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TC 11-02-94Cable Television Advisory Committee Regular Meeting November 2, 1994 MINUTES CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by J.M. Winch, immediate past chairperson. ROLL CALL: Present: Jane Chiavacci, Donna Poggi, J.M. Wincn Absent: Laird Huntsman, Carol Marble Staff: Donna Krey, Laura Newman TCI Staff: Kathi Noe, Daryl Henderson, Troy Strahl, Jeanne Hart De Anza College: Dave Barney Guests: Linda Grodt, Sam MacNeal, Farokh Deboo, Don Yeager, Helbard Alkasadi, Joe Hamilton APPROVAL OF OCTOBER 5, 1994 MINUTES Jane Chiavacci made a motion to approve the minutes as written; Donna Poggi seconded and the motion passed unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS Oral: Linda Grodt informed the committee that two of her shows were finalists in the WAVE Awards, however, neither was a winner. Farokh Deboo, 10257 Nile Drive, introduced himself to the committee and reported a problem he has had with the cable company for several years. He replaced the converter box and had repairmen investigate but nothing fixed the problem. He wanted to find out what needs to be done and what, if any, standards the city has for establishing signal levels inside the residence. Donna Krey said the city does have technical standards for TCI. Daryl Henderson explained what procedures are used by TCI to measure technical standards, which have been established by the FCC. Troy Strahl gave his business card to Mr. Deboo and said he would research the complaint further. Wincn asked that TCI report back to the committee at the next meeting with the results of this complaint. Poggi reported she attended the recent, Far West Conference session on grants and funding. A few of the handouts included what should be put in a grant application and the use of a database of names to send proposals to. She said perhaps Ron Fish could develop this database and do a direct mailing of the proposals. Krey suggested a discussion on re-establishing the grants subcommittee for the next meeting agenda. Poggi will provide a written proposal of this information. Don Yeager stated he was at this meeting to try to get public access television channel on the air in Sunnyvale. Krey told Yeager that the committee had approved the idea of allowing our programming to go to the Sunnyvale system if they wanted, but any costs incurred would have to be borne by the city of Sunnyvale or its public access. Yeager said that the city of Los Altos was under the impression that Cupertino did not approve the idea. Wincn suggested that a copy of the letter from the committee to Sunnyvale be forwarded to the city of Los Altos. Joe Hamilton of the Fremont Union High School District introduced himself to the committee. He expressed interest in a second educational channel in Cupertino. Krey will update the committee on this subject at the next meeting. Written: None. OLD BUSINESS TCI's late fee policy: Troy Strahl, customer service manager and Jeanne Hart, business operations manager for TCI were introduced to the members and explained TCI's late fee policy. Customers can choose from 28 different billing cycles when they wish to pay their bill. As an example, Strahl distributed copies of a bill for a customer who was billed from the 1 st through the 31 st of each month. Customers have 13 days plus a 10-day grace period to make payment in a timely manner. Krey suggested TCI let its customers know they can customize their billing cycles and its policy for making payment during a vacation period. NEW BUSINESS Form 1200 explanation/discussion: Kathi Noe distributed copies of TCI's answers to Wincn and Len Batchelor's questions regarding its Form 1200. The subcommittee that reviews the FCC forms will be scheduled to analyze the answers. Winch gave a presentation on how to fill out the Form 1200, using overhead projection slides and explaining what a spreadsheet is. There was discussion about verifying the numbers used by TCI. City of Cupertino: Krey told the committee she had a meeting scheduled to discuss the second educational channel with representatives from De Anza, FUHSD and CUSD. She announced that Wally Dean will become Mayor on Nov. 16 and Don Bumett will become Vice Mayor. She displayed a chart of the structure of the U.S. cable industry for the committee's perusal. Also, Krey informed the members that she had a copy of the User's Guide to the Brown Act, which outlines how to stay legal within the open meeting laws. The guide is available to committee members. I-NET/Educational: There was no report due to Carol Marble's absence. TCI: No report. De Anza College: Dave Barney informed the committee that Bill Levan has resigned from De Anza College to take another position with Hybrid Networks. Four new producers were added to the membership list. He extended an invitation to the committee to have its next meeting at De Anza College with all of the producers. He stated that he had scheduled a meeting with Ron Fish and their counterparts at Foothill College to discuss ways to improve the station. He encouraged the members to send any suggestions they might have to Ron prior to the meeting. Barney also told the committee that he is a member of the Steering Committee for Smart Schools which is part of Smart Valley and will attend an all-day meeting at which discussion will focus on where Smart Valley will fit in with technology plans for schools. He also distributed copies of the Access Director's Report for information purposes. ADJOURNMENT: Poggi made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:19 p.m. to De Anza College for the December meeting; Chiavacci seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The next meeting will be held on December 7 at De Anza College. ATTEST: APPROVED: City Clerk Cable Television Advisory Committee Regular Meeting October 5, 1994 MINUTES CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. by chairman Laird