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TC 03-01-95 Cable Television Advisory Committee Regnlar Meedng March 1, 1995 MINUTES CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. by chairperson Mike Wincn. ROLL CALL: Present: Donna Poggi, J.M. Winch, Paul Rodwick, Ernest Tsui Absent: Laird Huntsman Staff: Donna Krey, Laura Newman De Anza College: Ron Fish Guests: Linda Grodt APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 1, 1995 MINUTES Donna Poggi made a motion to approve the minutes as written; Paul Rodwick seconded and the motion passed unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS None. OLD BUSINESS Presentation from Sam MacNeal: Sam MacNeal was absent from this meeting. Donna Krey will contact him and ask him if he wants to appear before the committee at its next meeting or if be wants to submit a written report. Report on insurance for access producers/equipment: This item was continued to next month's meeting due to the absence of Laird Huntsman. Report from grants subcommittee: Poggi reported that she and Rodwick had reviewed the current grants guidelines and procedures. They determined that some changes would be necessary. One possibility was to have one annual grant campaign. They also wanted to include the priorities for grant approval in the guidelines. Poggi said an explanation of the accounting requirements would be included in the guidelines. Rodwick and Poggi both agreed that a pro- active approach should be used to encourage applicants, including attending a public access producers meeting. Winch asked Grodt to provide a list of expenses for an average show which could assist the cowmi~tee in determining what kinds of things the grants could be used for. Also, the subcommittee will contact former CATVC member Len Batchelor for historical background. A draft of the revised guidelines and procedures will be available for review by the committee at its next meeting. NEW BUSINESS Fees for Alternative Cable Programmers (Mayor Dean's reques0: Krey pointed out the two documents which she had included in the committee's agenda packet as samples of what Mayor Dean was requesting from the CATVC. Both documents addressed how to maintain the .... equivalem of the franchise fees currently received from TCI as new cable providers enter the market. She distributed an updated version of the Joint Telecommunications Group position paper. Ernest Tsui and Winch will put together a draf~ recommendation to present to the committee at its next meeting. City of Cupertino: Krey info~med the committee that she is currently working on the 1995-96 budget figures. She reminded the committee that its funding is based on a percentage of the ~anchise fees received from TCI, and because there are two different systems in the city, there are two different franchise fees. The franchise fee is divided up four different ways: 35 percent to De Ao?a College for its public access operation; 17.5 percent to the CATVC; 17.5 to the government access channel; the rest is placed in a reserve fund. Some oftbe reserve fund has been made up from money that the committee has not spent during each fiscal year. Last year the city council passed a resolution that provides for distribution of funds from the reserve fund if it has reached a certain amount. Krey said most oftbe reserve fund has been used for attorney's fees during franchise negotiations, as well as for recent FCC rate regulation work and telecommunication talks. She explained that the budget for De Anza College is distributed among the fixed assets, professional services and information services line items, approximately $40,000. The materials and supplies, postage, printing, conferences, memberships and grants line items are the committee's only discretionary items. For example, if the committee requested that the grants line item be increased from $2,000 to $5,000, the money would have to come from one of the other line items. ~ Krey said she presented a report to the city council last month about the Form 1200s from TCI (the basic rate justification forms), which the council approved and signed. She said she polled some of the surrounding cities and found that Cupertino has one of the lower basic cable rates. She also gave an update to the council on franchise negotiations. A counter proposal for TCI's franchise agreement has been prepared and will be sent off to TCI in the next few days. Negotiations are expected to resume following TCI's perusal of the counter proposal. April 1 is the deadline for the review of TCI's proposal for second and third quarter rate increases. Also, another FCC form from TCI was received today which is the annual iustallation and equipment adjustment. After a quick review of this form, it appears TCI has been overcharging for equipment and installation. She will present this information to the council at its March 20 meeting and ask council to agree with the findings that rates have to be reduced on installation and equipment charges. Winch presented an idea which he thought could assist TCI's distribution of bills. This would involve using bar codes on each envelope for a quicker, more efficient way of processing mail. Krey will forward a copy of the memo to Kathi Noe for her information. Winch gave a quick summary of the recent mayor's breakfast meeting with commission chairpersons. He asked the members if they each wanted to take turns attending these meetings and the consensus was that they would attend. The next person from this committee to attend will be Donna Poggi. De Anza College: Fish distributed copies of his director's report. He told the committee that he had enlisted the city attorney's assistance with HT Electronics, the company who sold a .~-- piece of equipment that never worked properly (an editor). He will provide a copy of the letter written by the city attorney at the next meeting. .~--. Krey told Fish to provide her with a list of equipment which he wants to purchase during the next fiscal year. This will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting. TCI: Krey distributed copies of TCI's report which she received via fax earlier in the day. Kathi Noe was unable to attend the meeting. Winch said he would ask Noe to provide the numbers for December and February at the next meeting. ADJOURNMENT Rodwick made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:19 p.m.; Tsui seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The next meeting will be held April 5, 1995 at 7 p.m. ATTEST: APPROVED: