HomeMy WebLinkAboutCable Advisory Board 1993 Minutes MINUTES 12-03-93A09 : 44 ROVD
CABLE ADVISORY BOARD
REGULAR MEETING
Wednesday, July 7, 1993, 5:30 PM
10th Floor Conference Room, City Hall
At the scheduled regular meeting time, Board Chairperson Therese Porn
called the meeting to order and noted that a quorum was present.
ROLL CALL
Members present were: Therese Clingman Porn
Beth Aldrich
Rudy Reyes
Ryan Wilson
Luke Schafer
Members absent were: Frank Buzzitta, excused
Pauline Johnson-West, excused
Also present were:
Pat Wilson, Lansing System General Manager, Continental Cablevision
Michelle Webb, Programming Director, Continental Cablevision
Susan Halverson, Lansing School District
Ron Onufer, City Council Principal Legislative Assistant
REPORTS
From the Chairperson:
Chairperson Porn suggested that a letter of apprecation be sent to Dr.
Richard Funk, who had asked the Mayor to not reappoint him to the Board
for a new term because he was moving out of Lansing. Mr. Wilson moved
that the letter be sent; motion carried unanimously.
Ms. Porn also suggested that a card of condolence be sent to Jan Holcomb,
widow of former Boardmember Jim Holcomb who had recently passed
I
away. Ms. Adrich moved that the card be sent; motion carried
unanimously.
Ms. Porn noted that Harold Leeman, a frequent attendee of City Council
meetings, had publicly criticized the Board for not meeting on a regular
basis. The chairperson explained that she would cancel any meeting for
which there were no agenda items.
Continuing, Ms. Porn advised the Board that several changes were
upcoming due to the new federal cable law. Topics such as retransmission
consent and rate changes were likely to cause discussion throughout the
community, and the chair urged Boardmembers to keep current with
media reports on these matters.
Chairperson Porn then reported the successful compromise to resolve the
situation centered on Cable Channel 39. The City and Continental had
executed a franchise amendment that labeled Cable Channel 39 as an
"other" access channel operated by GNS. In return, GNS agreed to not seek
City grant funding for development of their programming or operation of
their channel. (Boardmembers have been provided with a copy of the
executed franchise amendment.)
In a post mortem of the first combined cable programming awards
ceremony, Ms. Porn acknowledged that she, as mistress of ceremonies, had
botched the introduction of Boardmember "Whatshisname". The awards
planning committee would next meet on Tuesday, September 14, at 4 PM.
The new chair of this committee is Rick Arons, and next April's ceremony
will be in East Lansing.
The chair then noted that Cable Channel 28 would be replacing and
upgrading production equipment soon, since one of the cameras just died.
Mr. Reyes moved to send a letter to the City Council to proceed as soon as
possible with the equipment upgrade; motion carried unanimously.
Finally, Chairperson Porn passed on a question asked of her by cable
subscribers: Why can't other channels be shown so network programs are
not pre-empted by Tiger games? Ms. Wilson responded that this matter
was tied to the retransmission consent provision of the new law, and that
local broadcast channels had the right to prohibit Continental from
importing another network affiliate.
From the Vice Chair: absent
From the Secretary: Mr. Onufer reported the status of programming
grants currently in progress.
From the General Manager: Ms. Wilson reported that Continental was
in complete compliance with provisions of the new federal law as of July 1.
She also noted that the drive-up window was now being staffed until 6:30
PM on Mondays for added customer convenience.
From the Lansing School District: Ms. Halverson reported that all
secondary schools except Sexton H.S. have had cable installed. In addition,
Continental has provided X-Press boxes to all schools, and Cable in the
Classroom literature to all school buildings.
ELECTION OF 1993-94 BOARD OFFICERS
Chairperson Porn announced that the floor was open for nominations for
the office of chairperson for the coming year. Mr. Schafer nominated Ms.
Porn. No further nominations were forthcoming. Ms. Porn was declared
chairperson for another year by acclamation.
Ms. Porn then announced that the floor was open for nominations for the
office of vice chairperson. Mr. Schafer nominated Mr. Reyes. No further
nominations were forthcoming. Mr. Reyes was declared vice chairperson
for the coming year by acclamation.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 PM.
Prepared by Ron Onufer, Board Secretary
Approved by the Board on September 8, 1993
FOR THE CABLE ADVISORY BOARD
THERESE CLINGMAN PORN
Chairperson