Urbana Public Television Commission Meeting

URBANA PUBLIC TELEVISION COMMISSION DATE: Friday, September 28, 2018 TIME: 12:00 P.M. PLACE: Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S Vine St, Urbana, IL 61801 MINUTES Members Present: Peter Folk (late arrival), Carol Inskeep, Marie Polk, Mark Schultz, Dale Sinder, Members Absent: Christopher Fuller, Andrew Wadsworth Staff Present: Sanford Hess, Jason Liggett, Jake Schumacher Commissioner Inskeep moved to appoint Commissioner Sinder chair in the absence of Chair Folk, seconded by Commissioner Schultz, passed by unanimous voice vote. 1. Call to Order & Roll Call & Declaration of Quorum Chair Sinder called the meeting to order at 12:20 p.m. A quorum was present. 2. Approval of Minutes Commissioner Inskeep moved to approve the minutes from the June 8, 2018 regular meeting as drafted, seconded by Polk, passed by unanimous voice vote. 3. Correspondence There was no correspondence. 4. Staff Report Jake reported he was able to alter the television broadcast schedule to allow France 24 to air five nights a week at the request of viewer Carol McKusick. Jake included a viewer complaint about the Comcast program guide for UPTV in the meeting packet. City staff is continuing to work with Comcast and Nielsen to find a solution. Jake and Jason received an email from Mike Phillips stating he was very pleased with UPTV’s coverage of the Urbana Girls Summer Softball games. He was able to watch the game on UPTV’s Facebook live while he was traveling on an Amtrak train. The Urbana High School Broadcasting program continued their work this fall. They produced video broadcasts of football, volleyball and soccer games. In addition to airing later on UPTV, these games streamed on UPTV’s Facebook Live. UPTV also used Facebook Live to stream the 4th of July parade and Pride parade. They will stream the UHS Homecoming parade later today. WPGU’s Illini Drive and Rollin’ Illini programs returned to UPTV for another semester.  Other videos projects produced by staff include musical performances from the Urbana Sweetcorn Festival, Mark in the Park, It’s All About U, Art Now and a number of short features on City events and services Carletta Donaldson resumed her production of the University YMCA’s lecture series, Friday Forum. Lt. Col. Art Urban began producing Col. Grumpy’s STEM Club. Jake is working with Jason, Sanford and Carol Mitten to develop an intergovernmental agreement for UPTV partners. Jason, Sanford and Jim Simon are beginning to work on the new cable franchise agreement with Comcast. The current franchise expires in January 2021. The City is accepting applications for the position of UPTV Camera Operator. Jason was a recipient of Central Illinois Business magazine’s Forty Under 40 award. Chair Folk resumed his duties as chair at 12:42 p.m. 5. Audience Participation There was none. 6. Unfinished Business A. Proposed Identification Slides for Programs Jake presented three identification slides to the Commission. The first aimed towards a program being aired at the request of a UPTV member. The second aimed towards a program produced by at UPTV members. The third aimed towards a third-party program staff has selected for broadcast. Commissioner Sinder thought the language on the slides covered what needed to be covered. Chair Folk voiced concern over the length of language on each slide. Jake suggested leaving the slide on the screen longer or dividing the language into 2 slides. There was also additional language presented for programs containing adult content or hate speech. Chair Folk suggested moving the line “but are presented in the interest of furthering free speech and civic discourse” to the first sentence of each disclaimer and changing “but” to “and”. Jake suggested airing the slide about not condoning hate speech generically a few times each day. Commissioner Schultz moved to approve the proposed identifications slides with amendments and suggestions brought forth in the Commission’s discussion, seconded by Commissioner Sinder, passed unanimously by voice vote. B. Assumption of Some Cable Commission Duties Jake presented his recommendations on which duties the UPTV Commission should assume. Chair Folk suggested adding “other telecommunication related issues” to item 4a so it would  read “a forum for citizen input on cable service and other telecommunication related issues, and for resolving complaints and disagreements between the cable providers franchised by the city of Urbana and their subscribers;”. Commissioner Sinder moved to approve the recommendations as amended by Chair Folk, Commissioner Schultz seconded, passed unanimously by voice vote. 7. New Business A. Equipment Report Jason reported the City replaced the transmission and receiver hardware, which allows UPTV to broadcast the Urbana School District #116 Board of Education meetings live. B. Set Date for Annual Meeting and Open House The annual meeting and open house was set for Friday, December 7, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. 8. Commissioner’s Comments Commissioner Schultz stated he is happy to be back on the Commission serving as the Urbana Park District’s representative. 9. Set Meeting Date and Adjournment The next meeting was set for Friday, December 14, 2018 at 12:00 p.m. in the Urbana City Council Chambers. The meeting was adjourned at 1:05 p.m.