TC 07-07-93CABLE TELEVISION ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Regular Meeting
July 7, 1993
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:09 p.m. by chairman Mike Winch.
ROLL CALL
Present: Wincn, Len Batchelor, Jane Chiavacci, Laird Huntsman and Carol Marble.
Staf~ Donna Krey
De Anza College: Ron Fish and Dave Barney
Guests: Linda Grodt
APPROVAL OF JUNE 2, 1993 MINUTES
Marble asked that the word "been" be inserted between "had" and "advised" in the second
sentence under Oral Communications. Chiavacci made a motion to approve the minutes as
corrected; Marble seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
COMMUNICATIONS
Oral: Marble reviewed concerns expressed by Jeny Prizant, educational consultant for
CUSD Concerns dealt with TCI's past promises relating to installing Cable in the Classrooms and
the confusion resulting from a lack of communication between the company's marketing.and
technical staffs.
Other concerns included CUSD redoing electronic bids and construction delays, as well as
the disappointment of teachers in not being able to have all classrooms Wired for cablev She' said
Prizant was recommending that a TCI contact person be appointed as a liaison with the schools.
Marble added that any agreements be in writing with appropriate timelines and penalties for non-
compliance.
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OLD BUSINESS ·
Status of Re-Franchising Effort: Krey said a strategy meeting among the city
negotiating team would be held Aug. 12 at 2 p.m. and she was writing a letter to TCI to suggest
dates for the first refranchising meeting. She also noted that the FCC has pushed:back the date to
certify cities for rate regulation, The new date is Oct. 1.
Access Publicity Plan: Fish distributed a proposal for prom6ting the access channel.
Ideas included publicizing a weekly news show featuring Cupertino stories,.~ having regular
program notices or schedules in the city's weekly newspapers, sponsoring TZshirt giv, eaways for
viewers, creating literature about the channel that would be mailed with TCI bills and producir/g a ·
30-second access infomercial to run on such channels as MTV and TNN He said TCI has agreed ·
to both the mailing and the infomercial and is willing to work on helping with access promotion.
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Committee members supported the proposal and Chiavacci and Marble agreed to help on
various aspects of it. The plan will begin as soon as possible.
Discussion of Cogswell College as Access Site: This item was continued to S¢[~tcmbcr
since Daryl Henderson was not present.
NFLCP Conference: Krey suggested De Anza use $1,000 out of the $40,000 it receives
from the city to fund the access director's trip to Atlanta. Barney said that money was budgeted
for other things. Committee members felt the city has funded the access director for this trip in the
past and the trend should continue, at least for this year. Krey said the committee's travel and
meeting budget is earmarked for committee members and allocating it to a De Anza College
employee was not an appropriate use of public funds. She said she had spoken to both the city
manager and the finance director and that the city would not use the funds in this way.
Barney suggested splitting the cost between the city and the college. Krey said the city
would still be using public funds for a college employee. Following discussion on all sides,
Huntsman made a motion to appropriate $500 to help defray the cost of sending Fish to the
conference. Chiavacci seconded. Krey said the check would not be cut, but the committee could
appeal the matter to the city council. The committee voted 4-1 to approve the motion. Wincn cast
the dissenting vote.
Krey said she would write a staff report and place it on the council's agenda July 19.
Committee members said they would attend the meeting and speak in favor of their
recommendation.
NEW BUSINESS
Presentation by TCI Representatives: The committee welcomed six representatives
from TCI--Wendy Seffon, local office manager; Mark Bisenius, director of engineering; Tom
Lacey, general manager; Rebecca Haugh, government and community relations manager; Sherry
Bala, area business manager and Stefen Bucek, manager of local origination and access for TCI.
Sefton began by giving a report on the local operation and distributed information on
channel lineup with three new must-carry stations, a profile of TCI, promotional material on Pay-
Per-View and a new subscriber coupon book. She said the Cupertino TCI office is making its
Digital Music Express service available to customers and that it is working on a power supply
battery replacement project to ensure power on line equipment as a way to minimize outages.
Lacey gave an overview of the TCI system, mapping out new service areas and describing
changes occuring in the industry. He spoke about technical upgrades involving fiber optics and
digital compression, saying that such advancements will alter the way people use their televisions.
Lacey said TV viewing would be "on demand," with viewers able to choose from an extensive
menu what they wanted to watch, as well as when. The new cable bills will look similar to present
telephone bills, with subscribers paying "a la carte" for services used.
Responding to questions from Wincn and Huntsman about plans for new technology,
Lacey said TCI will be forced to provide the best service and the latest technology if it expects to
stay competititive with other television providers.
Bisenius explained that fiber to the curb probably would not occur for another five to 10
years, however, fiber links have been installed within the system. Compression, he said, will begin
first with the satellite technology, but is expected in the cable industry at least by 1995. TCI also
is looking at interactivity and wiring all 250 public schools in the south bay, at a cost of $3,200
per school. Wiring individual classrooms, Lacey noted, would be too cost prohibitive.
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In answer to a question by Barney regarding a single position for all educational channels,
Lacey replied that TCI is looking at a standard lineup for its whole system, but with such diverse
systems, it will not be easy.
Krey asked how merging the Cupertino office with San Jose will affect the local
community and Lacey replied customers would receive much better service. There will be
telephone lines open every day, all day, even holidays, where subscribers may call about any issue,
including technical problems. Greater resources will be available, including construction crews, a
drafting and design department and people to make followup calls.
Batchelor asked if the two Cupertino systems would ever become one. Lacey said there is
no advantage in keeping them separate, however, with such different technical systems, it is
difficult to merge the two and would probably only happen at a much later date.
Marble expressed her concern about the I-NET and Cable in the Classroom problems and
was told Haugh will act as the liaison with the schools. Krey was also told to call Haugh when the
City Channel experiences technical problems.
Chiavacci asked about local access becoming lost in the myriad of future programming
options and Lacey said with all the new channels, there would be more opportunity for local
access productions. Bucek emphasized his support of access, saying that it gives each system its
own personality and its power lies in being able to offer news that is important to the community.
TCI's new megasystem under the San Jose office directed by Lacey will have 300,000
subscribers.
REPORTS
City of Cupertino: Krey informed the committee that Laura Newman would be available
in September to attend meetings with her and take and transcribe minutes. She said the council
approved the committee's budget and she spoke about the state budget impacts on the library.
TCI: Sefton presented the report earlier in the meeting.
De Anza College: Fish talked about installing a new dub rack for producers and ordering
an edit controller for Edit C. He said Edit A is now configured as 3/4-inch Umatic or Hi8 to Hi8.
Fish also said he has come up with goals for the year which include attracting new
viewers, recruiting five new producer groups and improving the technical quality of the programs.
A description of these goals will be included in the September packet.
I-NET/Educational: Marble said it looks like TCI will not make its July 15 deadline for
installing the I-NET cable at the sites indicated in the present franchise agreement. She is planning
to talk to Henderson and ascertain the status of the project.
ADJOURNMENT
Marble made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:53 p.m.; Chiavacci seconded and the
motion passed unanimously. The committee will meet next on Sept. 1.
ATTEST:
City Clerk
APPROVED:
Ch