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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-12-11 Bd Comm minutes m IOWA CITY TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION FINAL MONDAY, OCTOBER 22,2007--5:30 P.M. CITY CABLE TV OFFICE, 10 S. LINN ST.-TOWER PLACE P ARKING FACILITY MEMBERS PRESENT: Saul Mekies, Gary Hagen, Hans Hoerschelman MEMBERS ABSENT: Brett Gordon, Margaret Wieting STAFF PRESENT: Drew Shaffer, Mike Brau, Bob Hardy OTHERS PRESENT: Lee Grassley, Josh Goding, Kara Logsden, Susan Rogusky, Craig O'Brien RECOMMENDA TIONS TO CITY COUNCIL None at this time. SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION Grassley reported that the upgrade of the headend is in progress. Preparations are being made for the digital simulcast of analog channels. No progress has been made in the negotiations with the Big Ten Network. PATV's annual membership meeting will be Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. Two new board members will be elected. The awards presentation portion of the meeting will be cablecast live. Goding was elected to the national board of the Alliance for Community Media and will be gone for three days to attend their board meeting. Shaffer reported he attended the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors national conference. At that conference Shaffer discovered that Iowa City has more access channels than any other city with representatives at the meeting. Seattle and Portland OR each have 6 access channels. The Community Television Group approved a recommendation to the Commission to fund two proposals from the Senior Center, one dealing with production of a Spanish-speaking program and one working with United Action for Youth. Also recommended for approval was a wireless microphone system for the Community Television Service. The School District proposal was approved for recommendation in principle, but greater detail was requested as to exact cost. Shaffer noted the transcript of the oral comments provided by himself, Brau, Hoerschelman, and Goding to the Iowa Utility Board regarding the rulemaking to implement SF 554. Hagen said he is impressed that the City has been involved in the process. Mekies said that he is concerned that subscribers of limited means have access to a low cost basic tier or programming. Some people get cable because they lack an antenna or cannot get over the air signals. The demand by the BTN to be placed on the basic tier would drive up costs for these people. The Commission has more information regarding the issues surrounding the BTN and the Commission may have a duty to not be neutral on the issue. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Hoerschelman moved and Hagen seconded a motion to approve amended September 24, 2007 minutes. The minutes were approved unanimously. ANNOUNCEMENTS OF COMMISSIONERS Hoerschelman noted that the ban on Internet taxes was due to expire Nov. 1 and Congress was considering extending the ban. Mekies commended the staff for all the information included in meeting packets and their and Hoerschelman's testimony before the Iowa Utility Board and said it speaks well of Iowa City. SHORT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS None. CONSUMER ISSUES Shaffer referred to the complaint report in the meeting packet. There were a total of 15 complaints, 6 of which dealt with the Big Ten Network. All complaints that could be resolved have been. Mekies noted that the complaint level was back down to usual levels absent those of the Big Ten Network. MEDIACOM REPORT Grassley reported that the upgrade of the headend is in progress. Preparations are being made for the digital simulcast of analog channels. No progress has been made in the negotiations with the Big Ten Network. Mediacom has made 5 separate offers in the last 7 weeks but the Big Ten Network has not responded. The final rules for state issued franchises are expected by the end of the year. Hagen said that there are many programmers that offer a HDTV signal and asked when Mediacom will be carrying those channels. Grassley said that the bandwidth is not currently available to add those channels. After the system upgrade is complete the HDTV channels will be added. Hoerschelman asked if outages are anticipated during the upgrade. Grassley said outages are not expected but he could not promise they would not occur. Mekies asked the Commission if they wished to consider taking a position regarding the Big Ten Network. UNIVERSITY OF IOWA REPORT No