HomeMy WebLinkAboutICTC Agenda and Packet 2018-02-26
Agenda
Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
City Cable TV Office, 10 S. Linn St., Tower Place Parking Facility, Level 3A
February 26, 2018 5:30PM
1. Call to order
2. Approval of minutes
3. Announcements of Commissioners
4. Short public announcements
5. REPORTS
Consumer Issues
Mediacom Report
Local Access Reports
City Cable TV Office Report
6. Adjournment
If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate in this program/event, please contact Ty
Coleman at 319-356-5454 or ty-coleman@iowa-city.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow
sufficient time to meet your access needs.
Agenda
Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
City Cable TV Office, 10 S. Linn St., Tower Place Parking Facility, Level 3A
January 22, 2018, 5:30PM
1. Call to order
2. Approval of minutes
3. Announcements of Commissioners
4. Short public announcements
5. REPORTS
Consumer Issues
Mediacom Report
Local Access Reports
City Cable TV Office Report
6. Adjournment
Draft
Minutes
Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
November 30, 2017 – 4:00 P.M.
City of Iowa City Cable TV Office, 10 S. Linn St. - Tower Place, Level 3A
Call to Order:Meeting called to order at 4:00 P.M.
Members Present:Derek Johnk, Paul Gowder, Matthew Brenton
Members Absent:Laura Bergus
Staff Present:Ty Coleman
Others Present:
Recommendations to Council: None
Approval of Minutes:
Brenton moved and Gowder seconded a motion to approve the November 27, 2017 minutes as
presented. The motion passed unanimously.
Approve comments to the FCC regarding net neutrality:
Johnk asked if there were any necessary edits to the letter that had been written by Laura Bergus
and Paul Gowder on behalf of the Telecommunications Commission, which contained comments
to the FCC on the topic of net neutrality. Johnk said he was happy with the content of the letter.
Gowder moved and Brenton seconded a motion to approve the letter for presenting to the Iowa
City City Council, in hopes of gaining its support before submitting to the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) and area legislators. The motion passed unanimously.
Presentation of approved comments to the Iowa City City Council, FCC, and other parties:
Johnk noted that Coleman had prepared a memo to the City Council to accompany the letter. All
commissioners expressed that they were happy with the memo. Coleman suggested that one
commissioner could come to the December 5, 2017 City Council work session, where Council
would be given the opportunity to support the comments by agreeing to be added to the signature
of the letter. Coleman said that one or two commissioners may be able to answer any questions
that Council might have about the issue. Brenton said he would plan to attend the work session.
Adjournment:
Gowder moved and Brenton seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously.
Adjournment was at 4:06 p.m.
January 18, 2018
To: Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
From: Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator (MPSC)
Re: Cable Complaints November 2017
1.)
Date: 11/01/17
Method of contact:
Email to City Cable TV Office
Complaint/Comment Summary:
The resident complained of difficulties with her Dish Network service and wondered if the City had a franchise agreement with
satellite TV providers.
Resolution Summary:
MPSC explained that the City only has a franchise with the cable TV provider. MPSC provided the resident with a link to
where she may be able to find a suitable method for filing a complaint to the Federal Communications Commission.
Date of Resolution: 11/01/17
No other complaints were received by the Cable TV Office during the month of November 2017.
January 18, 2018
To: Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
From: Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator (MPSC)
Re: Cable Complaints December 2017
1.)
Date: 12/07/17
Method of contact:
Phone call to MPSC
Complaint/Comment Summary:
The resident reported that in an attempt to get her Internet working better, a Mediacom technician had run a line through one
of her electrical outlets, continuing outdoors through a hole in the siding. The line needed to be moved and the electrical outlet
was left with one of the receptacles remaining non-functional. The resident wanted to set up an appointment to get the
electrical outlet working again.
Resolution Summary:
MPSC contacted Mediacom’s Rick Karnes to investigate the issue and to facilitate the arrangement of a service appointment.
Karnes later reported that the customer’s issue had been resolved, but that the hole in the siding was not the result of any
work completed by Mediacom. Karnes said this information was explained to the customer.
Date of Resolution: 12/18/17
No other complaints were received by the Cable TV Office during the month of December 2017.
