TC 07-06-94Cable Television Advisory Committee
Regular Meeting
July 6, 1994
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by chairman Laird Huntsman.
ROLL
CALL:
Present: Huntsman, Jane Chiavacci, Carol Marble, Donna Poggi, J.M. Wincn
Staff: Donna Krey, Laura Newman
Guests: Len Batchelor, Linda Grodt
APPROVAL OF JUNE 1, 1994 MINUTES
Carol Marble requested that the following be added to the I-NET/Educational Report under
New Business:
"Doug Fowler of Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) reported that he thinks the I-NET
cable came in across the field on the telephone wires, but does not know where it is connected into the
Portal School. He was on a two month medical leave and it was done while he was gone. He has tried
to call Gary Hacker several times, but phone calls were not returned. He just needs TCI to send
someone out to meet with him and show him where line is connected. (This is work agreed upon in
1980 franchise agreement.) Daryl Henderson will look into this. Also, Harvey Barnett of CUSD has a
question about number of feet TCI allows for free installation of cable to schools. Kimberly Lawrence
of TCI will call to explain the policy to Mr. Barnett.
Karen Burnett of Fremont Union High School District reported that her district plans to partner
with Sunnyvale with the television studio at De Vargas School."
Marble moved to accept the minutes as amended; Mike Winch seconded and it was passed
unanimously.
COMMUNICATIONS
Oral: Linda Grodt extended thanks to Donna Krey for including information about Silicon
Kids in the Cupertino Scene. The San Jose Mercury News Extra section also included an article about
the show winning several BACE Awards.
Jane Chiavacci reported that she is still trying to coordinate a meeting between herself and
Andy Zander of the Public Safety Commission to discuss the possibility of doing a public service
announcement on earthquake safety. She will let Donna Poggi know when the meeting will occur.
Len Batchelor reported that another 50 + subscribers were informed that they were delinquent
in paying their cable bills, which also included late charges, and a notice that if payment wasn't
received in five days, they would be disconnected and there would be a reconnect charge. This is the
second month in a row that this occurrence happened for Cupertino customers.
Batchelor also reported that thre6 channel changes had occurred recently without any prior
notification. Lifetime was moved from 35 to 42; the new BAY-TV was placed on 35; and the
International Channel was moved from 42 to 64. He pointed out that these changes are fine if the
converter will go past 60. His converter didn't and so he returned it to TCI.
The committee stated that they had requested a 30 day notification of any channel changes.
Batchelor stated that on July 1 TCI showed the old line-up.
The committee agreed that a letter should be sent from the city protesting the no notification of
the three channels that were affected as well as the mistakes that are happening with the posting of the
bills. Krey will be happy to draft the letter and send it out.
Huntsman asked Krey if there would be a violation of the Brown Act if the cities of Cupertino,
Palo Alto, Los Altos and Mountain View were going to discuss technical issues that would be of help
to each city. She said if there was less than a quorum of each committee, then there would be no
violation.
Written: None.
OLD BUSINESS
Status of re-franchising effort: Krey reported that the last meeting with TCI regarding re-
franchising was short in duration. TCI is informing the city that since they have no idea who will be
regulating them, i.e. PUC, FCC, cities, that they do not intend to give anything extra. A lot of the
discussions had been centered around items not included in the current franchise, such as things for the
educational community, public access, etc. The city manager, the assistant city attorney and Krey will
meet and discuss what future strategy will be for continuing negotiations.
A positive development has come from the negotiations. TCI agreed that they needed to
provide a second Educational Channel to De Anza College based on the current franchise, which states
that if the capacity is reached, a second channel is required. TCI would like the city to decide which
channel to drop in order to add this second channel.
Krey said the city presented a list of sanctions to TCI for such things as outages. The response
from TCI was received three months later and is being evaluated.
A tentative meeting has been set for August 11.
NEW BUSINESS
Discussion regarding grants policy: The original deadline passed with no grant applications
submitted. It was then extended a second time and there were still no grant applications. The
committee discussed whether to continue the process as it is or revamp it. It was decided that utilizing
more publicity would be helpful as well as polling the producers for their feedback. Ron Fish said he
thought the reason for the lack of grant applications was because the committee had changed the
process to focus the subject matter on Cupertino or pertaining to Cupertino. Chiavacci volunteered to
attend any meetings at the upcoming Community Alliance conference regarding grants policy and
report back to the committee. Marble will assist Fish in putting together a draft survey to be
distributed to the producers requesting their input and will report back to the committee.
