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CABLE TELEVISION&COMMUNICATIONS
'Ufa fan rrf Ti.extruzia s, glittszachusetto ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF MEETING ON NOVEMBER 16, 1994
(Note: underlining indicates action items)
Meeting commenced at 5:30 p.m.In room 111 Lexington Town Office Building.
Present from the Committee were: Bussgang, Spencer, Cunha,Mairson,McSweeney,Longcope,
Warner Schoman (Associate Member),with Gharibian in the Chair. David Green represented Cablevision.
Agenda order changes were requested to accommodate the schedules of several present who had
conflicting commitments.
Minutes of previous meeting were approved with the following changes:p.1,third paragraph, at Marison's
suggestion "participants" changed to"patrons"
Senior Center/Council on Aging's potential use of I-Net was discussed,triggered by approval of
minutes. At Bussgang's suggestion,the COA "education program"was questioned and resolved to
become "information seminars" Longcope suggested that I-Net connections should be Instituted at the
Senior Center and she will talk to Linda Vine about the connection, Mairson reported that conversations
with Vine and Frank Chen (on COA Board)indicated no interest in Internet connection,but real Interest In
educational features that might be available from the schools via I-Net. ('See update below). Bussgang
suggested that seminars should be instituted at the Senior Center on the subject of information handling.
Spencer pointed out that such seminars are already in place in the Adult Education programs at the High
School. Mairson pointed out that I-Net service to COA was part of the original A-R proposal and license
agreement. Green requested that a letter be sent requesting an I-Net drop at the Center. Spencer agreed
to write the letter
• Update on Senior Center On Nov.20,Warner encountered Frank Chen and asked him about COA's
needs for connection to the Institutional Net and to Internet,as well as the possibility that the Senior Center
might become a candidate for becoming a workstation site for citizens in general. Frank was enthusiastic
about all three possibilities. He felt that the Institutional Net would be used immediately to connect to
educational programs from the schools. Presence of a Internet connection would,in his opinion,be a
benefit and learning experience to the Senior population. He was especially interested in the possibility that
the Senior Center might become an information handling site that would attract citizens in general. The
Center currently has 2 PC's. The Council on Aging has an active Interest in attracting younger people Into
the Center to create a multi-age environment. Frank asked what he could do to expedite things. Warner
said that the Cable Advisory Committee would pursue Institutional Net connection, and that our Committee,
together with LINK,is pursuing a warrant article in which workstations might become available to the Senior
Center
Compliance problem #1 Automatic insertion of Sports Channel into the bills of"Basic Broadcast"and
"Family Tier"subscribers has been questioned in a letter to Cablevision and to the State CATV
Commission by Bussgang as"negative option billing",and hence currently illegal. Green stated that this
insertion of Sports Channel complied with regulations then in force. Green further stated that the proposal
announced last week by the FCC for a new tiering philosophy further supports the action of,automatic
insertion. Bussgang asked about the outcome of the similar situation In Boston,the subject of newspaper
articles and a public hearing. Green did not have news of the Boston situation.
Compliance problem #2: Dating of rate and channel offering lists is often inaccurate or missing.
Bussgang requested Green to implement a program of inserting dates on both sides of all literature handed
out at Kite's End or mailed to subscribers. Green stated that Cablevision is in process of issuing rate
information to all subscribers. Green will look into adding accurate and complete dates on both sides of all
literature concernina rates and channel offerings.
Compliance problem #3: Disclosure of Senior discounts has been missing on several recent rate
sheets, as pointed out by Bussgang. This has caused some seniors to miss out on the discounts available.
Green aareed to look into includina senior discount information on all rate sheets In future.
Compliance problem #4: Up-to-date rates should be available. Bussgang pointed out that rates for
premium services are not up-to-date on rate cards currently available at Kite's End. Green repeated that
undated rates would be mailed out with bills in mid-December
Town Meeting Warrant article: Need for Committee review and approval: Warner handed out draft of
article,dated 11/9/94 and gave background of the draft(as indicated on the cover sheet handed out).
