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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-05-19-CAC-min.pdf f P+ CAC Meeting Notes - May 19,2005 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 I, CAC Meeting Notes — May 19,2005 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 CAC Meeting Notes — May 19,2005 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. CAC Meeting Notes — May 19,2005 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