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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Cable Communications Commission - 07/29/2002 ft 29 F„x,49 • Minutes Corpus Christi Cable Communications Commission,_ . i Corpus Christi City Hall—City Council Chambers, 1201 Leopard Street July 29, 2002 = - Committee Members Present: Charles Spencer, Joel Yowell, Sylvia Dancer and Norma Tones Time Warner Staff Present: General Manager Gordon Harp, Robert Hughes and Pa=ala Kolda Grande Communications Staff Present: Becky Weaver, General Manager City Staff Present: Lisa Aguilar, Susan Cable and P.0 Gracia •• The meeting was called to order by Norma Tones at 7:15 p.m. The minutes of the Cable Communications meeting for June 17, 2002 were approved as written with one correction. Susan Cable stated she was going to lead the transition to certify a new public access user group (PAUG). She explained that each producer of a show would get one vote for the selection of new officers of PAUG.NuPac has submitted some names and they will be considered for nomination added Cable. Cable said that a letter had been mailed to all public access users to accept nominations, in order to develop a slate of officers to be placed in ballot form for approval by the cable commission. Then after users have voted the elected officers would need to be certified by the commission added Cable. Joel Yowell asked how many letters had been sent out and Cable responded that 56 letters had been mailed from a list of users provided by Time Warner. Yowell stated that he was not sure that NuPac nominations was valid because they were not users, they represented a list of corporation officers and that the commission had not certified NuPac. Charles Spencer said that the NuPac nominations be added to any other nominations to form the slate. Yowell opened the meeting to accept nominations from the floor to form the voting sla!e of public access user officers. Cable added that the ordinance defined a user as a prag:;a m producer, who is then eligible to vote on the officers. Mary Beth Nelson,NuPac member, stated that PAUG should not be like RAUG (Religious Access User Group). PAUG did not meet due to lack of leadership arid because their decisions were not approved by City Council added Nelson. Nelson said that we called a meeting of all users, decided on a slate of officers with one vote per show and now we are being told what rules to follow. Cable again stated that there were two distinct processes for public access to do including certification of a new PAUG and establishing a studio for equipment to be received by SCANNED the city from Time Warner. Norma Torres added that the commission needed to follow the ordinances to include accepting PAUG officer nominations. Yowell motioned a call for nominations from the floor and, seconded by Sylvia Dancer. Roland Garza, access user, nominated all of the NuPac officers. Torres called for additional nominations from the floor and there were none. Cable added that all users would receive a ballot in the mail and Torres said that the commission would comply with mailing the ballots as required. Cable informed the commission of a list of upcoming items to be discussed and reviewed: (1) transition planning for users that might require several days to set-up, as well as, users needing to produce a second tape (2)review process for dispute mediation (3)rules regarding live feeds (4) appeals process (5)rule amendments (6) live programming (7) interim lotto for channel 10 (8) first lottery to be conducted on October 24, 2002 with time slots effective on Sunday, December 1, 2002. She also stated that the city had received two proposals for studio management. Gordon Harp, Time Warner General Manager, stated that he had no formal report but was present at the meeting to listen to any transitional questions. Becky Weaver, Grande Communications General Manager, added.that they would be providing the government and educational feed by September 2002. The Commission asked for public comment. Ed Burns, sponsor of a program called Tomorrows World on Channel 120, expressed concern that his show would not be aired due to the rules stating that shows must be produced locally. He added that Del Mar College has some shows produced from out of town. Cable informed the commission about language in the ordinances that restricts programs to only those produced locally. Billy Wilkerson, suggested that meetings be held quarterly. She added that the industry standard is 59 minutes and 30 seconds for hour shows and 20 minutes 30 seconds for one half hour shows. He also wanted to know if the producer info was to identify the producer or so that it be seen by the public. He asked that the commission consider keeping live programming and to protect the viability of the new users group. Joe O'Brien, sponsor of What's Really Happening in Corpus Christi, asked two questions. Can a program not repeated more than one week be asked for a new program weekly and asked that city staff to clarify the two studio proposals unless they were a big secret. Jose Marroquin stated that the rules were making it difficult for users. The two tape requirement would be tough for the users, as well as, the requirement asking thr broadcast quality especially without the necessary equipment. He stated that he received the letter late and without enough time to respond. 2 1 Roland Garza, stated that the City Council was going out of their way to limit free speech. He asked the commission to do the right thing and apply the rules fairly. He asked the commission to limit the disparity that exists in the city. Garza also asked that Mr. Burns needed fairness to keep his program on the air. David McBride, Tapestry show, stated that there was a problem with a bi-annual lottery because any new programming would have to wait until the next lotto drawing to be on public access. He added that programs have always been 29 minutes and 30 seconds in length. Cable stated that NuPac and the South Texas Informer Educational Foundation were the only two studio proposals that had been received. Mary Beth Nelson, Common Cause, sated that the basic problem was that public access users were never contacted about providing input on the new rules. She added that Channel 10 has a few religious programs and that one user expressed concern about his religious show staying on Channel 10. Channel 10 and 18 were allowed to make their own rules back then, but the city has decided on a new set of rules without our input stated Nelson.Nelson said that changes should come from the bottom up and not vice versa. She also stated that the list of equipment was inadequate. Nelson said that users want to be included in the process or that the public access could go away. Ray Saenz, Lulac Show, stated that while at the University of Texas, his professor defined the First Amendment as protecting political speech. Saenz stated that his political. speech would be impaired unless he could show programs produced outside the city. Jose Marroquin asked if the city was going to mail ballots to each user. Torres answered yes and that results will be known at the August meeting. Marty Wynn, Catholic Diocese, expressed concern over the locally produced requirement. He asked the commission to not limit the production quality and to allow a sponsorship by a resident of the city whereby a program produced outside the city is allowed. He expressed concern about the live programming. Mr. Wilkerson said that perhaps the majority of programs must be from Corpus Christi and some could be from outside the city. Rene Gardner, Raising the Standard, stated that all of her shows were taped by a church in Harlingen, TX and was concerned about them not being allowed on the air. Cable responded that the rule was made to allow local users first priority in using the public access channel. She also stated that the rules also allow for occasional users. Yowell thanked the group for the good suggestions and that some rules needed to be addressed especially the one related to locally produced shows. Dancer agreed with Yowell stating that the issues need to be reviewed. 3 I ' Torres added that the issues need to be carefully addressed over time. Torres stated that the commission is not a dormant group and would try to do the best that it could. Next meeting scheduled for August 26, 2002. Meeting adjourned at 8:56 p.m. Minutes submitted by P.C. Gracia Management Assistant 3 4