Warner requested specific suggestions from the Committee,to rework the draft so that it could be approved
by the Committee. Bussgang felt that it was not good strategy to include negative points about the
possibility the costs of ancillary services might have to be borne by the Town, or by subscribers. Warner
pointed out that our counsel, Peter Epstein, has repeatedly warned us about this possibility and hence it
seemed wise to include such a statement in the warrant article proposal. McSweeney commented that he
expected more, rather than less, no-cost ancillary services available to us when a new contract goes into
effect. Longcope felt that the Cable Comm.should pursue the article. Bussgang agreed,especially in
view of the up-coming school information technology which he felt should stand on its own. Bussgang
asked whether there are any Internet providers nearby who might be invited to compete with BBN/NearNet
for Lexington's business. Spencer described the Merrimac Collaborative:30 school districts, public and
private schools,frame relay system, 56kbits/sec. Interfaces with TelCo. could possibly extend out to other
subscribers, costs not yet set. Gharibian asked what other school systems have to pay for Internet
connections. The Committee aenerally approved of oursuina the warrant article.
Warrant article:Additional workstations for library have been requested by the Acting Library Director
and she has requested that our Warrant draft include 2 additional workstations for the Library at$2,300
each. The Committee agree that Warner is to add $4.600 to the draft proposal.
Warrant article scope& budget#2: Internet provider charges are still not tied down. Spencer reported
that BBNMearNet will probably come in a less than $30k. " (See update below).
Warrant article scope & budget#3: Operating expenses are not thoroughly addressed in the current
warrant draft, according to both Longcope and Spencer Lonacooe aareed to ask Aetna Library Director
what it would cost to have a part-time employee look after the proposed network if it is opened uo to all
citizens. Lonacope aareed to report back to Warner who, is to add an operating expense line to the
proposed budoet. " (See update below)
Update on warrant article scope and budget Thursday Nov 17 (1 day after Committee meeting),
Longcope reported that the Acting Library Director estimated that it would cost$18-20k to provide one
person part time for operating support. Warner and Bussgang have discussed the fact that the new total for
the warrant article would now become$62.3-64.3k. In our estimation,this is too high to succeed.
Accordingly as of Nov. 18, we suaaest that the budaet be as below and it has been included in a new
draft of the warrant proposal which will be reviewed by the LINK Committee at their next meetinc on
Monday Nov.21
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A. Internet Commercial Interconnection Service * $15-25,000
B. Four workstations available to residents at
locations such as:Town Office Building,
a school site, Library, and Senior Center
at a cost of$2,300 per workstation $9,200
C. Part time operating personnel costs "" $5-10,000
D. Installation (beyond that volunteered by Minuteman Tech) $ 500
Ranae of Total:$30k-$45k
* Final charge still to be negotiated with provider
"" Final estimate still under consideration
Expanding use of Internet: Bussgang suggested we ought to address how the use pf Internet can be
expanded. Mairson cited a census of those currently qualified: 300 students, 185 school staff,several in
the Library. Spencer stated that the student computer cannot be opened to the public. Longcope pointed
out that if the Internet connection is to run on a PC,the PC, in turn,cannot run on the School system. She
pointed to an administrative problem of establishing compatibility. She also stated the need for a bulletin
board system for the Town. Spencer mentioned that Town info should be put into a gopher service.
Bussgang suggested that Internet usage could be opened up to citizens through an agreement with the
Library, using a standard form to qualify and register citizens. Longcope said that Internet usage requires
the addition of a network card ($80/each), but library"dinosaur"machines may not be able to
accommodate card. Longcope pointed out that a special server will be needed,and that the municipal
offices may be upgrading their server and the old one might be re-assigned to handle Internet usage.
Lonacope will talk to Stella Liu re expanding citizen usace via the library.""(See update below).
"•" Update on extending use of Internet: On Thursday Nov 17 the School Computer Center installed
an Internet workstation for citizen use in the Library using one of the Library's Macintosh computers. The
Acting Director will publicize the availability of the facility in a week or two,after the Library staff becomes
familiar with it. It is not yet clear how the administration of the facility will proceed.
Forecasting the potential load on Internet: Mairson re-stated his proposition to open up Internet usage to
all on the current 56 Megabit/sec.system as soon as possible so as to get as good an idea as possible as
to what load the current system can handle, and to establish a starting point for extrapolating to what load to
expect on a higher speed system in the future. Mairson will pursue this loading experiment(possibly
through the LINK Committee).
