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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Cable Communications Commission - 10/29/2001 • Minutes t• � Corpus Christi Cable Communications Commission \� =- Corpus Christi City Hall—City Council Chambers, 1201 Leopard%Stre�et� October 29, 2001 6, _ Committee Members Present: Vice-Chair Norma Tones, Charles Spencer, Hector Morales, Joel Yowell and Sylvia Dancer Time Warner Staff Present: General Manager Gordon Harp and Robert Hughes Clearsource,Inc Staff Present: Not Present City Staff Present: Lisa Aguilar, Susan Cable and P.0 Gracia The meeting wascalled to order by Vice-Chair,Norma Tones at 7:08pm. The minutes of the Cable Communications meeting for May 14, 2001 were approved as submitted with two corrections. The committee heard nominations for the new Cable Commission Chair from its members. Charles Spencer nominated Mrs. Norma Torres and Mr. Hector Morales nominated Joel Yowell for chair. After all nominations ceased, Yowell declined consideration, Tones was voted(4-0 vote with Torres abstaining) to serve as the new chair. PC Gracia told the commission that the vice-chair position will be placed in the next meetings agenda for members to consider. The next agenda item dealt with a brief update presentation by Susan Cable on the status of the Time Warner franchise renewal effort. Cable stated that Time Warner and the city are continuing to work towards resolution of the issues surrounding public access. Cable told the commission that delays in the franchise negotiations were due to the change in cable companies(from AT&T to Time Warner) and the resolution of issues that included the Public, Education and Governmental (PEG) access channels. Cable acknowledge that usage for studio facilities, studio time and the number of actual users (7 of 80) became an issue during the renewal process. The preservation of the public access channels has been a priority goal for the franchise negotiations committee. As a result of these delays, the City Council will consider a second six month extension of the franchise on November 20, 2001.. During the discussion with TW about PEG channels, Cable told the commission that two needs surfaced; the need to tighten the video formats and the need to improve the access procedure rules. Tones told Cable that the current procedures had tape length limitations. Cable responded that length should be allowed in 28 or 58 minute segments. Cable also mentioned that the issue surrounding program repeats needed to be reviewed again by the commission to set new standards for all of PEG. SCANNED Gordon Harp, TW General Manager, told that commission that the upgrade of the city is complete with the exception of the North Beach area, which is expected to be completed by December 2001. Harp added that TW launched its new internet service (Roadrunner) in July and that it was available in 95% of the City including the island. Harp noted that TW was the major corporate sponsored of the Power Boat Races in June, the Special Olympics, Bayfest, the major corporate sponsor of the Texas Jazz Festival in October and the exclusive media sponsor for HBO boxing event held in October among a list of other company sponsored efforts. Harp also noted that TW added a new channel line up to include UPN, Bravo, WE, Oxygen, CNNS, and others including 7 new channels to the digital line up. Clearsource was not present at this meeting. Robert Hughes, Time Warner Access Coordinator, presented the access usage hours to the commission. Hughes informed the commission that PAUG had not met in a couple of years, so he was unsure of its status. Anita Filmore, who was to be the new PAUG president as agreed to by the commission, is moving out of town according to Hughes. Hughes said that Time Warner will cablecast a visit from Bishop Edmond Carmody during the Feast of Guadalupe at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on December 12, 2001. Morales made a personal complaint about a bad reception problem and lack of coordination on Time Warner's behalf on resolving the issue. The resolution lasted 2 %2 months whereby lack of coordination, scheduling for repairs and missed appointments occurred before the reception problem was corrected according to Morales. Sylvia Dancer, new commission member, explained that she was approached by the Ethyl Eyerly senior center about Time Warner asking them to pay for cable service that previously had been free under TCI. Lisa Aguilar told Dancer that the city will send a letter to TW informing them that the center is a city facility entitling them to free basic service under the franchise agreement. Under public comment, RevererJerry Vestal, President of Religious Access Users Group, (RAUG), informed the commission that RAUG had held their annual lottery for broadcast time slots on Channel 18. He explained that 40 different churches were represented and that all time slots for the next six months had been filled. Vestal stated that there had been no problems and that a diversity of churches was represented. Vestal said that he was pleased with the diversity of denomination to be cablecasted on the channel (18). He encouraged Clearsource to also provide the same opportunity so that PEG channels could be aired on their system. Morales asked if he had contacted Islamic members and Vestal said he had not. 2 Yowell asked why Clearsource had failed to provide public access channels. Aguilar told Yowell that the Clearsource franchise provided for them to acquire a feed from TW and share the cost. Morales added that TW was upset that Clearsource has not complied. Harp added that TW had asked the city to enforce their agreement with Clearsource. ' PC Gracia added that the City entered in good faith with Clearsource and TW to have them provide public access to their cable customers, however it has not come about. Yowell stated that maybe the commission needed to take a stand and ask Clearsource to prepare a report at the next meeting about providing public access to their customers. Yowell motioned and Morales seconded the following resolution: That Clearsource, Inc. at the next cable meeting provide a report and state their plans on providing equal access programming to citizens of Corpus Christi. Morales thanked TW for being a major corporate sponsor of the Texas Jazz festival. Ms. Torres added that Clearsource, Inc. has not attended all of the cable commission meetings. Torres said that Mary Beth Nelson was unable to attend the meeting but wanted to convey a thank you from Nelson to the commission for working with her during her tenure as chair. Yowell asked the city staff to forward a letter thanking Nelson for providing service to the community and for serving as member and chair of the Cable Commission. Next meeting scheduled for November 26, 2001 Meeting adjourned at 8:13 pm. 4141"4.11# ea0' Submitted by PC Gracia 3