The Library Channel
Report prepared for the Iowa City Telecommunications Commission monthly meeting by Beth Fisher,
Program Librarian and Bond Drager, Equipment Specialist. December 2017.
December 2017:
Children’s Programming:
• Dance Me a Story: The Nutcracker with Ballet Quad Cities
• Gingerbread Fun Storytime!
• Family Storytime with Angie
• Toddler Storytime with Mari
Adult Programming:
• #Hashtag Activism – An Obermann Center for Advanced Studies Conversation Event
Monthly Program Update:
This month: December 2017 Next Month: January 2018
Live Children’s Programs • 4 • 2
Live Adult Programs • 1 • 2
Programs Cablecast • 673 •
Programs videotaped by
Govt. Channel/CTS
• 0 •
The Library Channel
Report prepared for the Iowa City Telecommunications Commission monthly meeting by Beth Fisher,
Program Librarian and Bond Drager, Equipment Specialist. January 2018.
January 2018:
Children’s Programming:
• Author storytime: Spencer Earl Watts read from his book “The Turtle in the Glass Shell”
• Owl Babies with special guest Sarah the Owl and her handler Joan
• Preschool Storytime: Lost and Found
Adult Programming:
• Project GREEN Second Sunday Garden Forum: Creating Garden Rooms with Lisa Orgler faculty
member of the Iowa State University Department of Horticulture and artist behind the website
Paper Garden Workshop.
• League of Women Voters Sunday Speaker Series: Voter Registration Changes in Iowa
Monthly Program Update:
This month: January 2018 Next Month: February 2018
Live Children’s Programs • 3 • 1
Live Adult Programs • 1 • 4
Programs Cablecast • 661 •
Programs videotaped by
Govt. Channel/CTS
• 2 •
PATV Report to Iowa City Telecommunications Commission December 2017
Call in Mockery, a comedic show, is one of our newest Live Broadcast at PATV. We have also added
new members with great show ideas like Brew Talk, House Cleaning Hacks, and a Local Music Talk
Show. We have also seen some great new cultural programming/content from our newest members.
End of the year has brought not only comedy, new talk shows and cultural programming to PATV.
PATV Board Meetings
PATV Board of Directors next meeting January 18th, 2018 at 6 pm.
Intro Workshop
Guidelines orientation is the first Thursday of every month, 6 pm at PATV or online @ www.patv.tv
Next Guidelines is Thursday, January 4th at 6 PM.
Video Workshops Schedule
Studio Training – The second Tuesday of the month from 5 – 7 pm.
HD Camera – The third Thursday of the month from 6 –8 pm.
Digital Editing – The fourth Thursday of the month from 6 - 8 pm.
Current and upcoming staff supported productions
Call in Mockery
GreenFire
The LyleStyle Show
PATV Presents: Thursday Night Live at Uptown Bills
Tom’s Guitar Show
Time for Truth
Submitted by Gerardo Sandoval 12/20/17
206 Lafayette St. • Iowa City, Iowa 52240 • Phone 338-7035
Fax 338-8456 • contact@patv.tv • http://www.patv.tv
PATV Report to Iowa City Telecommunications Commission January 2018
2018 is off to a great start. Our regulars are on schedule and live in the studio like Tom’s Guitar Show
23 years running and counting: GreenFire, Time for Truth. New shows are a brewing like: Local &
Punk, KNHB Radio Live & HomeBrew Talk. Some of our old shows are too returning like the sitcom
BaitShop. Lastly, we were very fortunate to have carpeted MLK Day at Bethel A.ME. Church.
PATV Board Meetings
PATV Board of Directors next meeting Feb. 14th., at 6 pm.
Intro Workshop
Guidelines orientation is the first Thursday of every month, 6 pm at PATV or online @ www.patv.tv
Next Guidelines is Thursday, Feb. 1st at 6 PM.
Video Workshops Schedule
Studio Training – The second Tuesday of the month from 5 – 7 pm.
HD Camera – The third Thursday of the month from 6 –8 pm.
Digital Editing – The fourth Thursday of the month from 6 - 8 pm.
