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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCable Advisory Board 2003 Minutes MINUTES TELECOMMUNICATION AND CABLE ADVISORY BOARD City Council Council Conference Room 124 West Michigan Avenue Wednesday, August 13, 2003 CALL TO ORDER Meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m. co COMMITTEE MEMBERS Greg Starks, Chair Sherie Davy, Member Letitia Fowler, Vice Chair Luke Schafer, Member Ida White, Member OTHERS PRESENT Karen Schmidt, CITY-TV Christine Timmon REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES MEMBER FOWLER MOVED THE MINUTES OF MAY 14, 2003 FOR APPROVAL. APPROVED 5-0. PUBLIC COMMENT Christine Timmon: She has no complaints to forward to the Board. She believes she's been treated fairly. She explained her grant request stating that the furniture that Public Access is provided with is too heavy. They are in need of a table for the control room. She is also tired of using the same sets for all of her shows. Chairperson Starks asked her about the cameras and other equipment that is available for use by Access Producers. COMMUNICATIONS AND PETITIONS Comcast's Response to Mr. Brandon Customer Franchise Fee Adjustment, Comcast MEMBER FOWLER MOVED FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE COMMUNICATIONS AND TO BE PLACED ON FILE. APPROVED 5-0. DISCUSSION AND PENDING ITEMS Public Access Grant Requests All grant request were given a quick ones-over to review what was requested and what the Board had to offer. The funds available were $8,600. The Board then went through each request and approved the following to be forwarded to Council: Angel Aguilar Raices De La Raza 26 1/4" 60 min. tapes 20 1/4" 20 min. tapes 20 SVHS 120 tapes Videos Musicales Intn't 26 1/4" 60 min. tapes 20 1/4" 20 min. tapes 20 SVHS 120 tapes Emo Aguilar El Show De Emo Aguilar 26 1/4" 30 min. tapes 20 1/4" 20 min. tapes 20 SVHS 120 tapes Darryl Burgess Outdoor Moovies 20 SVHS 120 tapes Required Viewing 20 SVHS 120 tapes Betty Carter Cooney Comm. Awareness 80 VHS 120 tapes $250.00 (backdrops/misc) Micheal Fields Soft Vibes 52 1/4" 60 min. tapes 52 VHS 60 tapes $200.00 (backdrop) Chen Xiong/Lue Lee Hmong Am. Video Program 30 VHS 30 min. tapes 10 DVCam 184 min. tapes 30 DVD 80 min. Christine Timmon Jewels of Knowledge 40 VHS 30 min. tapes 20 VHS 60 min. tapes $200.00 (set designs) One request was denied because the application was incomplete and the program is only in conceptual form. MEMBER SCHAFER MOVED THAT THE PRECEEDING LIST OF GRANT ALLOCATIONS BE FORWARDED TO THE CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON GENERAL SERVICES FOR THEIR APPROVAL. APPROVED 5-0. LATE ITEMS None. PUBLIC COMMENT Christine Timmon: Thanked the Board for what she did get. However, she feels she got screwed and next time she will submit a separate request for all of the different shows she puts together. And as a Public Access producer, she believes that they are using the money wisely. REPORTS None The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m. Submitted by Karen Schmidt CITY-TV Manager Approved by Greg Starks, Chair DATE Z MINUTES TELECOMMUNICATION AND CABLE ADVISORY BOARD City Council Council Conference Room 124 West Michigan Avenue Wednesday, May 14, 2003 CALL TO ORDER Meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m. COMMITTEE MEMBERS Greg Starks, Chair Letitia Fowler, Member Carol Greer, Member(6:10 pm) Luke Schafer, Member ' Ida White, Member -77 -� OTHERS PRESENT r, G, Karen Schmidt, CITY-TV Margo Vroman, Law Department REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES MEMBER FOWLER MOVED THE MINUTES OF JANUARY 3, 2003 FOR APPROVAL. APPROVED 4-0. COMMUNICATIONS AND PETITIONS Letter of exchange between Comcast and Barbara Sturdivant-James Change in Email Address for Customers, Comcast MEMBER FOWLER MOVED FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE COMMUNICATIONS AND TO BE PLACED ON FILE. APPROVED 4-0. DISCUSSION AND PENDING ITEMS Request to Opt Out of EAS Program, WSYM Fox 47 Chairperson Starks suggested that the Board create a standing policy to cover request of this sort so that the businesses do not need to wait until the Board meetings. Member Fowler disagreed with creating a standing policy because she wanted to make sure that the businesses has qualifications in order to provide a better and/or faster service than EAS. Ms. Vroman mentioned that in the policy a stipulation on specifics could be addressed. Member Schafer worried about