HomeMy WebLinkAboutICTC Agenda and Packet 2018-03-26
Agenda
Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
City Cable TV Office, 10 S. Linn St., Tower Place Parking Facility, Level 3A
March 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.
Draft
Minutes
Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
February 26, 2018 – 5:30 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 5:34 P.M.
Members Present:Derek Johnk, Paul Gowder, Laura Bergus, Matthew Brenton
Members Absent:
Staff Present:Ty Coleman
Others Present:Gerardo Sandoval, Bond Drager, Bill Harshbarger, Chelsea
Pfeiffer, Zara Peterson, Karen Michaeli Timmins
Recommendations to Council: None
Approval of Minutes:
Brenton moved and Gowder seconded a motion to approve the November 30, 2018
minutes as presented. The motion passed unanimously.
Announcements of Commissioners:
Johnk mentioned that Bergus had indicated her time with the Commission would be
ending when her term was up in July of this year. Johnk noted that there currently is a
vacancy to be filled. He also said that if there are two vacancies following the expiration
of Bergus’ term, the Commission would still have a quorum.
Short Public Announcements:
Commissioners introduced themselves to the members of the public in attendance at the
meeting. Local access channel representatives who were present introduced themselves
as well.
Pfeiffer described a new initiative, called the Community Internet Project, she and others
in the community were getting started. She said that the group was brainstorming ideas
and researching existing initiatives in other cities, where public or community-owned
Internet service providers (ISPs) are present, to investigate whether something similar
would be possible in Iowa City.
Peterson said the group is interested in getting a community ISP or a mesh network
running that would provide Internet service to those who aren’t able to afford it.
Johnk explained that providers who also provide TV service are required to enter into a
franchise agreement. He mentioned that ImOn is a company who had begun to offer
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business Internet services in Iowa City, but that they had not entered into the residential
market for Internet or TV services.
Gowder mentioned that some members of the Iowa City City Council had expressed
interest in exploring the potential for municipal broadband. Gowder said the
Telecommunications Commission has offered to make itself available to the Council
when the issue can be placed on the agenda for a future Council work session.
Johnk referred to a conversation he had with Susan Mims of the City Council, where she
had pointed to Cedar Falls as an example. Johnk explained that one of the reasons the
municipal broadband initiative in Cedar Falls was successful was that it already had an
established municipal electric utility. He said that this may be an obstacle to creating a
public Internet utility in Iowa City.
Bergus said the topic of municipal broadband service has come up in the past. She noted
that there is a lot of Internet infrastructure in Iowa City, but that very little of it is owned
by the City. Bergus stated that this could be an additional hurdle. She said that the
infrastructure is owned by multiple organizations who would most likely not have an
interest in interconnecting for the purpose of creating a more robust and unified network.
Bergus said she thought there had been some vendors in the past who were interested in
setting up wireless equipment and that there seem to be a number of wireless networks in
the downtown area, but that the Commission was not aware of the status of any current
efforts for wireless networks. Bergus said the Commission’s regulatory authority was
only for cable television, but that it can still serve as a voice to ISPs.
Brenton said he had worked for a company who did mesh networking. He believed that
as long as a network sticks to public bands, there would be no regulatory issues. Brenton
stated that one problem is that there could be a lot of activity on the 5GHz band as well as
the 2.4GHz band.
Peterson said the group has had two meetings so far and have been discussing what the
options might be. He said the group is considering mesh networking as a primary source.
Peterson noted that one issue with mesh networking is that most terms of service prevent
residential subscribers from sharing their Internet with others, outside their homes. He
said that if the group was to work with businesses and public organizations who had
strong fiber connections, they may be able to work with them to spread the Internet signal
outward.
Peterson said the group wants to also explore the idea of a municipal ISP, where existing
dark fiber might be leased to either serve as the starting point for a mesh network or to
create a broadband-connected ISP.
Peterson expressed that the group wanted to connect with the Telecommunications
Commission to learn more about what kind of municipal action could be taken to move
forward with the Project. He said there has been a good amount of interest in the Project
by those interested in information technology.