representative was present. PATV REPORT Goding reported that P A TV has hired a new employee to teach workshops and do production work. On October 29 Live and Local will feature Gary Sanders and his No Baloney City Council Candidate Forum. The next guidelines workshop will be Nov. 4 from 2-4. PATV's annual membership meeting will be Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. Two new board members will be elected. The awards presentation portion of the meeting will be cablecast live. Goding was elected to the national board of the Alliance for Community Media and will be gone for three days to attend their board meeting. KIRKWOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE REPORT O'Brien distributed Kirkwood's quarterly report. The Kirkwood channel will be cablecasting a program produced by Mediacom in association with the Kirkwood Learning Connection called "It All Adds Up" which features information on careers and employment in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area. Kirkwood will be producing a program called the 13 nights of Halloween that will feature 13 nights of horror films. SENIOR CENTER REPORT Rogusky distributed the Senior Center program schedule. Three new producers have joined SCTV. IOWA CITY COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT REPORT Lowe was unable to attended but provided a written report. New programs include 3 episodes of Education Exchange, 2 new school board meetings, a DPO meeting, and a City Council candidate forum featuring questions from students. Several new musical programs have also been cablecast. A request for $9,500 in funds from the Community Television Group has been submitted and recommended by the group. About $7000 has been requested from the school district foundation for editing software, a camera, and a stipend for a faculty advisor for a student-based video club. LIBRARY REPORT Logsden reported that 9 episodes of the Irving Webber Iowa City history programs and the One of a Kind Series will be made available for download over the Internet. Popos Puppet Festival drew 550 people for 3 programs. The Community Reading Month Book Talk Lunches have started and will be cablecast. The International Writers Workshop programs have started and also are cablecast, as are the International Monday programs. CITY MEDIA UNIT REPORT Hardy reported that Katie Roche, producer for The Community Voice, has been producing a series of programs on the 21 ordinance and another program on Iowa African-Americans in the Negro baseball leagues is nearly finished. The programs are also streamed on citychanneI4.com. The Community Television Service continues to be very busy. 15 programs have been shot in the last month. Among those programs are a panel discussion hosted by the Chamber of Commerce on involvement with the school board, a City Council candidate forum with questions by high school students, a forum on homelessness, the Police Review Commission ordinance up for vote, and the Johnson County Reads program, the Human Rights Awards Breakfast, and the Johnson County Council of Governments Urbanized Board meeting. CABLE ADMINISTRATOR REPORT Shaffer reported he attended the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors national conference. At that conference Shaffer discovered that Iowa City has more access channels than any other city with representatives at the meeting. Seattle and Portland OR each have 6 access channels. There was a lot of discussion at the conference on universal broadband, including speakers from Holland and Sweden where plans for universal broadband are being developed to provide service to all citizens. One workshop at the conference dealt with municipal cable systems. Shaffer will provide a written report on the conference. City channel 4 has been playing replays of the West High home football games. COMMUNITY TELEVISION GROUP PROPOSAL Hardy referred to the memo in the meeting packet. The CTG approved a recommendation to the Commission to fund two proposals from the Senior Center, one dealing with production of a Spanish-speaking program and one working with United Action for Youth. Also recommended for approval was for a wireless microphone system for the Community Television Service. The School District proposal was approved for recommendation in principle, but greater detail was requested as to exact cost. The School District is in the process of getting a bid on a list of equipment only some of which would be funded by the CTG. When those figures have