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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-04-21-CAC-MIN COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE APRIL 21, 2005 MEETING MINUTES In Attendance Jim Akimchuk; Jim Baker; Dave Becker; Miriam Boucher; Dave Buczkowski; Jeanne Canale (Chair) Steve Ellis; Maria Kieslich; Jeanne Krieger (Selectmen); Jack Cunha (Guest); Jane Lyman (Comcast); Patricia Harty (Verizon); James F. McGrail (Consultant for Verizon); and Thomas Antonucci, Esq. (for Verizon). Approval of Minutes The minutes were approved with the clarification that on Page 5, Item 6 (d) was moved to Item 5. Comcast Report a. On April 1, 2005 the keys to the Media Center were turned over to the Town. b. There was a problem with Channel 10. There was confusion at the Head End that would have been resolved earlier if the Religious Group had had the appropriate Comcast number in Chelmsford to call and trigger a ticket number. The Work Force Operations Number was given out to the Committee. c. Comcast expects a short punch list at the Media Center. d. Jane Lyman met with Dave Bordeneau and Connie Rawson to discuss I-Net and library issues. e. Comcast is acquiring part of Adelphia Cable along with Time-Warner. f. VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) tests in Springfield and Philadelphia went well. It will be rolled out in this area within the next six months and will not go out over the public internet. It will be for one flat price, all distance and on a single bill. g. The monthly access fees will be paid to the Town per an agreement between Jeanne Canale and Jane Lyman. h. There was a discussion of the I-Net going to the Media Center direct rather than through the Comcast Head End. i. Jim Akimchuk praised both Comcast and RCN personnel for their accessibility during the switch over of the Media Center. RCN Report A written report was filed by Tom Steel that stated that coverage of Town Meeting was going successfully and that RCN is still mapping areas were it has not run underground cable. Verizon Report The Verizon representatives introduced themselves and reported that the DTE had granted the waiver request. They anticipate filing a Form 100 in the near future. Verizon’s head End will be located in Burlington and will serve all of New England. Verizon will be offering Fiber to the Premises (FTTP). Studio Operating Budget Jim Akimchuk reported that the studio operating budget would be for 6 months rather than 5. He also discussed the status if the computers and software issues. The budget was passed unanimously. Non Profit Funding Funding for the designated PEG Access operator was discussed. A motion to appropriate the funds as listed on the RFP, not to exceed funds in the revolving account, was passed unanimously. Board of Directors The Board of Convenors has nominated the Board of Directors for the Access Corporation. The Board of Convenors is now dissolved. Maria Kieslich is the liaison from the CAC to the Board. Rika Walsh is conducting the Board orientation, Media Center No progress has been made on getting an article published. Studio Operations Transition ?? RCN fiber was connected and live as of 3/38/05 ?? Comcast connections at Cary Hall and the School Administration Building were tested and live as of 3/28/05 ?? Programming on Comcast 8 and RCN 3 was fully simulcast as of 4/1/05 ?? The handoff of studio keys, Bill of Sale and Truck Title was executed on 4/1/05 Town Meeting ?? Broadcast live to both Comcast and RCN ?? Coordination of efforts going well ?? Staff of 4 used for each meeting ?? Audio complaint has been resolved Patriot’s Day ?? Re-enactment was taped ?? Parade carried live ?? Connection/quality –was excellent ?? Staffing from 4 am until 7 pm ?? T-shirts were made up General Studio Items ?? Five volunteers identified to assist with documentation of administrative and technical procedures ?? Equipment ?? Production Truck ?? Signage/connectors/supplies/headphones/tape ?? Ecolabs switcher Internet Access ?? RCN High Speed connection to be given to the studio (w/email) gratis Lease ?? Negotiations with landlord completed. Awaiting updated lease draft. Computers ?? Two PCs purchased currently using Jim’s home computer to run the leightronix program scheduler Programming schedules ?? Graphics scroll C8/R3 ?? Lexington Minuteman RFP Update In reasonable shape, it will be available for pickup on 4/28/05 CAC Financials The RCN handout was discussed. It was a true up of early payments over the last five years of the license. Complaints Two complaints were received one, regarding RCN’s coverage of Selectmen’s meetings and the other regarding the abrupt end of coverage of the Selectmen’s meeting. This was found to be a playback (math ) issue. T-Mobile Applications The antenna application must be resubmitted for the flag pole Town – Liaison Tabled Old Business Jim Baker was provided with a copy of the Comcast license New Business a. Bill Kofoed offered to resign b. Roy Grasso’s suggestions for Cable programming was put over to May c. The motion to make the complaint person for the month secretary of that month’s meeting passed. In attendance: Maria Kieslich, Dave Buczkowski, Steve Ellis, Tim Counihan, Jim Baker, Alan Lazarus, Jim Akimchuk, Jeanne Canale, Ed Vail, Miriam Boucher,Jeanne Krieger. Visitors: Jack Cunha, Roy Glasser 2. Minutes of 4/21/05 Approved 3. Comcast Report Jane Lyman from Comcast did not attend 4. RCN Report Tom Steel reported that they had recently traded out some equipment for the LCTV studio, and have provided a complimentary modem and webpage for the studio. RCN is excited to see the simultaneous programming from LCTV to both RCN and Comcast customers. Due to a recent customer complaint on Mason Street, the Town asked RCN to look into whether it would be able to build-out its services to this street. The street is due to be torn up and then not allowed to be disrupted for five years. Thus there is a possible window of opportunity to piggyback on the dig up for RCN to drop its own cable to the residents. Tom needs to review the actual plans for digging up the street since it all depends on the depth and how far up the street the digging goes. He commented that RCN might not be able to get to the upper street numbers because those lines are underground. In a related matter, Tom confirmed that Verizon does not have plans to dig up streets, removing the possibility that RCN could combine efforts with them to do part of the required buildout. It was made clear to Tom that RCN does need to show some movement toward providing some buildout. There continue to be changes at the federal level that could affect the cable providers. The FCC is looking at reforms of the 1996 act due to the advent of VOIP. They just required that 911 must be provided on VOIP networks. 