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Pfeiffer wondered whether the City would consider the idea of municipal broadband
given that it is currently involved in a lawsuit related to Internet service providers in Iowa
City. She said that the University of Iowa Student Government is working on a proposal
to the City to state its interest in municipal broadband. Gowder asked if the Student
Government had spoken with the University. Peterson said they were in the beginning
stages and may be awaiting results from a student poll to gauge student interest and
support. He said that if a student lived outside the residence halls, they wouldn’t have
access to University-provided service. Peterson mentioned that some downtown
apartments require students to deal with Mediacom through their leases.
Bergus said the Commission is available to the City Council to offer expertise, historical
perspective, and research, though it may not currently be a political priority. Bergus
explained that the revenue the City receives from providers is limited to cable TV.
Coleman said that as cable TV subscribers reduce, the franchise fees provided to the City
will be impacted. Bergus mentioned the 2007 change in Iowa law that removed a city’s
ability to regulate individual cable franchises and that once the current municipal
franchise expires later in 2018, the City’s authority will be further reduced. Bergus added
that the formula for calculating franchise fees is based on revenues the provider generates
for the services customers pay for, rather than simply being a rental of the right of way.
The Commission expressed its excitement to see a group of community members emerge
to discuss the topic. Gowder said that it is important for residents to be active and to tell
the City Council what they want.
Pfeiffer stated that she had read information provided by a local school that indicated one
in ten student households did not have Internet access at home. She noted that some
classes require Internet access for completing homework. Pfeiffer sees the Project
addressing an education gap in the community.
Drager stated that Mediacom does offer a discounted Internet service for homes with
students who meet the requirements of the school’s free and reduced lunch program.
Michaeli Timmins asked Drager if the Library kept data on the number of people who
come to use the Internet. Drager said it did and that she could talk to a librarian to get
that information. Drager also mentioned that the Library has been offering wireless
hotspots and currently has 20 units available for checkout.
Peterson said members of the group have been testing mesh nodes and can achieve
successful transmission up to 600 feet from the source. He said that a mesh network
could provide Internet access for students living close to their school if the school’s
high-bandwidth Internet was used as a starting point. Peterson said that a school would
have the terms of service that would allow them to spread their Internet, but wondered if
service providers would change their terms of service if they knew that service was being
extended to others outside of school hours.
Bergus suggested that with the potential for additional Internet service providers entering
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the Iowa City market, the Project would benefit from a direct partnership with a provider.
Johnk recommended focusing on areas with the lowest income rates and the highest
population density. Michaeli Timmins said the group had discussed the southeast portion
of Iowa City. Peterson said that the need for this seems to be less dire as you get closer
to the center of town due to the University’s wireless eduroam service and increasing
wireless options in the downtown area. Peterson mentioned the group has brought up the
Iowa City Marketplace as one idea as a good space for generating a wireless mesh
network. Johnk suggested the Riverfront Crossings area as another area to consider,
noting that income-contingent housing is being built there.
Peterson suggested that a community-driven approach, wherein residents in an area could
choose to put a mesh node in their home, providing access to neighbors who need it. He
said that perhaps there would be a way to raise funds to assist those interested in putting a
node in their home with the cost of purchasing the node. He reported that a
household-level node costs around $100, while a more robust, professional-level node
may cost $250. Peterson said he is unsure of whether this kind of system would have a
legal status as an actual ISP or be simply recognized as a network. Peterson clarified that
individuals with nodes would not be passing their own Internet service through the nodes,
but would only be passing along a signal generated from a school. Johnk asked whether
businesses might be considered. Peterson questioned whether a business would be
willing to offer the service without a monetary component and said that a school would
be less likely to expect users to pay for it. He said businesses would not be out of the
question and some may be willing to put a node on their business for carrying the signal
and helping to spread the network to a wider area. Peterson said there may be some
businesses who have fiber in place or nearby, but the question comes down to who owns
it.