Current and upcoming staff supported productions
Nora’s House of Dance
PATV Presents: Prairie Lights
Education Exchange
GreenFire
The LyleStyle Show
PATV Presents: Thursday Night Live at Uptown Bills
Tom’s Guitar Show
Time For Truth
Submitted by Gerardo Sandoval 1/22/18
206 Lafayette St. • Iowa City, Iowa 52240 • Phone 338-7035
Fax 338-8456 • contact@patv.tv • http://www.patv.tv
CITY OF IOWA CITY
Cable Television Office
410 E. Washington Street, Iowa City, IA 52240 Ph: 319.356.5454
December 6, 2017
Mr. Lee Grassley
Senior Manager, Government Relations
Mediacom Communications Corporation
6300 Council St. NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
Re: 2018 Funding for Public Access and Community Programming Services
Dear Lee:
This letter conveys the calculation for the 2018 payment to the City of Iowa City (the City) from Mediacom
Communications Corporation (MCC) for the support of public access services, as stated in Section XI (C) of the
municipal cable television franchise agreement between the City and MCC.
I have included a copy of page one of a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicating the CPI-U U.S. City
Average. The enclosed CPI-U is based on consumer price index activity for the entire month of September 2017 and
the calculated percent change since one-year prior. We agreed to use the CPI-U U.S. City Average and the
September index to calculate each year’s payment amount.
This year, the CPI-U U.S. City Average landed at 2.2%. Applying this figure, I calculate an increase of $5,321.01
which, when added to the 2017 funding amount of $241,863.94, yields a figure of $247,184.95. As you know,
however, the municipal franchise agreement between MCC and the City is set to expire in 2018, therefore this
amount will need to be prorated.
According to our legal staff, the effective date of our current agreement was officially August 5, 2005. As stated in
Section II (C) of the agreement, the “Franchise shall not become finally effective until the Franchisee files an
acceptance in writing with the City of Iowa City.” Mediacom’s acceptance of the franchise agreement, sent on August
1, 2005, was officially filed with the Iowa City City Clerk’s Office on August 5, 2005. I have included a copy of this
letter of acceptance for your reference. The agreement states in Section IV that “the term of the Franchise shall be
for a period of thirteen (13) years from the effective date,” resulting in an expiration date of August 5, 2018. Prorating
the calculated payment amount to reflect the 217 out of 365 days in 2018 that will fall within the remaining term of our
agreement, accomplished by multiplying the full year’s amount by 0.595, results in a 2018 payment amount of
$147,075.05.
This payment is due to the City by January 1 of each year. The City will provide funding to the public access
programming entity Public Access Television (PATV) as agreed upon within the contract between the City and PATV.
The City also expects that during the remaining term of the franchise, Mediacom will continue to provide monthly
“pass through” payments “for equipment, facilities, and ongoing support for public, educational, governmental access,
and community access programming” at the rate of sixty cents per subscriber per month, as described in Section XI
(B) of the municipal franchise agreement.
Please review the figures above and let me know if you do not concur.
Sincerely,
Ty M. Coleman
Media Production Services Coordinator
City of Iowa City Cable TV Office
cc: Geoff Fruin, City Manager
Ashley Monroe, Assistant City Manager
PATV, Inc.
Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
CITY OF IOWA CITY
Cable Television Office
410 E. Washington Street, Iowa City, IA 52240 Ph: 319.356.5454
December 13, 2017
Mr. Lee Grassley
Senior Manager, Government Relations
Mediacom Communications Corporation
6300 Council St. NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
Re: 2018 Funding for Public Access and Community Programming Services
Dear Lee:
This letter conveys the adjusted calculation for the 2018 payment to the City of Iowa City (the City) from Mediacom
Communications Corporation (MCC) for the support of public access services, as stated in Section XI (C) of the
municipal cable television franchise agreement between the City and MCC. This letter is in response to your
December 8, 2017 emailed reply to my letter, dated December 6, 2017, which calculated the payment amount based
on the interpretation of the effective date of the franchise as being August 5, 2005.
