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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-10-15-CAC-min TOWN OF LEXINGTON COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF OCTOBER 15, 2015 Call to order: Communications Advisory Committee (CAC) Chair Ken Pogran called the meeting to order at 6:32 pm in the Parker Room (G-15), Town Office Building, 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington. Members Present: Ken Pogran, Chair; David Becker; Dave Buczkowski; Frank Cai; Smita Desai; Steve Iverson; Nick Lauriat; Ben Moroze Members Absent: Dorinda Goodman; Maria Kieslich Others present: Tom Steel, RCN; Jill Reddish, Verizon; Suzie Barry, Selectman; Justin Hsu, resident; Ella Hsu, resident Materials Referenced: Minutes of the meeting of September 15, 2015; Agenda for the meeting of October 15, 2015; draft of the CAC contribution to the Town Annual Report; article: "Community TV Stations want Cable Operators' OTT Efforts Included in MVPD Reclassification" 1.Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes The minutes of the meeting of September 15, 2015 were unanimously approved. 2.Carrier Reports Tom Steel of RCN asked what the town was looking for from RCN at the Lexington Community Center at 39 Marrett Rd. RCN has fiber installed there, but not coax. RCN could bring coax in if necessary, but questioned why LexMedia would need coax. Ms. Desai and Mr. Iverson suggested that coax may be necessary for live broadcasts. Mr. Pogran added that the town would like to have all three providers servicing the Community Center, per their licenses requiring service to town buildings. Mr. Steel mentioned that RCN would look into it. Mr. Steel said that RCN has been increasing their customer base, but more Internet than cable, including commercial Internet accounts. He said that programming costs were continuing to rise. Mr. Becker asked if RCN had thought about dropping marginal channels. Mr. Steel said that those channels were part of bundled programming deals, and that there are always more channels that want to be part of the bundles. He said putting sports programming on a separate tier would save money. There was a discussion of how Netflix is raising rates for new customers. Mr. Steel said RCN would be increasing their surcharge in the next rate cycle to keep up with the increased programming costs. He mentioned that RCN is constantly increasing its Internet speeds, and confirmed that the Lexington High Definition channel was working fine. Mr. Pogran referenced an article about community access television stations asking the FCC to classify "over-the-top" video providers as multichannel video program distributors (“MVPDs”). The stations are concerned that a move to more video streaming by traditional providers would erode PEG fees, which are based on cable subscriber revenues. Mr. Pogran mentioned that the CAC carefully watches cable subscriber revenues and hasn't seen a decline with the three competitive providers in Lexington. Mr. Pogran asked how the providers see this issue. Mr. Steel of RCN mentioned that the Internet streamers are fighting being characterized the same way as cable providers, even though they use providers' infrastructure to provide service ("IPTV"). He mentioned that cable customers pay the PEG fees through the providers, and that municipalities should be concerned with cable revenues dropping eventually. Mr. Buczkowski mentioned that the Town has contractual obligations to LexMedia to provide certain levels of funding. Ms. Reddish of Verizon said that the Town may not have seen PEG fees going down because rates have been going up, but that the providers can't keep raising their rates and still compete with streaming services. Mr. Steel mentioned that Comcast does some IPTV now, and that this has parallels with Voice over IP telephony (“VOIP”), which isn't regulated or taxed in the same way as a switched telephone provider. Ms. Desai asked if the providers do analysis on where lost cable customers go. Mr. Steel responded that the millennials are the ones not subscribing to cable. There was further discussion about how in addition to cable "cord cutters" there are "cord nevers" (those who never subscribe to cable) and "cord shavers" (those who subscribe to basic cable + tiers + streaming services). Mr. Becker asked whether getting TV via paid Internet streams begins to cost as much as cable service. Mr. Steel confirmed that a la carte could be very expensive, and Ms. Reddish mentioned that the over-the-top service Netflix is starting to add a la carte tiers like Showtime and HBO. Ms. Reddish of Verizon said that Verizon FIOS is doing great in Lexington, and that there are no issues. She said Verizon is always analyzing service renewals and is concerned about how the business will change in the future. Mr. Pogran said that last year's issues with Verizon customers feeling pressured to convert from copper to fiber appear to have died down. Ms. Reddish said that if there's a chronic problem with a copper line at a location then Verizon wants to upgrade that location to fiber, and if so, they will mention to neighbors that fiber is available but will not force them to upgrade. She mentioned that in Lynnfield, whole switches have been removed because it doesn't make sense to maintain the old system. Mr. Pogran asked how far in advance Verizon gives notice for that kind of switch replacement. Ms. Reddish said there are Federal and state requirements about notification. Mr. Steel of RCN asked that if the CAC hears about scams using RCN's name to please let RCN know. He said that RCN is no longer known as "RCN BeCoCom"; that name was used to represent a joint venture with the former Boston Edison/NStar, now Eversource. Mr. Becker asked who would guarantee the service and physical plant if RCN were to fold, and expressed concern about what happens in emergencies because Eversource used to take care of RCN lines. Mr. Steel said that RCN will make sure emergency contact numbers are up-to-date. 3.Selectman's Report Ms. Barry from the Board of Selectmen had nothing to share, and said that Joe Pato of the Board of Selectman had nothing to share, either. 