Johnk asked about a cooperative ISP approach. Peterson referred to South Slope
Cooperative Communications in North Liberty. He said that his experience a few years
ago with a cooperative seemed to provide average speeds that were closer to the speeds
promoted within the service plan than what one might expect with a traditional ISP.
Peterson said the group hopes to put together a brief synopsis of its goals and plans in
order to talk with University or City officials. He said the group would also plan to
gauge the interest of public institutions, churches, and schools and put together a rough
map of a potential mesh network. Pfeiffer said the group will need to be flexible due to
potential limitations on what can be done. Johnk suggested identifying a town of similar
size and demographics who has been successful with a similar initiative.
Bergus said the primary question is whether it would be possible to carry out an initiative
as described without the participation of a commercial ISP, noting that at some point in
the system, there would need to be a connection to a backbone. Peterson responded that
the question is what led the group to also consider the potential for a municipal
broadband utility. Bergus noted that municipal services would have First Amendment
issues that commercial providers would not have.
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Johnk stated that the Commission is in support of ensuring the people of Iowa City have
more equitable access to the Internet.
Pfeiffer said the group would meet next on March 10, 2018 at 2pm in Meeting Room B
of the Iowa City Public Library. She suggested that anyone interested in the initiative
should search for “Community Internet Project” on Facebook to find out more and to get
involved.
Consumer Issues:
Johnk noted that one issue reported in the January 2018 consumer issues report was still
unresolved. Coleman reported that the cause of the heavy data use measured by
Mediacom seems to be unknown. He said that Mediacom’s measurements show
extremely high usage, while the customer reports that she does not use anywhere close to
the amount being measured. Coleman said that one complicated component of the
situation is that, as high data usage has been measured over the past couple of years,
overage fees have sometimes been charged to the customer; Mediacom has also
recommended higher and higher service packages in order to raise the data limit.
Johnk wondered if the problem was related to a network security issue. Coleman said
network security had been investigated and malware scans had been conducted. Coleman
said that local Mediacom staff reported the issue had been escalated to the Internet
department, who stated they have confirmed that the measured amount of data usage is
coming from the customer’s modem.
The customer was present at the meeting and reported that her Internet service is slow
and buffers frequently. She said that she conducts speed tests often. Drager suggested
using a data meter on her devices in hopes of narrowing the high usage down to a
particular device. Brenton recommended an application for Apple computers called
Little Snitch. Drager mentioned a free, open-source application named BitMeter.
Brenton asked if the customer had logged into the modem’s management portal to verify
that all of the connected devices listed were ones that were expected. The customer
responded that she had and found nothing unusual.
Mediacom Report:
Coleman said he received a letter from Mediacom that reported the local broadcast
station surcharges would be increasing by 49 cents effective March 1, 2018. Coleman
said the letter indicated that the local broadcast station surcharge was one of the most
rapidly increasing fees Mediacom is charged. Mediacom stated it has continued to try to
get the legislation changed to limit the surcharge. Coleman said Mediacom has expressed
that it prefers not to raise rates, as it typically leads to a loss of customers. He said that
often the public perception is that Mediacom is raising rates to increase profits, when, in
fact, this is not the case with regards to this surcharge.
Coleman also reported that local Mediacom staff had alerted him to an upcoming,
scheduled service outage that would take place on February 28, 2018. The outage is
necessary for the Windstream company to complete some fiber maintenance.
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Local Access Reports:
Sandoval reported that Public Access Television (PATV) had started a program called
“PATV Underground.” He said that Public Space One is collaborating with PATV on
the program. Pfeiffer asked whether PATV had worked with United Action for Youth
(UAY). Sandoval responded that PATV is planning to conduct a kind of digital academy
this summer in collaboration with UAY.
Drager reported that the Library is close to completing its Digital Media Lab. Johnk
suggested that the Commission should hold a future meeting in the Lab. Commissioners
agreed that it would be a good idea. Drager said it might be best to wait until April
before meeting in the space.