Though the City disagrees with the assertion that the expiration date of the franchise is July 31st, our expectation is
that the payment would, at a minimum, cover the 212 days leading up to and including July 31, 2018. This results in
a multiplier of .581, which, when multiplied by the calculated full-year amount of $247,184.95, results in a prorated
payment amount of $143,614.46 for 2018.
This payment is due to the City by January 1 of each year, though I understand that due to the extra time needed for
us to work out an agreeable calculation, the payment could be slightly delayed. The City also expects that during the
remaining term of the franchise, Mediacom will continue to provide monthly “pass through” payments as described in
Section XI (B) of the municipal franchise agreement.
Please review the figures above and let me know if you do not agree.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation in this matter.
Sincerely,
Ty M. Coleman
Media Production Services Coordinator
City of Iowa City Cable TV Office
cc: Geoff Fruin, City Manager
Ashley Monroe, Assistant City Manager
PATV, Inc.
Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
Date: December 18, 2017
To: The Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
From: Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator, City of Iowa City Cable TV Office
Re: City of Iowa City Cable TV Office report for the December 2017 meeting
Media Production Services
Provided by Jack Brooks, Special Projects Assistant and Ty Coleman, Media Production Services
Coordinator
Recent production activities:
●Recorded a panel discussion featuring the mayors of Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Iowa City,
and Madison, Wisconsin.
●Captured lectures of the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council on topics including the claim
and management of maritime conflicts since 1900, the economic and political challenges
in Brazil, and house crows in India.
●Shot and produced five episodes of Iowa City Update. Topics included Holiday Thieves’
Market, firework restrictions, energy audits, Citizens Police Academy, and recycling
christmas trees/lights.
●Created a December edition of Iowa City In Focus. Topics included single stream
recycling, corrugated cardboard ban, and Know Your Neighborhood – Goosetown.
●Produced “Bike Shorts” PSA on how to properly lock a bike.
●Created PSA on donations needed for the Iowa City Animal Services after impounding
200+ birds during an animal welfare investigation.
Upcoming productions:
●The annual show choir benefit concert for the Greater Iowa City Area Student
Scholarships non-profit organization.
●FY2019 City budget overview presentation.
●Continue producing weekly Iowa City Update program.
●Iowa City In Focus for January will include a feature on new City Council member
Mazahir Salih, new rental permit requirements, and snow emergency rules.
Programming and Interactive Services
Provided by Kevin Crawley, Communications Technician
Recent and Upcoming Projects
My West High volunteer web developer has been a great help on the new website project, and
I've been having a great time writing the new supporting code. We are hoping for a launch date
just after the start of the new year. I spent some time working with City staff and a third-party
vendor who will be supplying a new council meeting agenda and packet management system to
ensure that system will work with our current Council video playback system. The City's new
email system is requiring new coding changes to our Event Request Form and our Snow
Emergency crawl switch, so I'll be working on that in the near future.
Website:
In November, we had 2,883 users access 6,316 pages in 4,063 sessions. Our most popular
pages were Mediacom's channel lineup, our Meet The Candidates page, Mediacom's cable rates,
our video page, our home page, and Ryan Hall's Meet The Candidates video playback page
(followed closely by Kingsley Botchway and Angela Winnike's pages).
Our old streaming media provider reports 6,006 total hits, which includes 3,711 Events (player
window was loaded), 55 Sessions (media was played), and 1,055 OnDemand Hits (media was
scrubbed or index point was clicked). 984 podcasts were downloaded, and our HQ media was
accessed 199 times. Our live stream was accessed 2,168 times -- 1,870 of which were accesses
of less than one minute.
On YouTube, we had 8,990 video views account for 28,546 minutes (475 hours and 46 minutes)
of watch time. We added 27 subscribers, bringing our total subscribers up to 250. Our most
watched videos by views were the Unity Potluck and Mazahir Salih's Meet the Candidate video,
the Welcome to Iowa City! video, the Iowa City Update episode on the Gateway Project and the
Ashton House video tour, while the most watched videos by time were the Unity Potluck and
Meet the Candidate video (both featuring Mazahir Salih), University Heights City Council
Candidates Forum, the November 7th meeting of
the Iowa City City Council, our Welcome to Iowa
City! video, and the Black Entrepreneurs
Roundtable. One notable statistic is that a record
28% of our traffic was from outside the United
States, with significant traffic from Saudi Arabia,
Sudan, the UK and Australia.