4.Chairman’s Report a.Committee membership and new member solicitation There were no applications to the open position on the CAC. Mr. Pogran sent a message to the Lexington email list soliciting new members, and said it typically takes a couple of tries. He asked CAC members to encourage anyone interested to apply. b.Massachusetts Conflict of Interest law: workshop report; individual training and certification Mr. Buczkowski and Mr. Pogran participated in Massachusetts State Ethics Commission training for boards and committees. Mr. Pogran mentioned that the CAC doesn’t have much contract or procurement influence except for cable provider negotiations, which are structured. He reiterated the requirement that all committee members must go through the online ethics training course every two years. c.Confirmation of 2015-2016 working group assignments In the September meeting, Mr. Moroze agreed to join Mr. Cai in looking at wireless applications. Mr. Iverson offered to join Ms. Desai and Ms. Kieslich on the LexMedia working group. Mr. Iverson is not a member of LexMedia. Mr. Iverson was appointed to this working group. Regarding the cable license negotiation working group, Mr. Becker mentioned that RCN's license is up in June 2019, and that RCN has to notify the town three years before that date. Since the CAC can expect a formal letter from RCN in May or June, it needs to think about the negotiating working group, and that training might be needed for new people. Mr. Pogran asked that working groups write down timelines and milestones for their work, and noted that the negotiating working group (Mr. Becker, Mr. Buczkowski, and Mr. Lauriat) is still intact and should write down its timeline for working with RCN. He mentioned that the LexMedia working group has quarterly tasks, and that the wireless facility group should write down timelines to be followed when an application comes in. Mr. Pogran said he would like to discuss each working group's timeline and standard operating procedure at the next CAC meeting. d.Comcast Xfinity municipal emergency reporting procedures Comcast sent Town Counsel emergency municipal reporting procedures and phone numbers. Mr. Pogran asked Lynne Pease to forward this to the Board of Selectmen, Police Chief, Fire Chief, and Town Manager. Mr. Becker had asked certain town staff what they want for emergency notifications with the providers. The Police Chief wanted to know what to do when wires come down and it's not known if they are live. Mr. Becker said the providers agreed to respond in emergencies and figure out who owned the wires and what they were. He mentioned that RCN used to be handled by NStar, but that's now changing. He said that the Department of Public Works probably needs the emergency numbers, but not the Department of Public Facilities. 5.Review FY2015 Town Annual Report contribution Mr. Pogran had drafted the Town Annual Report contribution and distributed it to members for comment. The contribution was unanimously approved. 6.LexMedia oversight; quarterly report template and review procedures TheLexMedia quarterly report from Florence DelSanto is due by the end of October. Mr. Pogran will forward it to the CAC and the CAC will draft its response. The CAC will vote on the response at the November meeting. 7.Town IT updates Ms. Goodman was not present. 8.Wireless communications in Lexington working group update Ms. Goodman tried to set up a meeting with a company that works with wireless providers and municipalities to sell equipment, but the meeting has not yet happened. Mr. Pogran would like the wireless communications working group to meet with or nd without this company, and suggested the week of November 2. 9.Discussion of Committee goals and objectives for 2015-2016 Mr. Becker mentioned that the Board of Selectmen had agreed to ask the CAC to review plans for WiFi in public buildings, but that the CAC hadn't seen the plans yet. Mr. Pogran mentioned that the CAC had made a recommendation on policy for WiFi in public buildings. The Town has been putting in WiFi building-by-building as part of the IT budget, but the CAC hasn't heard much about WiFi access and control policies. Mr. Pogran asked Ms. Barry if it was reasonable to ask Ms. Goodman if the Town's WiFi policy is in keeping with the CAC's recommendations, and asked if the Board of Selectman has discussed WiFi policy. Ms. Barry responded that the Board of Selectmen had not discussed this in her time on the Board, but that she would ask Mr. Pato. Ms. Desai asked if the WiFi Town IT was installing was for employees only. Mr. Pogran said the CAC policy position was that when residents come to meetings in town buildings, they should have access to WiFi in order to better participate. There was no other discussion on CAC goals and objectives. 10. Wireless applications Mr. Cai said there were no new wireless applications. 11. Complaints Mr. Moroze monitored complaints in September, Mr. Lauriat in October. There were no complaints. 12.New business Mr. Pogran mentioned the article he had forwarded about FCC classification of over-the- top video distributors and the impact of PEG revenues. Mr. Becker mentioned that LexMedia could wind up with no new revenues, and that perhaps LexMedia should look to get its own money because the PEG stream could go away. He said the Town should be concerned about signing a LexMedia contract, and then having to go to Town Meeting to fund it. Mr. Pogran summarized the issue as trying to determine to what extent over- the-top providers are exempt from PEG fees. The streaming services argue that how their service comes in matters, and the public access TV stations say that any kind of programming should be subject to PEG fees. Mr. Becker stated that either kind of wiring is on the Town's right-of-way, and wondered if Internet service might be subject to fees now that more and more people were getting TV over it. Ms. Desai mentioned that Internet had been exempt because it was policy to encourage the growth of Internet service. Mr. Becker wondered if Lexington should take a position that the State or Federal governments work to resolve this question. Mr. Pogran mentioned that associations of public access channels have been taking a position, and where municipalities run the channels, the municipalities had taken a position. He wondered if this had happened where public access TV is a separate corporation. Mr. Becker asked if the Town should engage the Massachusetts Municipal Association or the ICMA on this issue. Mr. Pogran asked Ms. Barry if the Board of Selectmen had any thoughts on this. Ms. Barry agreed the Board of Selectmen should pay attention to it, and would check if the Town Manager has heard anything about this issue. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 7:53 PM. Respectfully submitted, Ben Moroze