setting a precedent. Policies should have objective standards. Member Fowler believes that requests should be taken on a case by case basis. She would like to have them in to discuss what qualifications they can provide, as WLNS-TV 6 had previously. Ms. Schmidt stated that WSYM Fox 47 was willing to do just that. It was decided to invite WSYM Fox 47 in to the June 11`h meeting. LATE ITEMS Communication from William Brandon Ms. Vroman received this written complaint and mentioned that his written complaint was not nearly as informational as he was on the phone. She had asked Mr. Brandon to send the letter so that she might pass it along to Ms. Brogan of Comcast. REPORTS Attorney Ms. Vroman discussed that an account was being set up in the Attorney Department's budget to hire outside consultants for Franchise negotiations. The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Submitted by Karen Schmidt CITY-TV Manager Approved by Greg Starks, Chair DATE (3 (� MINUTES TELECOMMUNICATION AND CABLE ADVISORY BOARD City Council Council Conference Room 124 West Michigan Avenue Wednesday, January 8, 2003 CALL TO ORDER Meeting was called to order at 5:45 p.m. COMMITTEE MEMBERS Greg Starks, Chair Ida Bryanton, Member Carol Greer, Member Luke Schafer, Member OTHERS PRESENT Leslie Brogan, AT&T Broadband Steve Easley, AT&T Broadband REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES MEMBER GREER MOVED THE MINUTES OF DECEMBER 11, 2002 FOR APPROVAL. APPROVED 4-0. COMMUNICATIONS AND PETITIONS New Customers Get High Speed Internet Access Through Comcast.net, AT&T Broadband Price Change for Certain Services,AT&T Broadband Ms. Brogan went through and explained the letters. She stated that new customers to Internet who don't have video cable have a different charge. And that the price increase was done in January due to increased programming costs. Approximately 6.4% increase. This increase has nothing to do with the Comcast merger. Those with Basic service have no increase. MEMBER GREER MOVED FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE COMMUNICATIONS. APPROVED 4-0. DISCUSSION AND PENDING ITEMS Telecommunication & Cable Advisory Board Meeting Schedule of 2003 Member Greer suggested changing the meeting time to 6:00 p.m. because she believes that is when most meetings happen. Discussion took place in trying to figure out the best time to accommodate members and staff alike. The real problem lies in the vacancies on the Board. All members were encouraged to recruit new members to fill the vacancies. MEMBER SCHAFER MOVED TO APPROVE THE PROVIDED MEETING SCHEDULE DATES FOR 2003. APPROVED 4-0. Presentation, Steve Easley, Public Access Manager, AT&T Mr. Easley presented the Board with new Public Access Rules. These rules have minor modifications to what Lansing access producers are accustomed. Chairperson Stark asked for the difference between Lansing's old and new rules. 1) Scheduling of Programs. Producers are able to use one program for one month. And producers are allowed to do whatever they want with the program once its first viewing on AT&T's channel, if there facility was used to create the program. 2) Grievances should come to the Telecommunications and Cable Advisory Board for resolution. The Board discussed the Producers argument that Local Origination is over running Public Access in studio time. Mr. Easley believes LO supercedes Public Access in the Franchise. LO are starting two new programs. One is a live, call-in, roundtable discussion about local issues by 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans. The other is "Ask Your Family Lawyer." It's a local radio show that would like to move to cable. Chairperson Starks asked why these LO programs can not be produced at the Trowbridge facility. Mr. Easley mentioned that Trowbridge has only 1-%2 studios and local origination is not a franchise requirement in East Lansing. Ms. Brogan mentioned that Public Access is generally a first come, first served entity. A lot of studios do not allow producers to continue a date/time slot. Adjustments that were made earlier are sometimes forgotten, so this change is just reclaiming what LO had. Mr. Easley stated that Public Access is not like commercial television. It is open to all comers. When you have limited resources you need to be a little more flexible and shake things up every once in awhile. REPORTS None. The meeting was adjourned at 6:45 p.m. Submitted by Karen Schmidt CITY-TV Manager Approved by Greg Starks, Chair DATE ( a3