Programming:
We cablecast 147 programs produced in-house
817 times for 561 hours of programming, 31
locally-produced (DITV, Senior Center, Hoover
Library, Task Force on Aging, JC Board of
Supervisors, Coralville, North Liberty and
University Heights) programs 98 times for 99 hours
of programming, and 20 imported programs 62
times for 27 hours of programming. We also
showed 95 PSAs 1179 times for 27 hours of
programming.
Programs Completed by the Cable TV Office in November 2017
●2017 Pat Meyer Vision Awards
●Iowa City Foreign Relations Council Presents
○The UN is Our Greatest Hope for the Future
○Venezuela in Crisis
○Mediation to End Civil Wars: Assembling the Dream Team
○Immigration Hits Home: How New Immigration Policies Affect Iowa City and How Iowa
City is Responding
●Iowa City Book Festival 2017 Panel Discussions
○A Sense of Place
○Writing as Recovery
○Who Do You Read?
○Politics
●Iowa City In Focus: November 2017
○Featured stories:
■Building Trades Apprenticeship Programs
■Flood buyout program
■Know Your Neighborhood - College Green
■Bike Shorts: using hand signals
●Iowa City Update
○Gateway Project Update
○48 Hour Parking
○Small Business Saturday
○2017 Holiday Thieves' Market
●34th Annual Human Rights Awards Breakfast
●A Clean Slate - Everyone Deserves a Fair Chance, Part 2
●Metropolitan Planning Organization of Johnson County Urbanized Area Policy Board Meeting of
November 15, 2017
●Fire Prevention Week 2017 - Fire Safety Performance at Alexander Elementary
●If I Were Mayor Essay Contest 2017 Promo
●Iowa City City Council Meeting
○November 6, 2017
○November 21, 2017
●Iowa City City Council Work Session
○November 6, 2017
○November 21, 2017
●Climate Action and Adaptation Plan - Public Input Meeting - November 2017
●Council Economic Development Committee Meeting of November 27, 2017
Date: January 18, 2018
To: The Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
From: Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator, City of Iowa City Cable TV Office
Re: City of Iowa City Cable TV Office report for the January 2018 ICTC meeting
Media Production Services
Submitted by Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator and Jack Brooks, Special
Projects Assistant
Recent production activities:
●Recorded portions of the City Council budget work sessions, including an overview and
highlights of the proposed FY2019 budget as well as presentations on proposed capital
improvement projects.
●Coverage of the regular meetings and work sessions of the City Council.
●Taking portraits of IC Fire Department staff for internal purposes.
●We’ve started the spring Iowa City Foreign Relations Council program series.
●Recorded the annual Historic Preservation Awards program, recognizing home owners,
contractors, craftspersons, consultants, and community organizations who have
completed historically appropriate projects.
●Shot and produced four episodes of Iowa City Update. Topics included Christmas Tree
Collection, Cardboard Ban, Rec Center Renovations, and the new Public Information
Officer.
Upcoming productions:
●City Council meetings.
●Iowa City Foreign Relations Council lectures.
●A legislative forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Johnson County.
●The annual Preucil School of Music string concert at Hancher.
●Continue producing weekly Iowa City Update program.
●The next Iowa City In Focus will include a feature on new City Council member Mazahir
Salih, new rental permit requirements, and snow emergency rules.
Programming and Interactive Services
Submitted by Kevin Crawley, Communications Technician
Recent and Upcoming Projects:
My West High volunteer web developer is still
working on the new website project, but our holiday
schedule hasn't left me a lot of time to work on my
parts. I now hope to have it online by the end of
January. I have reworked our Event Request form
and our Snow Emergency crawl switch to work with
the City's new email filter. We've retired our old
phone-activated switch, which allowed the Johnson
County Board of Supervisors to go live on our
channel for their once-a-month live cablecast, and
replaced it with an internet-based solution. I can
trigger it remotely right now, but I'll need to write
some new code to allow Johnson County staff to
access it without security problems. On the
scheduling front, we programmed our traditional
Music Marathons for the Christmas and New Year's
Holidays, programming chamber and choral music on Christmas, and all of our Friday Night and
Market Music concerts on New Year's Eve/Day.
