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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-09-23-CAC-min.pdf r PLEASE NOTE MEETING FOR OCTOBER 4TH HAS BEEN 04NCELLED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED NEXT MEETING IS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13TH AT 5 30 CATV AND COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE TOWN OF LEXINGTON MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 23 , 1993 Committee members in attendance Julian Bussgang, Jack Cunha, Lionel Fray, Jane Gharibian , Ted Mairson , Leo McSweeney, Sara Schoman , Bill Spencer, Martha Stanton, Julie Triessl , Caleb Warner Also attending Jay Somers of Cablevision and Judson Baron of Lexington Clarification was made on two points of the minutes of July 15 , 1993 Bedford does not have an I loop as we know it but does have channels reserved for upstream use No vote was taken at July meeting regarding recommendation that Spencer be named system manager pending meeting with Jeff Young Minutes were approved as written Plans for connections at DPW barn and Senior Center are being acted upon Somers reported that he met with Mairson and is now on board regarding LANcity plan Warner asked Somers to see if Clarke Middle School could be unblocked so that live transmission would be possible Somers will speak with Harbest Somers reported on negotiations regarding retransmission Channels 7 and 25 have made standstill agreements, 56 and 5 are negotiating, 4 and 38 may not be carried after October 6 , 1993 although a standstill agreement is possible in those cases Discussion was held regarding communicating service and pricing options to customers It was pointed out that the FCC complaint forms require information identifying the breakdown of services which is not available to customers from their bills Somers reported that customer service lines had been overloaded as the result of the new billing format New rate cards are to be sent out within the next two weeks New England Cable will be offered as a pay service Cablevision has dropped its medicaid discount Somers will investigate possibility of discounts to hardship situations in which the customer does not qualify due to age Baron who had spoken with Bussgang over the phone was introduced He raised questions about the cable companies misinterpreting the intent of Congress , specifically in raising rates to equalize costs Warner agreed to contact Art Ballou of the Lexington Minute-man to arrange for article about changes in cable services Bussgang announced that Lexington had sent letter to state asking the state to regulate rates and including the Town 's desire to reserve rights unto itself State responded with letter questioning the reservation of rights A motion to file the Cable Programming Service Rate Complaint Form to have FCC regulate rates was deferred Superintendent of Schools Young has approved plans for making Spencer I-Net administrator Committee unanimously voted that letter be sent by Bussgang to the Selectmen requesting formal change in Spencer' s role and that Committee be adjudicator of conflicts The Selectmen would be Spencer ' s recourse should there develop a dispute between Spencer and the Committee Mairson advocated that Lexington take advantage of opportunities presented by our technological set up and become producer of information technology products Meeting with Selectmen and representatives of MA Cable Commission is scheduled for Monday October 4 , at 7 30 Selectmen have allotted two hours for discussion Meeting will be posted so that committee can continue discussion after Selectmen 's discussion Schoman will have Sally Peters send preliminary documents to all members MEMBERS ARE URGED TO READ CURRENT LICENSE IN PREPARATION FOR OCTOBER 4TH MEETING It was suggested that legal fees during the license renewal period may be $20 , 000 $10 , 000 will be requested for next fiscal year Bussgang announced that Fray is interested in being part of the negotiating process Cunha is interested in being more active in access Schoman restated the need for volunteers for access productions She sought guidance from the committee for handling requests for coverage for local events Prioritizing is necessary since there are not enough volunteers to tape all activities Cindy Campbell will be replaced as local programming representative of Cablevision Bussgang expressed thanks to Warner for filling in during Bussgang 's absence and urged committee members to volunteer to become chair or co-chair Meeting adjourned at 7 40 p m Next meeting at 7 30 October 4th with Selectmen Another meeting is scheduled for October 13 at 5 30 p m Respectfully submitted, Julie Triessl