TC 11-01-95 Cable Television Advisory Committee
Regular Meeting
November 1, 1995
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by chairperson Mike Wincn.
ROLL CALL:
Present:, Donna Poggi, Paul Rodwick, Ernest Tsul, J.M. Wincn
Absent: Laird Huntsman
Staff: Donna Krey
De Anza College: Ron Fish
Guests: Linda Grodt, Don Yaeger, Karen Lopez, City of Sunnyvale, Daniel Wade
APPROVAL OF OCT. 4, 1995 MINUTES
Paul Rodwick made a motion to approve the minutes as written; Ernest Tsul seconded and the
motion passed unanimously.
COMMUNICATIONS
Oral: Linda C-rodt informed the committee that Channel 38A was now carrying KCSM and
-- not the access channel. Donna Krey told the committee she would contact Kathi Noe and find out what
was going on. Don Yaeger told the committee that he had won a W.A.V.E. Award for his cable
production Able Cable.
Written: There were no written communications.
OLD BUSINESS
Review of ordinance for newly expanded committee: The committee reviewed the ordinance
and made some minor grammatical changes. In addition, they requested that another bullet item be
added under the "Responsibilities" section and that eighth bullet item would read: "Foster city's best
use of telecommunications infrastructure for the benefit of the community." That will be added to the
ordinance. Krey said that the ordinance would now be passed on to the city attorney and would then be
submitted to the city council, hopefully by the first of the year, for approval. The ordinance also
includes a name change for the committee to the "Cupertino Telecommunications Commission."
Rodwick made a motion to recommend the new ordinance to the city council with the changes; Donna
Poggi seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
NEW BUSINESS
Committee response to request from Producer Don Yaeger for Cupertino/Sunnyvale
Access interconnection: Karen Lopez informed the committee that TCI has not yet disclosed the cost
of how much it will be to establish that intereonnection, however, she said the attitude of TCI has
changed and it appears now that the cable company is interested in making that connection. Originally,
.- TCI wanted to wait until after the franchise negotiations with Cupertino were completed. That has
happened, and according to Lopez, TCI is looking to go forward on this particular project with
Sunnyvale and Cupertino. Lopez asked the committee for a copy of the letter that the committee had
written to the city of Sunnyvale stating that it had no problems sharing programming as long as there
was no cost to the city of Cupertino. Krey told Lopez she would get a copy of that letter and Don
Yaeger also requested a copy be sent to him as well. Yaeger also told the committee that he is a lot
more optimistic that the project will be completed.
Approval of grants: Poggi reported the subcommittee's recommendations to the committee.
The first recommendation was to deny the application for Real Estate Matters because the applicant
had submitted an incomplete fomi. The subcommittee recommended that the application not be
granted this time but that the applicant be encouraged to re-submit his form including all the pertinent
information. The second grant was for a show entitled Reflection dealing with the Russian-speaking
community and the subcommittee was recommending that that grant be approved. The third grant was
for the Senior TV crew, The Better Part. The subcommittee felt that this grant was worthwhile but
they have not yet seen an accounting for the last grant so they recommended that this grant be
approved on the condition that an accounting would be submitted relating to the last grant that the
committee has given to this crew. And the fourth grant was for Silicon Kids, and the subcommittee
recommended its approval. The motion was made by Ernest Tsui to accept the recommendations of
the subcommittee, Winch seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Krey told the committee that
a report would be going to the city council at the November 20 meeting and that when those
recommendations were approved, the city would send checks out to those who had been awarded
grants. Each of the grants is for $250. The committee also wanted to make sure that Ron Fish was
made aware of who the producers were who had applied. The subcommittee agreed to inform Fish as
to who the applicants were. Poggi also volunteered to write letters to each of the applicants and to mm
those into the city to be typed on city letterhead.
Mayor's Breakfast: Poggi gave a brief report on the Mayor's breakfast.
City of Cupertino: Krey informed the committee that negotiations on the TCI franchise
renewal had been completed and a report was going to the city council on November 6. She
highlighted some of the major provisions of the renewal agreement, including TCI's contribution of
$1.6 million for PEG support and a system which will be rebuilt within 30 months of the effective date
of the agreement. She also told the committee that the terms of the agreement included two-way video
capability for all elementary schools and a 25 percent discount for up to 75 residents in Cupertino who
are low-income disabled subscribers. She told the committee that they would each have copies of the
new agreement sent to them the next day and invif~,xt them to attend the council meeting where the
subject would be discussed. In addition, Krey thanked the committee for its involvement in the
negotiation process and for the time spent in developing recommendations for the negotiations.
De Anza College: Ron Fish did not have a written report but he told the committee that the
access channel had seven finalists in the W.A.V.E. Awards and four first-place winners.
TCI: There was no report since Kathi Noe was absent.
ADJOURNMENT
Poggi made a motion to adjourn at 8:20 p.m.; Wincn seconded and the motion passed
unanimously. The next meeting will be held Dec. 6, 1995, at 7 p.m.
ATTEST: APPROVED: