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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-03-09-CAC-min.pdf Lexington Cable Television and Communications Committee ( Minutes of March 9, 1994 Present Bussgang, Cunha, Fray, Gharibian (in chair) , Mairson, Schoman, Spencer, Stanton, Triessl, Warner Paul Norton, Director of Programing, represented Cablevision Minutes of February 16, 1994 were amended to say that Mairson "stated that is would be necessary to negotiate with someone from New York headquarters of Cablevision" Minutes were approved as amended We still need to learn Cindy's last name Bussgang has I-Net surveys done by other towns If I-Net -- management issues -- I-trunk quality and policy matters related to access Sandy Gurian's technology committee has been meeting Mairson asked that we remember that the BBN project is a community project, not just a school department endeavor Spencer affirmed that it is a whole town effort and that representatives of Cary Library and Town Hall have representatives present at Gurian's meetings Stella Liu of Cary Library was commended for her helpful presentation at that meeting Discussion was held as to the best way to advise the town of the advances being made Mairson suggested a report to Town Meeting under Article 2 Schoman felt making the presentation part of the budget discussion will bring attention to it It was felt that John Rugo of BBN should be invited to address Town Meeting Regarding dial-access Mairson felt that the town should not get involved since there are commercial enterprises (Compuserve, Delphi, Software Tool & Die) available to provide consumers with internet accounts Continental Cable is offering internet capabilities to their customers for $99 An abstract has been submitted for a National Science Foundation proposal on a three year, $750,000 project Review was expected by the end of the week Mairson stated that Lexington is regarded as a leader in information technology and that we should make the Town aware of the work going on here Mairson has the archives of the committee since 1986 He is interested in transferring them to machine-readable format He believes that such work should be ana extension of the work of this committee Discuss was held about the complexity of the coding Mairson said that most of the optical scanning projects of which he is aware have flopped Lincoln Lab extension -- Spencer reported that the paperwork is in ( place and that he will be meeting with Tom Garcia, of Cablevion, to schedule construction Equipment Payment from Cablevision -- no response has been received from Cablevision regarding the annual payment to the Town Somers has acknowledged receipt of the letter No check has arrived Spencer suggests Cablevision is in default System signal check -- Spencer reports that testing resulted in improved quality over the recent past Pete Grunewald found and corrected the problem. Schools -- equipment replacement -- according to Stanton she is awaiting monitors Schools -- Channel space for distance learning -- Need to determine how many channels are available Possibility of using religious access channel during the day but public relations problems using channel associated with religious access even if name were changed felt to make it unsuitable It was pointed out that the license names the users not the use of the channel Bussgang suggested that activating another channel might result in an increase in rates to subscribers Norton will check to see whether the use of the Bedford channels entitles Lexington to the use of two others His belief is that the Bedford access channels are not counted against Lexington Bussgang will write to the FCC to clarify He says the FCC and the Mass cable commission are in disagreement Norton will look into improving the signal quality on B-2 (42) and B-12 (52) He will also determine when these two channels are not in use during weekdays, and hence possibly available for "distance learning" The question was raised as to whether B-2 (42) /Community Bulletin Board (or Local Origination) is to be included in the channel count used for determining "Broadcast Basic" rates Existing Lexington "access" channels (4-6 in number) are as follows B-12 (52) Lexington access B-38 (78) Lexington educational access B-13 (53) Religious access Note that the towns served by "Religious access" are not called out on Cablevision's "Channel Lineup" card, although all 3 areas (Bedford, Hanscom, and Lexington) receive the service Bedford has two access channels, B-9 (49) "Bedford Access" and B-30 (70) "Bedford Educational Access" All communities receive B-2 labelled "Local Origination" or "Hometown Network" or "Bedford/Lexington Local Origination" Hanscom has B-36 (76) B-2 (42) , variously labelled, has occasionally been used for Lexington access-type programming when B-12 (52) had inadequate signal quality Schools -- student operator availability -- Students cannot be t relied upon to cover Town Meeting broadcasts due to the lateness of the hour There has been no increase in the number of students Coverage is admitted to be highly variable Residential -- Warner asked that Cablevison provide clearer copies of complaint reports sent to the committee Local programming -- Cunha is meeting with Todd Boothroyd regarding training and quality issues Scheduling for coverage is requested one month in advance so that a crew can be gathered Schoman suggested that Todd make connections within town Schoman asked again that Cablevision clarify local access and local origination in terms of coverage of meetings Joe Magno had said he would do so Kay Bell has volunteered to promote access use by contacting groups within Town Warner will find out whether the committee can appoint associate member Fred Vote will, in the future, be contacted about becoming a member of this committee Bussgang complimented Cablevision on its election coverage Character generation has improved in appearance License renewal -- letter drafted to confirm with Cablevision that we intend to engage in an informal process with a concurrent formal process leading to ascertainment A public hearing will be scheduled Due to the lateness of the hour the meeting was adjourned by Gharibian, officiating co-chair Discussion of license renewal will be taken up at next meeting, Wednesday, April 13 at 5 30 Respectfully submitted, Julie F Triessl