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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Cable Communications Commission - 05/15/2006 2 2.S 293,6 ry , .71 MINUTES G6 evV1t . co CABLE COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSIONiz) May 15,2006 'K PRESENT Chairperson Juan Garcia, Jr., Vice Chairperson Robert"Bob"White, Connie Gutierrez, Dr. Bruce Stratton, Steve West City Staff Susan Cable, Director of E-Government Services, Lisa Aguilar, Assistant City Attorney and Holly Houghton, E-Government Services Cable Operators Paula Smith,Time Warner Cable Chairman Juan Garcia called the meeting to order at 12:00 p.m. and verified the necessary quorum. The minutes from April 17, 2006 meeting were reviewed. Dr. Bruce Stratton motioned to approve the minutes and Bob White seconded the motion. All Commissioners approved. 1. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON TIME WARNER PASS THROUGH GRANT FOR PUBLIC ACCESS — Susan Cable communicated that the City recommends the pass through grant be dispersed from the cable operator directly to the Public Access User Groups (PAUGs) equally. Ms. Cable also stated that the Franchise Agreement would have to be amended. Steve West explained that he would like for any additional funding provided to the Public Access User Groups to be used for editing equipment to improve the quality of the programs aired on the public access channels. Susan Cable indicated that the Commission could use a grant process for future disbursement of the cable operator pass through grant funds. Bob White motioned to approve the requests currently submitted from Channel 10 and Channel 18 PAUGs for funds to purchase public access equipment. Dr. Bruce Stratton seconded. All Commissioners approved. 2. REVIEW AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING CHANNEL 10 PUBLIC ACCESS USER GROUP BY-LAWS—Jack Gordy explained that they modified Section 10 of the by-laws to follow the Rules and Procedures for Public Access Cablecasting and Section 6.01 they removed "hand-written." Dr. Bruce Stratton motioned to approve the by-laws. Connie Gutierrez seconded the motion. All Commissioners approved. 3. REVIEW AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING VIOLATION APPEALS a. Marc DiCarlo — Jack Gordy stated the first violation received by Mark DiCarlo was on January 20 and he did not have a current copy of the Rules and Procedures. Mr. DiCarlo explained that he did not think Section 10.01 of the by-laws was being followed and it is hard to keep up with all the changes. Bob White discussed that the identification tag has been in the Rules and Procedures for a while and this is not a recent change. Mr. Gordy stated he gave Mr. DiCarlo the opportunity to fix the tag after the original broadcast and Mr. DiCarlo did fix the problem and the program aired correctly for the three repeats. Juan Garcia motioned to grant the appeal. Dr. Bruce Stratton seconded the motion. All Commissioners approved. SCANNED b. Jerome Bradford—Mr. Gordy stated that Jerome Bradford did not have a name at the end of the program. Jerome Bradford explained he just made a simple mistake. Juan motioned to grant the appeal. Steve West seconded. All Commissioners approved. 4. WORKSHOP ITEMS a. Technical Standards—Steve West gave a presentation on video quality. b. A La Carte — Susan Cable stated that Time Warner addressed this issue at a previous Cable Communications Commission meeting. c. Franchising—Susan Cable discussed the Barton's and Steven's bills and the impact they could have on Time Warner,the franchise agreement, fees and support funding for public access. 5. CABLE OPERATOR REPORT — Paula Smith discussed their community outreach projects, such as Operation Eyes & Ears, Operation Cookie Drop and Buccaneer Days. She also explained the new channels and genre lineup. Ms. Smith asked the Commission and the Channel 10 and Channel 18 Public Access User Group Officers if it would be possible to take the channels off the air for a few days while they completed their transition to digital, since this would help to eliminate some of the problems with the tape playbacks. Time Warner agreed to post bulletins and to have one public access bulletin after every advertisement. Jack Gordy and William Lumry both agreed to allow Time Warner the three days they needed to complete the transition. 6. STAFF UPDATES — Susan Cable stated that a few complaints were received due to the billing problems and the increase in some charges. Ms. Cable also explained that the Downtown Redevelopment Committee would like to discuss the lack of cable services available in the downtown area. 7. PAUG UPDATES — Jack Gordy, Channel 10 PAUG, stated he was encouraged to hear the information provided by Paula Smith. He inquired about the time frame for receiving the grant funds to purchase the cameras. William Lumry, Channel 18 PAUG, explained that they submitted their new by-laws to the City late, but they would be available to the Commission at the next meeting and he has offered his services to help any producers to ensure they are in compliance 8. PUBLIC COMMENT—none 9. COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS—none 10. ADJOURNMENT — Dr. Bruce Stratton motioned to adjourn the meeting and Steve West seconded the motion. All Commissioners approved. The meeting adjourned at 1:27 p.m.