Website:
In December, we had 2,021 users access 3,908 pages in 2,877 sessions. Our most popular
pages were Mediacom's channel lineup, Mediacom's cable rates, our video page, our home
page, our program schedule page, and our bandwidth troubleshooting page.
Our old streaming media provider reports 5,653 total hits, which includes 3,996 Events (player
window was loaded), 51 Sessions (media was played), and 422 OnDemand Hits (media was
scrubbed or index point was clicked). 1049 podcasts were downloaded, and our HQ media was
accessed 132 times. Our live stream was accessed 1,854 times, but only 9% of those were
accesses were for periods of more than one minute.
On YouTube, we had 5,734 video views account for 21,940 minutes (365 hours and 40 minutes)
of watch time. We added 22 subscribers, bringing our total subscribers up to 250. Our most
watched videos by views were the Unity Potluck video, the Welcome to Iowa City! video, the
latest Geneva Lecture Series presentation, our Iowa City Update episodes about the Landfill
Cardboard ban, Rec Center renovations, rental permit policies, and the Animal Center Bird
rescue, while the most watched videos by time were the latest Geneva Lecture Series
presentation, the Unity Potluck video, our Iowa City Update episode about rental permit policies,
January 2 City Council meeting, and the Welcome to Iowa City! video. For the second month in a
row, 28% of our traffic was from outside the United States, with other traffic from Canada, the UK,
Saudi Arabia, and Germany.
Programming:
We cablecast 169 programs produced in-house 868 times for 580 hours of programming, 33
locally-produced (DITV, Senior Center, Hoover Library, Task Force on Aging, JC Board of
Supervisors, Coralville, North Liberty and University Heights) programs 96 times for 103 hours of
programming, and 25 imported programs 68 times for 31 hours of programming. We also showed
99 PSAs 1248 times for 26 hours of programming.
Programs Completed by the Cable TV Office in December 2017
●City High School Fall Choir Concert
●Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce - A Toast to Our Communities Breakfast Program 2017
●Onward Christian Warriors: Evangelical Masculinity and the Rise of Donald Trump
●Iowa City City Council Meetings
○December 19, 2017
○December 5, 2017
●Iowa City City Council Work Sessions
○December 5, 2017
○December 19, 2017
●Iowa City Foreign Relations Council Presents
○Chasing Urban Crows in India: A Fool's Errand to Mend an Environmental Crisis?
○Patterns of Maritime Conflicts, 1900-2010
○The Economic and Political Challenges Confronting Brazil
●Iowa City In Focus - December 2017
○Topics included:
○Single stream recycling
○Corrugated cardboard ban from the landfill
○Know Your Neighborhood: Goosetown
●Iowa City Update episodes
○Birds Rescued
○Christmas Tree Collection
○Energy Audits
○Fireworks Restrictions
●Panel discussion: A Mayor's Perspective: What Four Mayors Have Learned Over the Past Year
●Promos and bumpers for City Channel 4’s music marathons
●Women's Leadership Conference 2017
○Implicit Bias in the Judicial System
○Our Unconscious Contribution to Systemic Inequities
○The Urgency of Cultural Humility
●Shorts:
○The Johnson County Crisis Center
○Animals Services seeks donations after rescuing 200+ birds
○Christmas Tree Collection
○Bike Shorts: How to properly lock your bike
Watch these and other City Channel 4 programs at www.citychannel4.com/video or
subscribe to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/citychannel4.
February 23, 2018
To: Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
From: Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator (MPSC)
Re: Cable Complaints January 2018
1.)
Date: 01/10/18
Method of contact:
Email to MPSC
Complaint/Comment Summary:
The customer reported that Mediacom had reported a large amount of data was being used, much higher than what she
believed her household was using. The customer noted that Mediacom representatives had recommended higher data usage
limits by subscribing to a higher service tier. The customer said the data amounts reported by Mediacom was equal to that of
458 HD movies a month, while her actual usage included watching the news, a couple of movies per month, and no online
gaming.