City Cable TV Office Report:
Coleman reported that the City’s new Media Production Assistant, Toni Ugolini, has
been working as part of the Cable TV Office team since the beginning of 2018 and that
she has been doing excellent work. He also presented that he plans to have Ugolini begin
to create a series of short videos to highlight individual City boards and commissions,
starting with those who have had vacancies for a long time. Coleman said the goal would
be for the videos to help promote what a particular board or commission does, its role,
and what it means to serve on it.
Adjournment:
Gowder moved and Brenton seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed
unanimously. Adjournment was at 6:09 p.m.
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March 21, 2018
To: Iowa City Telecommunications Commission
From: Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator (MPSC)
Re: Consumer Issues February 2018
No new issues or complaints were presented to the Cable TV Office during the month of February.
One issue from the January 2018 report, involving a high and unexplainable level of data usage, remains unresolved.
Mediacom technicians have investigated the issue, but have not identified any specific cause, leading them to make a
judgement based on the numbers measured from the customer’s modem, which report high-level data usage. The customer
asserts that her household has not used anywhere near the amount of data being reported. The customer has followed
Mediacom’s recommendation to conduct malware scans and has confirmed the security of her wireless network.
At last contact with the customer, she reported that her data numbers are down, despite no change in her setup or usage.
She did report that her service is often sluggish and that she experiences frequent instances of buffering. MPSC has
suggested she first contact tech support if these problems persist and to contact the Cable TV Office if Mediacom is unable to
improve her speeds to be more in line with the level of service for which she is paying.
PATV Report to Iowa City Telecommunications Commission March 2018
The Madness of March at PATV has been the number of guest our in-house shows have had. From
Hope support organizations, Hip-Hop artists, gubernatorial candidates, Rap music videos, Iowa City
grade school students, and even voice over recordings. New shows like “Cake in a Mug” and
“Vlogger’s MeetUp”. We also captured artist profiles from our PATV Underground event. All in all it’s
been a great month.
PATV Board Meetings
PATV Board of Directors next meeting April 19th, 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, April 5th. 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
PATV Underground
We are Iowa City
PATV Presents: Prairie Lights
Education Exchange
GreenFire
The Lyle Harris Show
PATV Presents: Thursday Night Live at Uptown Bills
Tom’s Guitar Show
Submitted by Gerardo Sandoval 3/21/18
206 Lafayette St. • Iowa City, Iowa 52240 • Phone 338-7035
Fax 338-8456 • contact@patv.tv • http://www.patv.tv
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.
March 2018:
Children’s Programming:
• Champagne Irish Dance Performance
• Preschool Storytime with Special Guest: Ellen Buchanan
• University of Iowa Arts Share Presents: Dancers in Company
Adult Programming:
• Second Sunday Garden Forum: Deb Walser – Blueberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, oh my!
• Goodbye, Cursive! An Obermann Conversation
• League of Women Voters Sunday Speaker Series: Affordable Housing
• Wonk Wednesday: Politics & Policy – Health Policy – Food for Thought
• Rapid Response History – Indigenous Foodways and Biodiversity
Monthly Program Update:
March 2018 Next Month: April 2018
Live Children’s Programs • 5 • 1
Live Adult Programs • 5 • 8
Programs Cablecast • 687 •
Programs videotaped by
Govt. Channel/CTS
• 0 •
Date: March 21, 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 March 2018 meeting
Media Production Services
Provided by Toni Ugolini, Media Production Assistant, and Jack Brooks, Special Projects Assistant
Recent production activities:
●Created a promotional video for the Parks and Recreation Department regarding their
swim scholarship.
●Created a new edition of Iowa City In Focus. Topics included Voter ID Law, CHOMP
Food Delivery, and Domestic Violence Prevention Grant.
●Produced weekly Iowa City Update program. Topics included organics collection,
street-sweeping schedule and Fair Housing Session.
●Produced “Bike Shorts” PSA on Preparing Your Bike for Spring.
●Recorded the Preucil School of Music Orchestra Festival at City High School, which
included several performances by students of the school.
●Recorded a History for Lunch lecture, sponsored by the State Historical Society of Iowa,
where speaker Jerry Harrington spoke about his book, “Crusading Iowa Journalist Verne
Marshall.”