Rate Changes: Green stated that there will be new rates in March,'95. Converter charges will probably go
down. When asked about the impact of the announcement by the FCC of a new regulated tiering scheme
(in newspapers last week), he said that he had not received any clarification on the FCC proposals from
Corporate management, as yet. At any rate, any such change in regulated tiering is months away. Green
also described the process that Cablevision will use to adjust for the most recently announced rate
increases due to inflation. The initial rate increase of 2.7% must be reduced to 2.15% in keeping with a
correction made by the Government to the inflation rate.
License renewal: Green stated that the local management has costed out many of our"wish-list"items.
The cost information has been sent to Corporate headquarters. He expects to be able to make some
replies to our list sometime after Thanksgiving. He also requested that Lexington fill out the blanks left"to
be filled our in our wish-list draft. Both sides agree, however that negotiation discussions can proceed
concerning the bulk of our wish-list items. McSweeney commented that he assumed that there would be
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more, rather than less, no-cost ancillary services In the new license. Warner quoted Counsel Peter Epstein
warning and the potential Federal legislation which may promote cost"pass-throughs"of ancillary services.
Lexington's Religious Access programming availability to Bedford subscribers: Warner asked
about replacing the current unaddressable trap at the Lex.Bedf. line with an addressable device so that
Lexington's Religious Access programming can reach Bedford when Bedford Is not using the channel.
Warner has confirmed that hardware required exists in the trade (but not at Cablevision). Green will check.
Availability of New England Cable News: Cunha asked about adding NEON to Lexington's programs.
Green replied that it might become available once the new FCC regulated tiering goes into effect. The
additional channel might cost$0.50 per month. Cablevision now offers this In other communities.
Cablevision representation on LINK Committee: Spencer said that he would put Green's name on the
list to receive invitations to LINK meetings.
Complaint handling: Gharibian described new plan for handling complaints,whereby each member of the
Committee will take turns at belna "on watch"for a month at a time. Gharibian circulated a"duty list"to all
members. Green will see that the Selectmen's office telephone number is published at the bottom of
monthly subscriber bills. Phyllis Smith (Selectmen's Secretary)will forward complaints to the"duty
member" by whatever medium requested (mail, E-mail,fax,telephone, or just plain pick up at the Town
offices). Gharibian will send a letter to the MinuteMan describing what the Committee can and cannot do
regarding complaints."'" (See update below).Spencer suggested that there is a need for some training in
handling complaints. Warner suggested that a call to Rosemary Centola, Manager of Customer Relations,.
usually brings prompt and complete assistance in handling Cablevision's end of complaint processing.
Rosemary is at the Hudson headquarters of Cablevision, and can be reached at 1-508-562-1675.
Gharibian requested that Warner write a memo as an aid in Drocessina complaints.
"" Update on letter to Minuteman: The Nov 17 issue of the MinuteMan contains the whole "letter"that
Gharibian submitted, except that it is the form of an article, not a letter.
Committee personnel: Longcope suggested that Bill Lucas would be a useful addition, especially since
he can be useful In regulatory matters. His curriculum vitae is at the Selectmen's office. Some confusion
was registered by the Committee as to how to handle candidates, Does the Committee or the Selectmen
handle the initial processing of CV's,the culling of candidates,etc.? Warner has prepared a listing of the
10-15 names of candidates that have surfaced over the last year. Gharibian will write a letter enclosing a
copy of an agenda and these minutes.inviting the candidates to come to the next meeting of our
Committee. Schoman asked what her status should be, since she is unable to continue as a full member.
The Committee encouraged her to stay on as an Associate, and participate in projects in which she has
interest, and for which she has time. Warner suggested that it would be useful to recruit a member who
has knowledge of the cable TV industry and that industry knowledge might be available from someone in
the financial community Gharibian will ask for suggestions of candidates from Gordon McKibben.
User group interviews: Gharibian requested all Committee members who have been "annointed"to
conduct interviews. please proceed. and submit completed forms a.s.a.p.
Next agenda: should include discussion of questionnaire results, records management, plan for
addressing Town regulations for cable TV selection of a co-chair, user group Interviews.
Next Meeting: Thursday Dec. 8th, at 5:30 p.m. room G-15 (note change). Adjourned: approx. 7'40 p.m.
Respectfully Sumitted: aab cJanne.,
Cale arner (File:cw/ca4Avpwin60/CAM11164.wpd/11-20-94)
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