HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Cable Communications Commission - 12/17/2001 291 So
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Minutes ' �;J
Corpus Christi Cable Communications Commission
Corpus Christi City Hall—City Council Chambers, 1201 Leopard1 Stree't:� yrs° ' y.)
December 17, 2001 \ � ," Ua b..,
Committee Members Present: Chairwoman Norma Tones, Charles Spencer, Hector
Morales, Joel Yowell and Sylvia Dancer
Time Warner Staff Present: General Manager Gordon Harp
Clearsource, Inc Staff Present: Not Present
City Staff Present: Lisa Aguilar, Susan Cable and P.0 Gracia
The meeting was called to order by Chairwoman Norma Tones at 7:03pm.
The minutes of the Cable Communications meeting of October 29, 2001 were approved
as written.
In the first order of business, Hector Morales nominated Joel Yowell for the Commission
Vice-Chair and the motion was seconded by Charles Spencer. Yowell was unanimously
appointed as Vice-Chair by the commission members.
Clearsource, Inc. was not present to address the issue of providing public access channels
to their customers as requested by the commission at the Oct 29, 2001 meeting. Yowell
stated that they did not have a plan other than to send a letter to Time Warner. Mrs.
Tones added that the meeting had been moved so that Clearsource could attend.
Gordon Harp, Time Warner—General Manager, stated that Clearsource was still not
providing public access channels and that no one had informed TW about the Clearsource
franchise agreement requiring TW to tie in with Clearsource, so that Clearsource could
provide public access. Harp stated that TW has asked the city for reasons why
Clearsource has not provided the governmental and DelMar channels. Harp added that
the other public access channels could be resolved by both cable providers.
Susan Cable explained the process of the cable franchise renewal that began with AT&T
and then with TW as they entered the picture. The Clearsouce franchise agreement was
reviewed by AT&T which stated that the new cable provider (Clearsource) would share
in the cost of providing public access. Cable added that the city can not legally require •
TW to provide a feed to another operator. The city was expecting TW and Clearsource to
enter into an agreement to provide public access or possibly go to a plug and play format
if the providers cannot agree said Cable. The letter by Clearsource is an attempt to work
out a solution for PEG channels according to Cable.
Morales added that he was not sure of how eager Clearsource was on providing PEG.
Norma Tones stated that Clearsource had attended only one meeting recently.
SCANNED
Yowell said that this situation was leaving a bad taste and that his concern was to make
public access available to Clearsource customers. He asked the city staff to forward the
commissions displeasure with their absence and to request Clearsource to attend and meet
with the commission at the next meeting. Mrs. Tones agreed with the recommendation
along with the other members. Chuck Spencer asked Lisa Aguilar if the franchise
agreement required Clearsource to attend meetings. Aguilar answered no. The
commission on the recommendation by Morales approved that a letter be forwarded to
the City Council regarding the displeasure and the inability to meet with Clearsource.
Harp told the commission in his report that TW had seen positive growth in basic and
digital service. Harp added that TW was working on providing condos and apartments
service by obtaining right-of-way easements. He said that TW is ready to bore under the
ship channel in order to provide service to C.C. Beach(North Beach) pending approval of
the city permit by the end of 2001. Spencer asked Harp if the Mayor had approached him
about his show and Harp replied no. Harp stated that TW was interested in that type of
programming in order to provide more community awareness to the public. Cable
explained that most major cities have such shows and that they could be expanded to
include other programming like tourist information, Chamber of Commerce, etc.
Under public comment, Mary Beth Nelson thanked the commission members for their
service, for the thank less job they do as commission members. Nelson explained that
she was adamantly opposed to fast tracking the Clearsource and Cable Master ordinance.
Time Warner is trying to get out of providing public access and they do not want to be in
the middle of public access Nelson added. She said that members of city management
are willing to not require a studio for public access. Nelson said that not everyone could
afford the current technology to get programs on the air. She also added that an
individual who is running for office has little chance to compete for the office with the
mayor for lack of equipment. A plan needs to be devised to provide everyone a chance to
say what they want on public access according to Nelson and added that Miller High
School has a facility that could provide an avenue. Nelson told the commission that it
had been taken out of the loop by the new city manager during the Clearsource
negotiations, as well as, the on-going negotiations with TW. Nelson also said that if the
city decide to drop public access, we will sue to keep this right. According to Nelson,
Clearsource gave the city $200,000 for public access but the city decided to buy
equipment for the Council Chambers.
Cable stated that the city asked KEDT to do an assessment cost for the city in an effort to
continue providing PEG channels and that the studio was never recommended to be
deleted. A research effort revealed that only 7 or 8 individuals were using the studio or
the equipment for PEG. The proposal from KEDT was extremely expensive so the city
looked for alternatives like plug and play to keep PEG added Cable. The idea to have the
schools or DelMar provide public access was a good idea except that they are closed for
the summer. Cable stated that the mayor nor council will air shows during any election
period. Cable explained that the Clearsource money was not for PEG equipment, but for
the production of the governmental channel and fiber optic lines.
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Ray Madril, 2307 Morgan, stated that he was present because he had heard incorrectly
that someone was trying to do away with public access. He stated that Clearsource
should provide public access and that those present were wanting to get on public access
via Clearsource.
Jose Marroquin, who presents The Naked City Show, on public access, wanted to thank
the commission and city for requiring Clearsource to provide public access. He also
thanked TW for providing public access enabling his show to be aired.
Brian McCool, stated that Clearsource is mandated to provide public access
programming. He stated that the FCC is going to expand our area phone codes. McCool
said that there were opportunities for access in the existing schools such as the colleges
and high schools.
Joe Mares, host of the South Texas Politics program, supported the stance for
Clearsource to provide public access programming. He said that public access provides
good information to the public. Mares said that TW is not very supportive of public
access through research he has done. He encouraged the commission and city council to
keep public access as it is. Mares refuted the number(only 7 out of 80) of access users
that utilize the studio. He added that it is difficult to reserve the studio and that the hours
are limited during the evening. All access channels should be allowed because it could
lead to government having a voice and not the citizens according to Mares. Mares
thought that the timing of the mayors show was a little weird in that it was created at the
time he chose to run for another office. Mares suggested that a non-profit group could
run access like one of the states best in Austin. He added that the studio at TW has been
reduced in size. In summation, Mares added that citizens should have a voice and that
public access be run by a non-profit group.
Cable added the city does research on public access items and what other cities do. The
main issue is funding to allow a non-profit to run PEG.
Rene Saenz, co-host with John Mares and the LuLac Connection, stated that the number
of users to the studio, as stated, were confusing. There are problems with scheduling
studio time and that the public access training is done only during the day. Saenz agreed
that TW should modify the access rules but that they should continue to provide their
studio.
Morales expressed thanks to all the public access users that took time to come to the
meeting. He also noted that there were three people in the audience who were running
for political office.
Yowell also thanked the audience and reminded them that the commission took a strong
position to the city council against abolishing public access.
Spencer echoed Mr. Madrigal's comment on having an active PA system for meetings:
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Sylvia Dancer also thanked the audience but was disappointed that access shows were not
presented on Thursday Thanksgiving Day.
Torres also expressed thanks to everyone and for showing interest on this issue.
Meeting adjourned at 8:47pm.
Minutes submitted by
P.C. Gracia
Management Assistant
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