Upcoming productions:
●Animal Care and Adoption Center videos
○Promotional video showcasing what the center does, who can volunteer, etc.
○Improve their current volunteer orientation presentation by adding a video
component.
●Upcoming Iowa City Update programs to feature historic homes grant, Pedestrian Mall
open house, and police review meeting.
●Creating an Iowa City In Focus that features an update on the Parks and Recreation
Department’s cabin restoration project and information about a waste characterization
study.
●A benefit concert at The Mill for the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust (SILT) organization.
Programming and Interactive Services
Provided by Kevin Crawley, Communications Technician
Recent and Upcoming Projects:
The new website is up! It is the culmination of over a year's work, and we are very pleased with
it. Our high school volunteer Mitchell Pottratz provided hours of invaluable help, and recently bid
us a fond farewell as West High School began its third trimester. Upcoming projects include
scripting a client notification program, web access to our channel modulator for the Johnson
County live meetings, and some new programming tools for our playback system. We're also
looking at creating a virtual machine that would allow us to return phone access to InfoVision.
Website:
In February, we had 1,860 users access 4,413 pages in 2,851 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 All Systems Go! performance.
Our old streaming media provider reports 6,036 total hits, which includes 4,134 Events (player
window was loaded), 58 Sessions (media was played), and 675 OnDemand Hits (media was
scrubbed or index point was clicked). 1040 podcasts were downloaded, and our HQ media was
accessed 128 times. Our live stream was accessed 1,308 times.
On YouTube, we had 5,690 video views account for 19,300 minutes (321 hours and 40 minutes)
of watch time. We added 11 more subscribers, bringing our total to 331. Our most watched
videos by views were the Welcome to Iowa City! video, the short video "Iowa Voter ID Law", the
video on the new CHOMP delivery service, The Unity Potluck of 2017, and the latest episode of
Iowa City In Focus, while the most watched videos by time were the Iowa City Foreign Relations
Program featuring Iowa City's new Rabbi, the Iowa Voter ID law video, the Black Entrepreneurs
Roundtable, our Welcome to Iowa City! video, a Lecture on Current Middle Eastern Affairs, and
the latest episode of Iowa City In Focus. Our international viewership is back up slightly, with
80% of watch time coming from viewers within the United States.
Programming:
We cablecast 138 programs produced in-house 717 times
for 480 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 131 times for 136 hours of
programming, and 19 imported programs 54 times for 25
hours of programming. We also showed 84 PSAs 971 times
for 25 hours of programming. The percentage of
locally-produced programs is up a bit because most of our
Black History programming was produced by the Hoover
Library and the U of I.
Programs Completed by the Cable TV Office in February 2018
●Iowa City Foreign Relations Council
○Sui Generis, Kosovo, and Iowa's Unique Relationship with this New Balkan State
○Personal Reflections on the 60th Anniversaries of Explorer 1 & Van Allen Radiation Belt
○Stranger in a Strange Land: Personal and Philosophical Reflections of an EU National in
Brexit-Referendum Britain
○Good Governance: Prison Gangs and Informal Order in the former Soviet Union
○RESISTANCE: Reclaiming an American Tradition
●Iowa City City Council Meetings
○February 6, 2018
○February 20, 2018
●Iowa City City Council Work Sessions
○February 6, 2018
○February 20, 2018
●Preucil School of Music String Concert
●Metropolitan Planning Organization of Johnson County Urbanized Area Policy Board Meeting 01/31/18
●Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet
●Iowa City Annual Employee Potluck Award recap video
●City of Iowa City Government Facebook cover video
●One Book Two Book Events
○Once Upon a Time
○Write Out Loud
●Iowa City In Focus: February 2018
○Voter ID Laws
○Domestic Violence Prevention Grant
○CHOMP Delivery
○Bike Shorts: Preparing Your Bike for Spring
●Iowa City Updates
○Freeze Fest
○Needs-Based Services
○One Book Two Book
○Human Rights Youth Commission
●PSA on Organics Collection Suspension
●Community Highlights video on Freeze Fest