Huntsman. ROLL CALL: Present: Huntsman, Jane Chiavacci, Carol Marble, Donna Poggi, J.M. Wincn Staff: Donna Krey, Laura Newman TCI Staff.' Kathi Noe De Anza College: Ron Fish Guests: Len Batchelor, Linda Grodt, Sam MacNeal APPROVAL OF JULY 6, 1994 MINUTES Jane Chiavacci made a motion to approve the minutes as written; Donna Poggi seconded and the motion passed unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS Oral: Linda Grodt announced that she had been interviewed by the The Neighbor, a local newspaper, for an upcoming issue. Len Batchelor related the details of an incident involving his daughter and her attempt to have TCI transfer the cable connection from a previous residence to the current residence. Mike Wincn said he had several questions for TCI with regard to the Form 1200, the FCC required form for justification of basic cable rates. Kathi Noe said she would be happy to have TCI's rate specialist available at the next meeting to address the committee. It was agreed by each of the committee members that the November meeting would be dedicated to the Form 1200 subject. Written: There was none. OLD BUSINESS Discussion regarding grants policy: Carol Marble distributed a draft survey which would be sent to all access producers in their monthly newsletter asking for their feedback regarding the current grants process. The committee approved the survey. Fish will present the results of the survey for discussion at a future meeting. Report on Alliance for Community Media Conference: Chiavacci thanked the committee for allowing her to attend the recent conference of the Alliance for Community Media held in Hawaii. She attended a session on the re-franchising process and was impressed with all of the presentations. She encouraged the other members to attend this annual event in the future. Report on insurance for access producers/equipment: This item was continued to the December meeting. Fish will provide Krey with a copy of the Producer's Agreement for inclusion in the packet. Also, Krey will check with the City Attorney for a determination of the responsibility of providing insurance for access producers and access equipment. Status of re-franchising effort: Krey said the city is waiting for a draft agreement from TCI. Kathi Noe said the draft is being reviewed by the corporate office and is expected to be delivered to the city in a couple of weeks. Krey said once the agreement is received by the city, another meeting will be scheduled. The deadline for a new franchise agreement is October, 1995. NEW BUSINESS Request from The Better Part for conference funding: Krey pointed out the letter from The Better Part requesting assistance with registration fees to attend the upcoming Far West Regional Conference in Palo Alto. She informed the committee that they could not provide The Better Part with funds from its conference and meeting budget. Following discussion, Wincn made a motion that The Better Part be informed that they must follow the grants funding process and that they be in attendance at the committee meeting when they request funding; Marble seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Winch will write the letter. The question of using grants money for conferences also came up. Approval of attendance at Far West conference: Chiavacci said she was planning to attend the conference at her own expense. Huntsman made a motion that funding be made available to any committee member who wanted to attend the Far West Conference from existing conference and meeting funds; Winch seconded and the motion carried unanimously. I-NET/Educational: Marble reported that Harvey Barnett of the Cupertino Union School District was concerned about the lack of cable connections at Collins and West Valley schools. She also said Joe Hamilton of the Fremont Union High School District may attend future CATVC meetings. Noe said TCI is in the process of budgeting for the funds which would allow them to wire all of the schools in the TCI service area by next year. It was hoped that this action would satisfy Mr. Barnett's concerns. TCI: Noe distributed copies of TCI's letter in response to Wincn's concerns regarding the recent channel lineup changes. She offered to put together a "collection scheme" which would assist the committee in reviewing TCI's late fee policy. She said she will be prepared to discuss in detail TCI's late fee policy at the November meeting. De Auza College: Fish said he attended a demonstration in San Francisco of the Video Flyer and was impressed with the quality of work it produces. He said he is still looking for volunteers to assist at the Far West Regional Conference. He thanked TCI for including an insert in recent billing statements about the three access channels. Fish reported that picture quality is still not very good on Channel 16. Krey said she would ask councilmembers in the San Jose area to monitor Channel 16 and report any problems they might encounter. Fish said he would like to have someone from TCI come out to De Anza College and check the signal modulators. He also requested new channel lineup cards from TCI; Noe said she would be sure to send them to him and to Krey. Fish informed the committee that he was in the process of placing asset tags on equipment purchased with city funds. This would be beneficial to him when keeping track of the equipment inventory. City of Cupertino: Krey said she wrote a letter to the three school districts regarding the second educational channel. So far she has received a response from Dave Barney of De Anza College expressing interest in the channel. She reported on some recent meetings held between some cities regarding Pacific Bell. A draft model agreement is being prepared by the group of cities to be presented to the phone company. ADJOURNMENT Wincn made a motion to adjourn thc meeting at 8:37 p.m.; Poggi seconded and thc motion passed unanimously. ATTEST: APPROVED: City Clerk ~-hhirPer~r/