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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-12-21-CAC-min.pdf COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE DECEMBER 21, 200—MEETING MINUTES Attending: Jane Gharibian, Chair; Dave Buczkowski, Dave Becker, Steve Ellis, David Kanter, Bill Kofoed, Ed Vail, Connie Rawson and Miriam Boucher Also attending: Rob Travers, Cablevision. 1) Ms. Boucher appointed minute taker for meeting. 2) Minutes from the November 16, 2000 meeting accepted as presented. 3) Ms. Gharibian reported that Mr. Grossman from RCN would be sending a full report either Friday or Monday on the drops to schools issue. a) The definition of what is a private school is not up to them, it's up to the town officials. b) Mr. Becker raised the issue that the term `private has a specific legal meaning and that the term"independent"would be more appropriate. c) Mr. Travers said that Cablevision doesn't have a definition either. d) The committee decided to use the same terms and definitions for private versus public schools solely to determine eligibility as the FCC uses. e) Mr. Becker will research terms and definitions and get back to the committee with a web site that contains this information. f) The committee decided to let the providers deal with each request as it was received under Federal requirements. 4) RCN has now activated WINK—an interactive TV program guide that contains supplemental information to the show currently being viewed where available. 5) Digging a trench to the Museum of Our National Heritage will be "very expensive" per Mr. Grossman. a) Mr. Travers estimated that the trenching alone would cost $3,000 and the entire job would cost $5,000 due to the building being made up of brick. b) We're still waiting for an estimate from RCN 6) Mr. Travers reported that joint trenching is complete (total of four streets, two each). a) There were minor issues that were resolved on the site. b) Each contractor represented both companies if anything came up. c) The project was successful and everyone was very cooperative. d) Both companies requested time to complete metrics and figure out costs before any further plans were made. e) The town is ready to entertain requests for additional trenches. 7) Ms. Gharibian reported that the Chinese news station has stopped broadcasting. There is no known replacement. There is a satellite feed for a different service; the previous feed was via tape. Cablevision hasn't pursued this opportunity Ms. Rawson will follow up on finding another source. 8) Mr. Ellis reported that the antenna at the High School was still not operational and will take at least a couple of months before it is. Some preference was expressed for a dish as it was thought that the antenna would be too big. 9) The Cablevision tour was excellent. Ms. Gharibian and Mr. Kanter toured the site and were impressed with the state of the art technology 10)Mr. Kanter reported in a request from BellAtlantic/GTE/Price Waterhouse Cooper as to any and all fees and charges on cable and telecommunications. a) Other than the state franchise mandated fees, all fees are negotiated individually and cannot be determined in advance. b) The current lease/rental agreement with Metricom was referenced if further information was desired. 11)The issues of whether or not to extend the existing contract with Cablevision, negotiate a new contract with Cablevision, or wait and negotiate a new contract with AT&T was discussed extensively a) Negotiating a new contract with Cablevision was considered unfair as that would tie AT&T's hands. b) The committee was told that Nick Lucie will represent AT&T and would like this committee to be prepared to negotiate a full contract as soon as the transfer deal with Cablevision is closed. c) Technically, a short term renewal doesn't exist. In theory, if Cablevision does not have a contract, they should turn off all service. d) In the past, Cablevision has signed three to six month renewals referencing the original contract. e) Mr Lucie feels that a new contract should be finalized within six month. AT&T doesn't have a history of doing renewals, so they support a full contract negotiated quickly f) This committee should be prepared to start negotiations on a full contract the first week in January 12)Mr. Kanter reported that the antenna NexTel requested for Cranberry Hill will be reduced in power. It will be a gap filler, not a boosting station. 13)SkyTel has abandoned plans to place an antenna at 181 Spring Street. 14)Metricom—nothing further. 15)CellularOne wants to place an antenna on the water tower However, they abandoned the idea when they heard that the water tower was going to be refurbished, as they didn't want to put everything up, take it down and then put it up again. Apparently the tower is only being repainted, and as long as CellularOne uses the correct paint, they can place their equipment once. 16)There's a newsletter launched by two attorneys called Municipal Ware. A copy was sent to all committee members if they wish to subscribe. 17)The outage on Monday was storm related. The I-Net was brought down as a result. 18)Mr. Ellis reported that the TV production course would remain. There s interest in going toward a multimedia venue rather than pure TV 19)Ms. Rawson reported that they have requested financial software that will be used over the I-Net by all departments, schools, etc. Use of the software is dependent on a stable I-Net. 20)Ms. Gharibian requested that she be allowed to review the annual report before it is sent out. She wishes to see the edited version and will send copies to the committee. 21)Mr. Ellis reported on a problem that was resolved concerning DSL service from Verizon. 22)Ms. Gharibian reported on a visit she made to the Billerica production studio. They have an impressive number of activities. They applied for and received grant money to fund their operations. 23)The suggestions was made that as part of the proposal to be negotiated with AT&T that we ask for them to provide a working studio that would be turned over fully tested and operational, along with estimates of what it would take to support the studio. Mr. Ellis will discuss this with Jennifer 24)The committee received a report from Mr. Vail on the one complaint from December. The complaint related to cable access. Unfortunately, the nearest pole is in Woburn. Lexington residents serviced by poles outside of Lexington was discussed. 25)No new business to be added to next meeting s agenda. 26)Meeting adjourned.