Selection and approval of CTVAC member's attendance at annual Alliance for
Community Media conference: Wincn made a motion to select Jane Chiavacci to represent the
committee at the upcoming Alliance for Community Media conference in Hawaii; Poggi seconded and
the motion carried unanimously.
Discussion of cancellation of August meeting: Chiavacci made a motion to cancel the August
meeting of the Cupertino CATVC; Poggi seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
Insurance program for public access: Fish said he would bring any information about this
subject back from the conference in Hawaii. He also said that De Anza College does carry accidental
insurance, but not liability insurance, for public access producers. He was asked to find out whether
producers are covered by the insurance if they are working off campus. The equipment insurance
program has a $25,000 deductible. He will report his findings to the committee at the next meeting.
Update on remote package proposal: Fish requested this item be continued to the September
meeting and the committee agreed.
TCI policy regarding Pay-Per-View payments: Krey reported that Daryl Henderson would
be sending a memo regarding pay-per-view reporting procedures.
Huntsman asked whether it would be appropriate to request the attendance of someone from
TCI at the September meeting to discuss this issue if Henderson was not able to attend. Krey said that
since she was going to write TCI a letter anyway, she would mention the importance of having a TCI
representative at the monthly committee meetings in order to answer questions. She will also suggest
that if Henderson knows he will not be able to attend, he should arrange to have someone attend in his
place.
De Anza College: Fish distributed copies of his monthly access director's report. Chiavacci
expressed her concern that De Anza College was not properly monitoring the cablecasts and that she
had tried unsuccessfully to contact Dave Barney to discuss the matter with him. Following discussion,
Fish gave the cablecast studio number to Chiavacci to call whenever she saw the technical problems
that she was concerned with.
He said the infomercial program is on hold because of the lack of staff.
Wincn made a suggestion for the news show to slow the disclaimer down as it went across the
screen.
Councilmember Wally Dean gave Fish a demonstration of CityNet, and Fish said he was going
to become a subscriber.
City of Cupertino: Krey reported that the rates that are supposed to go into effect on July 14
are not compatible with what the city thought was going to happen. She received several calls from
citizens who received the new rates in their bill. The Cupertino system dropped its basic rate by $.08
and all of the other services went up. The former Heritage system dropped its basic rate by $.02 with
most other services increasing slightly. TCI's Form 393 reported that they were above the FCC
benchmark by $0.77, which meant that they were charging that much more to the majority of the
residents. The city then asked TCI to reduce its rates by $0.77. Then the new rate cards were sent out
showing a drop in basic rate by $0.08.
Krey went on to state that she had met with representatives of the cities of Fremont, San Jose,
Los Altos, Sunnyvale and Campbell (also serviced by TCI) to discuss similar problems each city is
having with TCI. The group will meet again following receipt of the new Form 1200 (due by Aug. 14)
for some brainstorming of ideas.
Krey said the Cupertino Scene contained a notice which stated the city did not agree with the
rates being charged by TCI. TCI offered to meet with the city to go over their reasons and rationale as
to why the cities weren't notified in advance that these rates were coming. She said both Wincn and
Batchelor should attend this meeting, which is scheduled for July 14.
TCI: Krey distributed copies of the report she received from TCI.
I-NET/Educational: Marble reported that Doug Fowler called her back and told her that TCI
responded rapidly. He had received a call from TCI the day after last month's meeting. TCI came out
to Portal School and checked out the system. They said the I-NET cable that they were supposed to
have installed was above the roof of conference room C. Fowler called back to ask how they were
supposed to use the cable if it was up on the roof. TCI came back and installed the cable in the room
where the district wants it. Fowler was very appreciative of the quick response time. The next step
would be for TCI to provide training to the school district on how to use the system.
Karen Bumett of the Fremont Union High School District said that Cupertino High School is
interested in some type of studio broadcast capability and really wants to use video in their
instructional plan. The District will also be getting quotes for costs to wire all of the classrooms at
Cupertino High School. Marble will check with Burnett about receiving a grant from the state to set up
a studio at Cupertino High School.
ADJOURNMENT
Chiava¢ci made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:12 p.m. to September 7, Marble seconded
and the motion passed unanimously.
ATTEST:
City Clerk
APPROVED: ')
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