HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-05-13-CAC-min.pdf 141' V - 14 - 9Z FRI 15 OS C PI R Y LIBRARY P . 02
CATV & COMMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Minutes of meeting May 13, 1993
In attendance Cunha, Fray, Gharibian, Mairson, Schoman , Spencer,
Stanton , Triessl , Warner ( officiating ) Jay Somers representing
Cablevision
Meeting convened at 5 30pm
Minutes were approved for meetings of January 27 and March 4, 1993
Somers reported that new plan of tiering of customer services has
been postponed while clarification of regulations is sought It is
believed that tiering plan will be in place by Fall Basic
services and extended services are being evaluated Definitions
vary. Warner asked that subscriber notification clearly present
the available options The Committee will work with Cablevision on
materials for the public.
Local Program Task Force eported on its actvities Iwo meetings
were held with Joe N 1 , Cindy Campbell , Ed Har6St (all of
Cablevision ) and Wendy Wilson of the High School Cooperation in
covering meetings of Selectmen , School Committee, and Town Meeting
has proved successful Recruiting volunteers remains difficult
Requests were sent to schools, organizations, and town meeting
members There was no response The task force will continue to
work on the list of people whq' ve received training from
Cablevision In the Fall , approaches will be made to
organizations
Tapes of Town Meeting and other meetings are available at Cary
Library Tapes are held at Cablevision until the conclusion of
Town Meeting when they are released as a unit to the Library They
are available for viewing at the Cablevision studios There were
a few requests made for tapes this year Tapes of other meetings
are delivered to the Library soon after the taping Selectmen ' s
meetings are rebroadcast twice a week
Wendy Wilson will not participate on the task force next year but
asks that she be sent minutes of the Committee ' s meetings
Lexington Interfaith Television is also having difficulting
recruiting people to do camera work
Institutional Trunk Task Force
The Committtee reviewed the charge to the group interested in
working on networking and technological aspec1ts of the cable
system. It was voted, that the group be called a task force`'rather
than asub-committee ' The vote also renamed the Local Programming
group whetherotasktit forcesa task force meet meetings need to Thebeposted ion was with theaised Town as to
The
matter will be investigated
:i q Y - 1 4 - 9 3 PRI 15 09 C A R Y LIBRARY P e
The charge to the task force
1 A task force of the Cable Advisory Committee is formed which
shall be called the Institutional Trunk Task Force
2 The task force is the working group responsible for matters
relation to the Institutional Trunk Some of these are
A Address technical issues and report to and advise the full
committee
B Monitor repair and maintenance issues
C Consult with users and potential users on bandwidth needs
and recommend to the full committee channel assignments
D Make recommendations to the full committee on the role of
I-trunk issues in franchise renewal
The task force wishes to focus on the I-trunk and not be
responsible for all reporting on cable technology
Discussion was held regarding channel assignments It was voted
that the task force and Warner , acting chairman of the Committee ,
will advise town officials and other interested parties that
coordination and allocation through the committee as the
Selectmen's agent, will be essential as demand for channel
allocations increases Discussion will be held with Leo McSweeney
and Bill Dailey, Selectmen who have worked closely with the
committee on CATV issues
Spencer reported that Chipcom technology has been replaced by
Applitek equipment
As specified in the contract, a second installment of $25 ,000 for
digital data sending equipment has been requested of Cablevision
Somers indicated that payment will be made by June 1 , 1993
Stanton reported that equipment at the schools is being replaced
She submitted a memo from Jeffry Young and David A Wilson to
Committee Chairman Bussgang regarding a Distance Learning Project
with Bedford
The Subscriber Task Force has been gathering published information
about the new regulations Substantive action is not expected until
there is greater clarity on some of the legal issues Somers will
send along some summary material he has available
Warner asked Somers how many converters are being changed out
Somers will report back He indicated that the most difficult
phase comes at the end of the changeover period when customers
who' ve been happy with their converters are forced to trade them
in
Somers reported that complaints remain level The winter storms
created difficulties He expects the complaint level to decline
There has been a falling off of interest in pay services The
overall subscriber rate has grown by approximately 3%
NY - X4 -
'3 3 FRI 1 '3 : 1 0 C A R Y LIBRARY P 0 4
Bedford and other communities have an annual performance review
process The committee felt that such a procedure was not
necessary in Lexington at this time
Meeting adjourned at 7 05pm
Next meeting scheduled for Thursday , June 17 , 1993 at_Llopm..
MOM