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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-09-17-CAC-min.pdf Cable Television and Communications Advisory Committee Minutes of September 17, 1998 meeting Committee members present were David Becker, Julian Bussgang,David Carver, Steve Ellis, Jane Gharibian, David Kanter, Ted Mairson, and Raul Marques, Robert Warshawer, Caryn Werlin, and Jeanne Krieger, Board of Selectmen liaison. Rob Travers attended for Cablevision. Move to amend the agenda with a discussion of Form 500 changes. Move carried. Agenda approved as amended. Minutes from June 16, 1998 meeting were accepted after corrections (on page 3, Cablevision's Lexington technical manager's name was given as Gary MacDonald,but should have been Mike Clark). Kanter discussed the Form 500 changes. The new form consolidates schedules A, B, & C in the old form. There is a outstanding solicitation for comments on the new forms due on September 30, 1998. Warshawer accepted responsibility to review the new form and to draft comments if necessary Bussgang reported on Cablevision compliance hearing. Two video tapes from hearing were transcribed. Lynne Pease transcribed the tapes and should be congratulated on a hard job well done. Transcription process was difficult and time consuming. Bussgang recommended using a professional transcriber in the future. Answers to follow-up questions posed to Cablevision on August 12, 1998 are due Friday (9/18). Cablevision was granted an extension and Travers indicated that the answers would likely arrive the following Tuesday(9/22) or Wednesday (9/23). A report to the selectmen is being drafted and will be emailed to the committee. Committee members should review the report and send comments and suggestions to Julian as soon as possible. The report needs to get to the Selectmen on or before October 2, 1998 in preparation for the next Selectmen s meeting on October 5. Kanter reported on the Nextel tower/Waldorf School suit. There wasn't much new to report. The basis of the suit appears to be the assertion that regulations do permit challenges to antenna placement based on environmental factors and that RF radiation from the antennas qualifies as environmental factors' In his (Kanter's) opinion the regulations appear to specifically disallow this claim. There are also procedural claims stemming from a denied request for continuance at the Board of Appeals (BOA) hearing. The town has filed papers with the court. Committee members also expressed support for the right of citizens to challenge BOA decisions in court. Becker reported on RCN negotiations. A set of points of agreement has been established. Language acceptable to both sides does not yet exist on all points. RCN is being careful not to set precedents in Lexington that it can't live with in other towns. Lexington wants something specific to Lexington. Lawyers for the town and for RCN are negotiating to craft acceptable language for remaining points. This process may be done in the next couple of weeks. Marques reported on a proposed Access Corporation. There is a special meeting of the committee scheduled for October 1, 1998. Invitees would include 3 people who built studios in other towns. Others suggested inviting Sarah Shoman and Wendy Wilson from schools. The town lawyer for cable matters, Peter Epstein, was invited to attend at his own discretion,but not asked to attend in any official capacity Committee members expressed concerned about exactly how this was communicated to him since "inviting" him in any official sense would mean that the town would have to pay for his time. He declined. The town paper was contacted and a notice should appear in the next issue; they were also invited to cover the meeting. Members suggested contacting Eva Heaney at the paper. One member expressed that everyone should be careful when talking to the press to be clear that they are expressing their personal views and not necessarily the views of the committee. Becker asked questions concerning the objective and structure of the meeting and thinking about"the kind of information you want to come out at the meeting Bussgang asked if Bedford had been notified. Marquees responded that he had not notified them, but that it would be fine to do so. However he felt that this meeting was intended for Lexington(to inform and generate interest). The potential for cooperation with Bedford would be explored later. Mairson expressed a deep concern that even having this meeting implies the committee advocates the formation of an Access Corporation; that considering an Access Corporation would be vying for scarce town funds, and that it is inappropriate for the committee to be advocating the formation of an Access Corporation. This point was discussed at length. Other members generally disagreed that having the meeting implied advocacy Others expressed that agreements with RCN may also effect this issue: what happens when content produced at Cablevision needs to be broadcast over RCN facilities? Travers agreed that this would indeed be an issue. All these issues will need to be discussed when and if we move to form an Access Corp (and when we have 2 Cable franchises serving the Town). A motion to have the committee hold the special meeting was approved. Ellis reported on I-Net status. The I-Net has been operational most of the summer with few problems. The East Lexington fire station drop was tuned up. A thunderstorm interrupted service briefly in June. Bussgang and Kanter asked about the emergency alert system, EAS. Was this covered in the Cablevision compliance hearing? Bussgang confirmed that it was, and that, yes, Cablevision installed a system in March(1998). Fire Chief Quinlan is in charge of the system for the Town. Cablevision has set a meeting with Chief Quinlan for Thursday(9/24) to go over how to use the system. Members asked why the fire chief is in charge of EAS, especially considering that 911 gets handled by the police. Krieger explained that Chief Quinlan is the town's civil defense officer, but he could delegate responsibility for the emergency alert system. Ellis asked about a document (notice of inquiry or perhaps simply a white paper) issued by the FCC concerning Internet service. Carver will investigate. Others noted that there is also a document at the state level that speaks to whether or not Internet service over a cable system constitutes a cable service. Travers reported from Cablevision. Rebuild has begun in Braintree and where license renewals are in place,rebuilds will be scheduled. Kanter reinforced the feedback given at the compliance hearing concerning this issue. Several questions were raised concerning Basic service and remapping, specifically Channel 2 as remapped to 32. Travers said a card is being sent to subscribers. For subscribers that subscribe to only Basic service (those who currently do not have boxes) boxes will be supplied free of charge. Rebates were requested for those subscribers (to only Basic service)who already had gotten boxes in order to receive remapped channels. Kanter said that Cablevision was to be applauded in its response to this issue. Rates. Expected rate adjustments will be folded into next year's general rate increase. Lexington was dropped from the '93 rate rebate(by diminicus). Becker and others expressed concern about basic rate increases when the specific channels driving the increase may not be popular and especially when Cablevision may have a financial stake in some of those same channels. Travers said it was hard to answer these concerns, but that more packaging options will come via "Optimum TV' on upgraded systems. Cablevision is sponsoring a Cable in the Classroom conference at the Museum of Our National Heritage. The conference is intended to show educators how to work with operators and program suppliers to create educational program packages. Kathleen Mayo is the new Regional VP of Cablevision Systems. A-R Cable Services is changing to A-R Cable Investments. A-R and other operators are dba, "doing business as" Cablevision Systems in Massachusetts. Members expressed a general desire to invite Mayo to a future committee meeting. Next meeting. Mairson proposed changing committee meetings to a later time; that the current 5 45 time was disruptive. Other members were polled and all were either flexible or wanted to keep the earlier time. Deferring to the working members, the meeting time of 5 45 was retained. Other business. At the request of Bussgang, a motion was passed to delegate to a subcommittee to help in the preparation of the Cablevision compliance report. Members will be the members who worked on the compliance hearing: Bussgang, Kanter, Becker, Buczkowski, Warshawer& Ellis. The next meeting is scheduled for October 16, 1998 at 5.45 P.M. Meeting adjourned at 7.15 P.M. Minutes submitted by David Carver.