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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-01-19-CAC-minLexington Communications Advisory Committee Minutes of January 19, 2012 Meeting COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING KLINE HALL, 1001 MAIN CAMPUS DRIVE Chairman Jim Goell called the meeting to order at 6:35 PM. Attendees CAC members: Dave Becker, Dave Buczkowski, Frank Cai, Jim Goell, Dorinda Goodman, Maria Kieslich, Ken Pogran and Linda Roemer Selectmen's liaison: George Burnell LexMedia: Kay Bell, Zhilla Breakstone, Tim Counihan, Florence Del Santo and David Ilsley 1. Minutes of Previous Meeting The CAC voted to accept the minutes of the December 15, 2011 regular meeting. 2. Cable Operator Reports Comcast, RCN and Verizon representatives were not present at the meeting and sent no written reports. 3. Committee - Selectmen's Liaison Report Mr. Burnell had nothing to report 4. Chairman's Report a. Annual Report The CAC Annual Report was completed and submitted (with thanks to Ms. Roemer). b. Kansas City Broadband Network Experience Google awarded its new high -speed fiber optic demonstration network to Kansas City, KS, announcing a very aggressive operational date of early this year (Lexington had competed to be the site for this network). However, apparent ambiguity in the agreement between the city /county and the company has now forced delays and intense negotiations on how Google will attach its fiber cables to existing utility poles, an issue involving cost and worker safety c. RCN Modulator LexMedia and RCN have a dispute on the signal quality provided by the RCN - provided modulator for signals being sent from Town Hall to the LexMedia studio. Tests have been delayed. Mr. Goell will email RCN to ask them to get the tests run. d. Next Meeting The next meeting was set for February 16, 2012 in Room G -15 in the Town Office Building (Move to Clarke School now likely). 5. LexMedia a. CAC members and LexMedia staff present were introduced to each other. David Ilsley is the new Chairman of the LexMedia Board of Directors. b. LexMedia showed a new video demonstrating its activities and capabilities. There was discussion of whether or not to present this video at Town Meeting, promoting the potential Lexington Communications Advisory Committee Minutes of January 19, 2012 Meeting value of this Town resource, but there was concern that it might detract from the business of TM. LexMedia will approach Town Meeting to ask if they can show the video in the lobby. c. LexMedia described the status of the new sign planned for posting at meetings being videocast, to promote LexMedia's activities and inform attendees of coverage of the meeting. The proposed sign is under final review. d. LexMedia reported that indexing of governmental meeting videos is current. e. LexMedia's broadcast - quality backup server is operational. However, to truly provide backup of this video database the server must be located remotely from the LexMedia studio. Ms. Goodman is looking for space in the Samuel Hadley Public Services Building to install this server. f. LexMedia will provide On- Demand viewing statistics in the next quarterly report. g. LexMedia and the CAC came to agreement on the schedule of reviews for the first contract period, ending Jun 30, 2012. The full - period report including the Financial Review (for the first 18 months) will be due 60 days after the end of June. However, if the Financial Review is late we will go ahead without it. The second quarter report will be due 30 days after the end of June. h. All parties have been concerned about a potential loss of PEG revenue if more people obtain television services outside of our three cable operators (Comcast, RCN and Verizon). We have seen no sign of a reduction in our cable revenues, but will continue to monitor these revenues to quickly identify any such problem and modify our planning accordingly. 6. Operator Revenues Three initiatives to better understand our PEG receipts from the cable operators are being worked on: a. We want to make sure that each carrier is reporting gross revenues in the categories and formats required by their respective licenses, to help ensure the Town gets the funds to which it is entitled. b. We are analyzing the historical record of payments to understand how much money is in each of the categories intended. c. The existing charts of PEG revenues by cable operator for each calendar quarter will be extended after mid - February to cover all of CY 2011. 2 Lexington Communications Advisory Committee Minutes of January 19, 2012 Meeting 7. Wi -Fi Proposal Review Mr. Pogran will arrange a meeting with the Center Committee to present the analysis of the Downtown Internet Service proposal and explain the recommendations resulting from that report. 8. AT &T Future Wireless Plans We sent a follow -up letter to AT &T, but have so far had no further information from them. 9. Comcast License Renewal Status Since the last meeting, the Board of Selectmen responded to Comcast accepting the proposal to proceed under formal negotiation rules but to work informally to accomplish as much as possible. Comcast seems willing to proceed in this way. Under formal rules, the Town is to perform an ascertainment of Comcast's performance under its present license and whether the Town has any cable - related needs that might be satisfied in a potential Comcast renewal license. As an initial part of the Comcast Ascertainment, the Board of Selectmen has authorized a public hearing on this operator, to be conducted on January 26, 2012 at 7:00 pm in the Hadley Public Services Building. We have met and exceeded all requirements for advertising this hearing. 10. Storm Outage Refunds We have received no additional information on this topic. 11. Complaints No complaints have been received since the last meeting. For scheduling reasons, two members have exchanged Complaints assignments: Ms. Roemer will be responsible for receiving and resolving complaints in February and Ms. Kieslich will be responsible in March. 12. Wireless Antennas We are expecting four wireless applications. 13. Future Plans/New Business There is expected to be a major celebration of Lexington's 300th anniversary of incorporation over the next two years. Ms. Del Santo reports that she has so far identified the need for an additional cable connection for the high school auditorium. She will work with Sue Rockwell, chair of the Lexington 3 00 Anniversary Celebration Committee, and Pat Goddard, Director of Public Facilities, to arrange for the connections. In particular, the facilities department will arrange with RCN to get the additional high school auditorium connection. Respectfully submitted David Becker 3