose Mercury News article regarding the small
circle of ownership in the cable industry.
OLD BUSINF~S
1997 project timeline: There were no changes
Promotion/awareness of channel: Krey called commissioners' attention to information
she compiled regarding the cost of placing ads in the Cupertino Courier and the cost of
purchasing small promotional items, such as magnets, keychains and mugs. Commissioners
agreed newspaper ads were not a good use of funds, and decided to pursue the idea of television-
shaped magnets, with a "watch Channel 26" message inscribed. Krey said she would provide the
magnet design and order the minimum amount (500). Algeri offered to provide input on the
design, as well.
.Web page update: Guttadauro said the Web page for the access channel has been
updated with current information and that he was waiting for the city to fill its vacant MIS
position, so that a link could be established from the city's site to the De Anza page. Krey said
the city is in the process of recruiting an infom~ation technology person, but the position has
proved difficult to fill, and it could take a while before someone was hired. At the suggestion of
Tsui, Guttadauro offered to look into the San Jose Mercury's television web page to see if
listings for the public access channel could be included.
NEW BUSINESS
Report from City of Cupertino: Krey told commissioners that the city would conduct a
community satisfaction survey sometime in the fall and that she hoped there would be questions
on it pertaining to viewership of both government and public access channels. She also reported
that The City Channel has scheduled a full slate of election programming to be aired during the
month of October. Also, a meeting has been scheduled with TCI to discuss plans for the
Cupertino rebuild on Wednesday, Oct. 1.
Report from De Anza College: Fish told commissioners he would be on vacation for
two weeks beginning Oct. 1. He said a new access Pub !lhow would begin airing on the channel
and that the character inserter (bug) has been ordered and should arrive in three weeks. The
scheduled producer meeting was canceled and another meeting will be announced soon; Fish will
e-mall members with the date. He also said that repairs to the facility have been made, as the
college promised. Tsui asked Fish to e-mail him with a list of repairs that have been done, so that
he can write to Willie Pritchard thanking him for his attention to the repair work.
Report from TCI: Dinger reviewed the company's monthly report, explaining that the
call answering time was not up to usual standards because of the volume of calls from residents
transferring service from Pacific Bell to TCI in San Jose. Walton told commissioners that he
would bring a guest to the October meeting to discuss TCI's all-digital television project.
ADJOURNMENT
At 8:25 p.m., Guttadauro made a motion to adjourn the meeting to 6:30 p.m., Oct. I.
Mannion seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
ATTEST: APPROVED:
C~ Chairman