HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-06-30-CAC-min.pdf CATV &Communications Advisory Committee
Minutes of 6/30/96 Meeting, Room 111
Prior to the start of the meeting a brief list of problems front Caleb Warner was presented to
Cablevision: The camera angle and camera pointing at the selectman's meetings needs
improving; The sound levels between channels needs to be monitored more often, Religious
programming is supposed to be on the religious access channel, The religious access channel was
off the air for a week in mid-June. Cablevision will investigate.
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 by Chairman Jane Gharibian. In attendance were Jack
Cunha, Steve Ellis, Jane Gharibian, David Kanter, Ted Mairson, David Buczkowski, and Robert
Warshawer Peter Atherton represented the cable company Also present was interested
Lexingtonian Nicholas Hey
Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted.
Martha Stanton will be resigning in the near future Jane will check with the selectman's
office for resumes. Charles IIornig, a previous visitor has expressed an interest.
The Selectmen accepted the committee's recommendation to open the bidding for another
cable franchise. All required action was taken expeditiously leading to a Public hearing on
Monday,July 14 at 8 PM. Proposals from interested parties are to be submitted by July 31.
Peter reported several Cablevision personnel changes at the local and regional level. Audrey
I tall gave birth to as daughter and will be on leave for twelve weeks, Bill Barbour will be acting
manager while she is out. The sale of a major portion of Sports Channel to Fox and the TCI
activity (all reported in the newspapers) has resulted in significant debt reduction. The
retransmission consent negotiation with TV 38 is at an impasse and it is possible that WSBK will
he turned off. If that happens recalculations and rebates will have to be taken care of. The FCC has
postponed the effective date of the EAS (???). The remapping is behind schedule, GI is late
delivering the new cable boxes. It is now scheduled for July 21, with another open house for box
swap on July 19 Notices will be in the bills, the newspapers, and on screen. After remapping,
WCVB (5) will appear on channel 65 (B 25) on Jerrold boxes.
David K. reported: The selectmen followed our recommendation and went on record against
the 'level playing field' legislation, He will represent Lexington next month when the Mass
Cable Commission reviews the form 100 (the committee endorsed David's recommendation to
keep the form 100 information essentially unchanged); CV's request to be a programmer on
RCN's OVS network is under review by the FCC 2 months to any resolution.
Steve Ellis presented two proposals for the use of some of the CV's funds: The committee
endorsed his request for up to $1650 for cable moderns for the fire stations. After much
discussion, the committee did not endorse the request for $4615 to provide hardware and access
fees to replace NASA with SCOLA on the Educational Access channel.
The next meeting will be September 19 at 5:45 PM.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert D. Warshawer
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