The customer had been experiencing the issue for the past year and had not been successful in getting Mediacom to fully
investigate it. In the meantime, the customer complained of receiving many overage fees over the months. The customer
reported that the response she has received from Mediacom call center representatives is simply that the amount of usage
reported is the amount of data going through her modem.
Resolution Summary:
MPSC contacted Mediacom’s Betty Hartman, who escalated the issue and said an investigation team was looking into it. The
customer visited the local Mediacom office to discuss the issue. The customer was advised to conduct a malware scan and
keep a close eye on her usage. Mediacom staff said that the data usage was valid and that if a malware scan doesn’t resolve
the issue, she may have to have her computer looked at.
The customer later reported that a Mediacom technician had visited and discovered a cable at the tap, which runs to the box
outside her home, was damaged and leaking data. Hartman reported that the customer had misunderstood the technician’s
comments, noting that a broken cable would not result in data leakage, but instead interruption of her service. Mediacom’s
Kevin Washpun said he would monitor modems in the area over the next few days to see if he could determine why the
customer’s modem was reporting such high usage.
At last check, the customer reported that Washpun said everything checked out fine. The customer returned to the local office
and Hartman said she would escalate the issue again, but has since not heard back from the Internet department about their
investigation. MPSC asked about the mixed messages given to the customer. Hartman spoke to the technician who had
discovered the broken cable and confirmed that it only resulted in noise and not data leakage. The customer has paid the
overage charges, but continues to seek a valid explanation and a proper resolution.
Date of Resolution: unresolved
2.)
Date: 01/29/18
Method of contact:
Phone call to MPSC
Complaint/Comment Summary:
The customer reported that he had been having trouble with his Mediacom phone service. He said he callled customer
service, but hasn’t been able to connect with anyone to get the issue fixed.
Resolution Summary:
MPSC contacted Mediacom’s Rick Karnes, who reported that the customer’s son had reset the modem and that the issue was
resolved.
Date of Resolution: 01/29/18
PATV Report to Iowa City Telecommunications Commission February 2018
February is turning out to be a month of Art and culture. PATV reconnects: Prairie Lights Live capture
of some of their authors readings, Lyle Style Show received a visit from an New York actress/
philanthropist as well as some of our state gubernatorial candidates, Education Exchange show titled
“Liberty High Update” and “We Are Iowa City” looks for love at the Ped Mall. Art, Culture and
community at PATV.
PATV Board Meetings
PATV Board of Directors next meeting March 25th, at 6 pm.
Intro Workshop
Guidelines orientation is the first Thursday of every month, 6 pm at PATV or online @ www.patv.tv
Next Guidelines is Thursday, March 1st. at 6 PM.
Video Workshops Schedule
Studio Training – The second Tuesday of the month from 5 – 7 pm.
HD Camera – The third Thursday of the month from 6 –8 pm.
Digital Editing – The fourth Thursday of the month from 6 - 8 pm.
Current and upcoming staff supported productions
We are Iowa City
Nora’s House of Dance
PATV Presents: Prairie Lights
Education Exchange
GreenFire
The LyleStyle Show
PATV Presents: Thursday Night Live at Uptown Bills
Tom’s Guitar Show
Time For Truth
Submitted by Gerardo Sandoval 2/21/18
206 Lafayette St. • Iowa City, Iowa 52240 • Phone 338-7035
Fax 338-8456 • contact@patv.tv • http://www.patv.tv
Date: February 22, 2018
To: The Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
From: Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator, City of Iowa City Cable TV Office
Re: City of Iowa City Cable TV Office report for the February 2018 meeting
Media Production Services
Submitted by Jack Brooks, Special Projects Assistant and Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator
Recent production activities:
●Created a new edition of Iowa City In Focus. Topics included new City Council member
Mazahir Salih, rental permit requirements and snow emergency rules.
●Produced five episodes of Iowa City Update. Topics included a climate action survey,
RAGBRAI Route, Freeze Fest, needs-based City services, and One Book Two Book.
●Produced “Bike Shorts” PSA on Trail Etiquette.
●Created PSA on a suspension of yard waste collection.
●Made a Community Highlight about the 2018 Freeze Fest.