been finalized the CTG will come back to the Commission for approval of that portion of the funding. Mekies noted that the School District proposal calls for paying a faculty member "the going rate" to be an advisor to a student-based video club and noted that the going rate for faculty advisors is frequently less than minimum wage for the amount of time they often put in and urged that the phrase "the going rate" is inadequate to expect much. Mekies urged that a benchmark or measurable goals be developed to evaluate the impact the funding is having on the schools. The Commission is providing funds and oversight in terms of what is accomplished with the funds and this is part of the Commission's responsibility. Hagen moved to approve the recommended funding for the Senior Center and the Community Television Service at this time and await further details regarding the School District's proposal. Hoerschelman seconded the proposal which passed unanimously. The School District is planning on spending approximately $30,000 themselves on school channel 21 related equipment. LEGISLA TION AND FCC UPDATE Shaffer noted the transcript of the oral comments provided by himself, Brau, Hoerschelman, and Goding to the Iowa Utility Board regarding the rulemaking implementing SF 554. Shaffer said the Board listened and asked questions of the comments. The Board seemed interested in the consumer protection issues put forth. Hagen said he is impressed that the City has been involved in the process. BIG TEN NETWORK Mekies asked if the Commission should take a position regarding the Big Ten NetworklMediacom negotiations. Grassley said that if Mediacom were to meet the BTN's demands, the channel would be the third highest channel in program costs. Sports programming consumes 55% of programming costs on the analog tier but comprise only 10% of the channels. Mekies said that he is concerned that subscribers of limited means will not even have access to a low cost basic tier or programming. Some people get cable because they lack an antenna or cannot get over the air signals. The demand by the BTN to be placed on the basic tier would drive up costs for these people. The Commission has more information regarding the issues surrounding the BTN and the Commission may have a duty to not be neutral on the issue. Hoerschelman suggested that the BTN be approached for their perspective. Mekies said the Commission will continue to consider this issue. Mekies asked Shaffer if he has considered doing a talk show on this issue as he did regarding the Sinclair/Mediacom issue. Shaffer said he did have a conversation with BTN officials who indicated that it is their goal to get on the basic tier if at all possible and did not seem to have much flexibility. Commissioners agreed to further consider their role in the BTN/Meidacom matter. ADJOURNMENT Hagen moved and Hoerschelman seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously. Adjournment was at 6:55. Respectfully submitted, Drew Shaffer Cable TV Administrator TELECOMMUNICA nONS COMMISSION 12 MONTH ATTENDANCE RECORD 01/01/03 to CURRENT Meeting Kimberly Saul Meikes Brett Castillo Terry Smith Jim Pusack Date Thrower 6/2/03 x x x x x 7/28/03 x x x x x 8/25/03 x x x x o/c 9/22/03 x x x x o/c 10/27/03 x x x x o/c 11/24/03 x x o/c x x 12/15/03 o/c olc x x x 1/2/04 x o/c x x x 1/26/04 x x x x x 2/23/04 x o/c x o/c x 3/22/04 x x x x x 4/ 26/04 x x x x OIC 5/24/04 x x OIC x x 6/28/04 x x x o/c x 7/26/04 o/c x x x x 8/26/04 did not meet did not meet did not meet did not meet did not meet 9/27/04 X X X X X 10/25/04 X X 11/04 Did not meet Did not meet Did not meet Did not Did not meet meet X X X X X 12/20/04 1/24/05 X X X X X 2/28/05 X X X X Gary Hagen 3/8/05 X X X X X 3/25/05 X 0 X X X 4/25/05 x o/c X X X 5/23/05 X 0 x vacancy X James X ~ Bebe x Ehrmann Balantyne 6/27/05 X x X X X x Michael Chritians 7/25/05 0 X X X X 9/26/05 0 X X 0 X 10/31/05 X X o/c X X 11/28/05 X X X X X 1/23/06 o/c X X 0 X 2.27/06 X X X 0 X 3/27/06 o/c X X John X Weaterson X 4/24/06 X X X X X 5/22/06 0 x x/o 0 X 6/26/06 0 X Vacant 0 X Nick Parker 7/24/06 x x x X 8/24/06 X x M. Wieting o/c X 9/25/06 x x x O/c X 1 0/23/06 x X x o/c X 10/30/06 x x x vacant X 11/27/09 x x x X 12. 18/06 X X X X Brett Gordon 1/22/07 X X X X X 2/26/07 X X X X X 3/26/07 Vacant x o/c x X 4/23/07 Vacant X X X X Hoerschelm an 521/07 X X o/c X x 6/26/07 x x x x X 7/23/07 x x x x X 9/24/07 X X o/c o/c X 10/22/07 x x o/c o/c x 11/26/07 x x x x x (X) = Present (0) = Absent (Ole) = Absent/Called (Excused)