Urbana Cable and Telecommunications Commission Meeting

CHAMPAIGN-URBANA CABLE TELEVISION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION QUARTERLY MINUTES DATE: January 18, 2012 PLACE: Urbana City Council Chambers 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, IL MEMBERS PRESENT: CHAMPAIGN URBANA Rick Atterberry Karen Walker Giraldo Rosales PARKLAND U of I Chris Foster Chris Lukeman MEMBERS ABSENT: Peter Folk STAFF PRESENT: Jeff Hamilton – City of Champaign Jake Schumacher – City of Urbana OTHERS PRESENT: Art Svymbersky - Comcast I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 4:03 p.m. II. MODIFICATION TO AND APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion to approve the agenda was made by Commissioner Rosales, seconded by Commissioner Walker and carried by voice vote. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Atterberry asked for a motion to be made to consolidate and then approve the minutes from the October 12, 2011 meeting and the October 19, 2011 meeting. The motion to do so was made by Commissioner Walker, seconded by Commissioner Rosales and carried by voice vote. IV. CORRESPONDENCE Mr. Hamilton reported that Urbana received one cable complaint during the previous quarter and Champaign received three. An anonymous request asking for lower cable rates for senior citizens was also received. V. OLD BUSINESS A. Discussion about the future of the Broadband Access Committee B. The need to amend commission rules and regulations to recognize the fact that Urbana has become the lead in taking responsibility for the Cable Commission was discussed. Also discussed was the possibility of combining the study sessions and regular sessions into one meeting, instead of holding the study session one week before the quarterly meeting.  C. Mr. Schumacher stated that attendance of seven Commissioners is necessary to vote on rule changes. With only seven Commissioners on the committee, all seven would have to b in order to vote on rule changes. He has brought the situation to the attention of Mayor Prussing, suggesting that two more Commissioners be added to the Cable Commission, thus giving the committee the opportunity to vote on rule changes without the necessity of 100% attendance of Commissioners. VI. COMMITTEE REPORTS None. VII. STAFF REPORTS UPTV Mr. Schumacher reported that Urbana Public Television held the annual membership and open house in December. In the future, he hopes to hold quarterly membership meetings, and will let the Cable Commission know the date of the next meeting. Urbana Television is almost ready to turn on the Open Media website. This website would allow people to check out media equipment online and to submit and upload video to the server, as well. UPTV has also run various specials, and collaborated with CGTV in producing the MLK County Light Celebration. Jason Liggett is working with Urbana High School on an after-school program. Mr. Schumacher has been working on marketing issues, including promoting the Urbana Television Facebook page. CGTV Mr. Hamilton reported that CGTV, in conjunction with UPTV, produced the Champaign-Urbana International Humanitarian Awards, which was broadcast on both stations. They have also produced two new episodes of Champaign Connection. They plan to do a special video about the electric aggregation ballot issue, which will provide information to voters of Champaign County, to make an informed decision at voting time. Mr. Hamilton also informed the Committee that once an announcement is made as to who the new Police Chief is, and that person is in place at the City, CGTV will produce a welcome video for the website. They also have plans to make use of Champaign’s You Tube page for videos. VIII. OPERATOR REPORTS AT&T Mr. Quinn and Mr. Smith were not present. Comcast Mr. Svymbersky reported the addition of HITN TV, to the multi-Latino package in October of 2011. It is a Spanish language network dedicated to educational programming. At about the same time, BBC America and BBC America HD were moved from the preferred cable package to a lesser package, allowing more people access to that programming. He also reported the creation of a contract renewal website, which will allow cities to see the status of contract renewal with programmers. Comcast participated in the Federal Management Agency Emergency Alert System test on November 9, 2011. It was a successful test across the country with a small glitch in one small area. Local franchise authorities were notified on December 16, 20ll about a 4% price increase. Customers were notified of the increase on December 18, 2011. The increase did not include Performance Internet, the Digital Cable Economy package, or the Internet Essentials package. The increase reflected the increased costs of sports programming, additional improvements to video, Internet, phone services and the additional value in other added programming. Comcast announced to customers on January 9 that TV Land was moved to the Digital Economy tier. Commissioner Atterberry commented that the 4% increase was to the most basic cable package, and was within the allowable formula for rate increase. Mr. Hamilton confirmed that the increase was within the amount allowed, and that Comcast did not have a rate increase last year, which they would have been permitted. Commissioner Walker reported the customer frustration with the small DTA boxes, for those who do not have Internet, and asked for clarification as to why those customers need the boxes. Mr. Svymbersky explained that the box is necessary for the customers who preferred to keep their basic, non-digital service, and would enable them to receive the digital signals from the analog channels, channels 22 – 78, which would not be picked up on the direct cable line. Comcast converts the analog signals to digital and those are delivered through the DTA box. There will be a second generation DTA box which will simplify the setup of the system for the customer. Chair Atterbery inquired about the cost of the new boxes. Mr. Svymbersky said the cost would probably be the same as the current boxes: the first would be free and additional boxes would be $1.99 each. Chair Atterberry asked about the lineup of the digital and non- digital and if in the future they might be grouped according to that, rather than have digital channels scattered among non-digital channels. Mr. Svymbersky explained that easier access to digital channels can be done by using the cable box controller to sort the channels. IX. NEW BUSINESS A. Activities of the Commission Chair Atterberry asked the Committee to think about future goals, and make suggestions as to what the Commission could do to help Cities and residents understanding technologies. Mr. Schumacher stated that UPTV and Information Services will have a budget set by the next meeting. Urbana will be retaining membership in the Illinois NATOA and the Alliance for Community Media. He thinks once the Commission rules have been revised, the Commission might find a change of purpose. It would be good to define the role of the Commission in the UC2B project and to help citizens understand the services that the service will provide to them. Commissioner Rosales discussed alternative ways of viewing movies and television shows, like Apple TV and Google TV, and whether the Commission would have any part in regulating that as they do cable. Chair Atterberry stated that no one other than the FCC has control over communication services. The Commission could help educate people about what services are available for program viewing other than cable service. X. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION None. XI. COMMISSIONERS’ COMMENTS Commissioner Walker reported that Brian Silverman passed away last year, and that he was a dedicated volunteer. XII. NEXT MEETING The date set for the next quarterly meeting will be April 18 at 4:00 pm in the City of Urbana Council Chambers. The study session, which would normally be held the week before the regular meeting is cancelled and agenda approval for the quarterly meeting will be done at the beginning of the quarterly meeting. Mr. Schumacher reported that UPTV will run a two hour special showcasing UC2B on Saturday, January 27 at 8:00 pm. Commissioner Rosales asked if the meetings could be rotated between the Cities of Champaign and Urbana. Mr. Hamilton reported there would be a scheduling conflict in Champaign on the normal meeting day, which is the third Wednesday of the month. Changing the day for the quarterly Commission meeting could be discussed at a future meeting. Motion to adjourn mad by Commissioner Rosales, seconded by Commissioner Foster and carried by voice vote.