5. RCN Build-Out Covered under RCN update 6. Transition Subcommittee Deferred to Jim Akimchuk discussion 7.Studio Operations Jim Akimchuk provided a detailed update of the status of the LCTV studio operations. 1. The computers are up and running, networked with full Internet access 2. The lease for Kite's End is signed for 7/1/05-12/31/05,including a 6 month extension 3. Furniture generously provided by Dave Buczwkowski is great. Jim will provide Dave with an acknowledgment from LCTV. 4. The volunteer program is going well. Alan Lazarus has researched two options for the studio scheduling/management software. We have demo'd both and are currently in the process of preparing a recommendation to the committee. One option is called Facil which was designed specifically for Local Cable Access stations. It is $700 for a single user and $2700 for network version. They will probably ask for the network version. 5. Kay Bell, Shelby Kashket, Mike Richie and Jack Cunha have all visited the studio to help in their assigned areas(procedures, software, networking and complaint protocol respectively). 6. Town Meeting. Is done and done well. The staff is working to document as to what to do for next year to make it run more smoothly and improve the broadcast. 7. LCTV has received a purchase card from the Town that will make it much easier to operate. 8. Jay Kaufman coverage. Jim worked with Representative Kaufman to get his weekly show broadcast again on LCTV. Apparently there were some problems when Comcast was providing services. We will now provide taping once a month. It will be a truck shoot, using his staff but our switch director. His 100th show will be in June and there maybe broader coverage of this event. 9. The tapedeck to timeboard editor just failed. It is the only one and they will shortly determine if they will fix or replace it. It is key for producing gang tapes. 8. LexMedia Board of Directors Maria Kieslich provided a brief update on the formation of the Board of Directors for LexMedia. The Board meet for its first official time last week, adopted its bylaws and also elected officers: Alan Lazarus (Chair), John Hayward (Treasurer) and Maria Kieslich (Secretary). They also discussed at length their response to the recent RFP, will have a draft done by the 20th of May and fully expect to have the response ready on June 9th, its due date. 9. Lexington Access Studio News Article. Maria informed the Committee that both the Lexington Minuteman and Colonial Times recently published articles about the development of LCTV. Anyone wanting copies could contact her. 10. RFP Process Dave Becker updated us on the RFP for management of the Town's local cable access channels. The RFP came out as published on 5/28. Rika Welsh will provide a briefing to all interested on 5/23. There is a bidder briefing at the LCTV studio on 5/26. Any questions about the RFP will be answered then but must be submitted in writing by 5/24. Bids are due 6/9. 11. CAC Financials Udpate It was determined that the account labeled Cable TV account was the Selectmen's Gift Account. It requires approval by the Selectmen to spend. This information will be provided back to Town Manager's office. Close caption monies were taken from the cable TV account Expenses for Peter Epstein advising the CAC came from the PEG account. Previously fees for Hanscom Litigation were erroneously taken from the PEG account. This error has been corrected with the appropriate credits. The committee discussed whether the $4000 sound system for Cary should come from CAC monies. It was decided that no, the bill should go elsewhere. Other items to come out of PEG account included the Community Newspaper listing for the RFP. 12. April Complaints There were two complaints. One was already covered under Mason St. The other was an RCN customer complaining about the cable provider's recent rate increased. Miriam informed the customer that they should look at RCN's competition as an alternative. 13. Wireless Applications There will be a new antenna near the DPW building and they are currently in the part of the process where a crane is put up to get a good visual of the tower height. This application will be going to the board of appeals to finish the process. Ed Vail and Miriam Boucher are working to get a change to the wireless application by-laws to reflect format changes to bring it up to date. 14. Town Liaison Report The Town Liaison was not present. She has recently been appointed head of the Town Library. It was decided that the Committee would approach Ms. Rawson on another Town Liaison. 15. Old Business * Bill Kofoed's resignation letter is on the way. * Jeanne Canale was going to review what types of skills we need in the Committee as she reviews for new members. * The Committee has invited the new Director of IT to meetings and hopes he will be available to attend a meeting soon. 16. New Business * Dave Becker has drafted a response to Julian Busbang's comments about the PEG programming and cable company contracts. Committee members are to review Dave's draft and remark. * Citizen Roy Glasser presented to the Committee an issue he sees with the program information provided to cable subscribers. In general, information about when and what is being broadcasted has become less and less available on the channels for analog subscribers. Information in printed form, such as in TV Guide has also reduced. Mr. Glasser has taken up this issue with the cable companies and the FCC. His intent was simply to inform the Committee of the issue and ask us to keep it in mind in our discussions with the cable providers. * The Comcast CTV forms were distributed. Adjournment at 8:07 pm CAC Meeting Notes - May 19,2005