●Recorded the League of Women Voters of Johnson County’s Legislative Forum, featuring
area legislators discussing the legislative session and taking comments from the public.
●Produced a live Facebook event featuring information about the City’s proposed FY2019
budget, hosted by the City Manager, Public Works Director, and Parks and Recreation
Director.
●Created a short video to inform voters of changes to Iowa’s voter ID law, demonstrating
options voters have when they head to the polls later this year.
●Coverage of the Preucil School of Music’s annual string concert at Hancher Auditorium.
●Recorded the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet program, which
featured keynote presentations by local experts in autonomous vehicles, virtual reality,
and crypto-currencies.
Upcoming productions:
●Continue producing weekly Iowa City Update program. Upcoming topics include the
Human Rights Youth Awards and Iowa City Gallery Walk.
●Creating an Iowa City In Focus that features Iowa’s new Voter ID law, CHOMP Delivery,
ICPD Grant, and Bike Shorts: Preparing Your Bike for Spring.
●2018 Prairie Preview keynote presentation by the author of That Tree - An iPhone Photo
Journal Documenting a Year in the Life of a Lonely Bur Oak.
●Preucil School of Music’s annual Orchestra Festival concert.
●State Historical Society of Iowa lecture, part of its History for Lunch series.
Programming and Interactive Services
Submitted by Kevin Crawley, Communications Technician
Recent and Upcoming Projects:
The City Channel 4 website is nearing completion. It
features a lot more graphics in our streaming videos and
program schedule, and a powerful new search engine.
Website:
In January, we had 2,329 users access 4,488 pages in
3,31 sessions. Our most popular pages were
Mediacom's channel lineup, Mediacom's cable rates,
our video page, our home page, our program schedule
page, and video of the January 16 City Council Meeting.
Our old streaming media provider reports 5,229 total hits, which includes 3,803 Events (player
window was loaded), 74 Sessions (media was played), and 55 OnDemand Hits (media was
scrubbed or index point was clicked). 1205 podcasts were downloaded, and our HQ media was
accessed 86 times. Our live stream was accessed 1,783 times, but again, only about 10% of
those were accesses were for periods of more than one minute.
On YouTube, we had 6,070 video views account for 19,058 minutes (317 hours and 38 minutes)
of watch time. We added more subscribers, bringing our total up to 323. Our most watched
videos by views were the Welcome to Iowa City! video, the Unity Potluck video, the latest
episode of Iowa City In Focus, Iowa City Update episodes on Rec Center Renovations, the
Cardboard Ban, and the RAGBRAI route for 2018, while the most watched videos by time were
the latest Geneva Lecture Series presentation, the most recent Iowa City In Focus, the Unity
Potluck video, our Welcome to Iowa City! video, and the City Council Meeting of January 16.
Our percentage of international viewers has reduced, and now 83% of watch time viewers are
from the United States.
Programming:
We cablecast 159 programs produced in-house 781 times for 573 hours of programming, 45
locally-produced (DITV, Senior Center, Hoover Library, Task Force on Aging, JC Board of
Supervisors, Coralville, North Liberty and University Heights) programs 112 times for 108 hours
of programming, and 20 imported programs 61 times for 28 hours of programming. We also
showed 98 PSAs 1138 times for 28 hours of programming.
Programs Completed by the Cable TV Office in January 2018
●Iowa City In Focus: January 2018
○Featured stories:
●Mazahir Salih
●Rental permit requirements
●Snow emergency rules
●Bike Shorts: Trail Etiquette
●Iowa City Updates
○Cardboard Ban
○Rec Center Renovations
○Public Information Officer
○Climate Action Survey
○RAGBRAI Route
●35th Annual Historic Preservation Awards
●FY2019 budget overview and highlights
●FY2019 budget session - CIP
●Iowa City City Council Work Sessions
○01/02/18
○01/16/18
●Iowa City City Council Meetings
○01/02/18
○01/16/18
●Iowa City Conference Board Meeting of 01/16/18
●Iowa City Foreign Relations Council - How the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Uses Innovation
to Accelerate Equity in Low and Middle Income Countries
●League of Women Voters Legislative Forum of 01/27/18