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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-10-15-CAC-min TOWN OF LEXINGTON COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF OCTOBER 15, 2020 CONDUCTED BY REMOTE PARTICIPATION Call to order. CAC Chair Kenneth Pogran called the meeting to order, using Zoom, at 6:31 PM. Members Present: Ken Pogran, Chair; Bob Avallone, Dave Becker, Dave Busckowski, Smita Desai, Dorinda Goodman, Nick Lauriat, P. K. Shui, Ramin Taraz Members Absent: Rita Vachani. Quorum: A quorum of members was present. Others Present: Mark Sandeen, Member of the Select Board and Liaison with the CAC; Florence DelSanto, LexMedia Executive Director. Materials Referenced: Draft Minutes of the CAC meeting of 9/17/2020; 10/14/2020 Comcast Position in Renewal Negotiations with Town of Sandwich, MA; 10/11/2020 Comment to Select Board on Verizon cable service, from Lexington resident Nicola Rinaldi; 10/12/2020 Additional comment to Select Board on Verizon cable service, from Ms. Rinaldi 1. Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes. The minutes of the meeting of September 17, 2020 were unanimously approved with corrections. 2. Chairman's Report a) Mr. Pogran reported on a talk he gave on the CAC to the Lexington Computer and Technology group, whose members like to keep current on technological issues affecting the Town and its residents. During the discussion, he spoke to one of that group's members about possibly becoming a member of the CAC. Mr. Pogran will send an email to that person encouraging a formal application to join the CAC. b) He also sent a"Letter to the Editor"to the Lexington Minuteman, elaborating on the legal notice of the Verizon public hearing on October 15, 2020 (published in that paper on October 1 and October 8). 3. Select Board Report Mr. Sandeen said that the warrant article regarding new rules for public wireless communications is planned for discussion in a forthcoming session of Town Meeting. 4. Carrier Reports No carrier reports were received. 5. Comcast Valuation of I-Net in Sandwich Ms. Goodman, as Director of Information Technology (IT) in Lexington, received a letter from the IT Director in Sandwich, MA about what may be an excessive valuation of their Institutional Network(defined in Communications Act-related regulations as a mechanism for municipal communications) in negotiations for a cable television renewal license. This may be an instance of the application of recent Federal Communications Commission ruling allowing Cable Television operators to offset their negotiated License fees with operator estimates of the cost of in-kind services provided to municipalities or their access corporations (ACs). We are aware that that this ruling is currently being challenged in court, but are concerned that the ruling, if upheld, might ultimately lead to significant reduction in the funding of LexMedia, our current AC, or any successor. 6. Wireless Applications Mr. Lauriat noted that there had been no wireless applications activity this month. 7. Complaints Mr. Becker said that there had been no Cable Television complaints in September. Mr. Pogran reported(for Ms. Vachani) an October complaint in which a resident moved into the Brookhaven facility, contacted Comcast to take advantage of an advertised favorable rate, and was then billed for services which were explicitly excluded from billing in the advertisement and in the phone call. Ms. Vachani contacted Comcast and was able to straighten out three of the four problems, with the fourth(a rate issue) still being worked on. The customer is happy with the progress so far. Mr. Taraz is the complaints person for November, and Mr. Lauriat for December. 8. Verizon Cable Television Renewal License Public Hearing Mr. Pogran began the hearing at 7:01 pm by describing the cable television License renewal process, the CAC's role in that process and how the hearing helps the Town consider possible changes in the terms of a renewal License. He then introduced Mr. Buczkowski, who took over as Chair of the public hearing. It was noted that Verizon chose not to participate in the hearing, and did not submit a formal statement. Mr. Buczkowski identified the members of the CAC in attendance, and specifically the members of the negotiating group: Messrs. Becker, Buczkowski and Lauriat, each of whom has been in this role during several previous License renewal negotiations. Mr. Buczkowski described how comments will be accepted on both Verizon's operation under its current License and the Town's future needs and interests, given the costs, under a renewal of that license. Verizon's current cable television license expires on October 29, 2021. The only participant with a comment was Florence DelSanto, Executive Director of LexMedia. She spoke to the benefit of community cablecasting, especially to support people stuck at home during the pandemic. LexMedia requests include: • One or more High Definition (HD) PEG channels to match the three currently provided by RCN in Lexington, and by Verizon in other municipalities. • An electronic program guide, as provided in other communities • A direct connection telephone number to report PEG transmission problems • Continued capital support, as provided in the 2006 Verizon License, so that LexMedia can keep current with new technological developments. The Select Board office had already received one comment on Verizon's current performance, and the Chair agreed that it was appropriate to discuss the issue. Ms. Nicola Rinaldi believes that, on Verizon, (1)the Fox network is much more expensive than other news networks; (2)that she would prefer not to give Fox any money (perhaps because of a philosophical disagreement); and, (3) Fox News is not really a news program but an opinion program. In a second message to the Select Board, Ms. Rinaldi notes that Fox recently changed its "Terms of Service"to delete responsibility for the network operating correctly and not damaging user devices, while continuing to deny any responsibility for accuracy of their content. By federal and Massachusetts, law, a municipality with "effective competition" is prohibited from negotiating cost and content with cable television operators. Lexington, with three cable television operators (Comcast, RCN and Verizon), has been officially judged to have effective competition, so the Town has no say in the cost or content of cable service. It was noted that the only remedy for a resident unhappy with the service or cost offered by one cable television operator is to check out the offerings of the other two operators. Adjournment: The Public Hearing, and the Committee meeting, were adjourned concurrently at 7:08 PM. Respectfully submitted, David Becker Recording Secretary