Cable Advisory Council Area 2
Present
at Dakota Restaurant, Milford, CT
Fairfield – Howard Jacobson, Gerry Speno;
Milford – Phil Kearney, Mike Manente, Dennis Guaglianone; Orange – Ron Davis & guest, Marlene
Silverstein & guest, Pat Tancreti; Stratford –
Bruce Alessie & guest; Cablevision Jennifer Nacewicz
Call
to order by Howard Jacobson at
Membership
Update Howard reports that both Jody Eisemann and Bob Greenberger from
Treasurer’s
Report Absent. No report.
Chair’s
Agenda
Announcements Ron asked members to take “alert” stickers to adhere to
installed I-Net equipment on local sites during final inventory check off.
Howard reminded members that the first business meeting for
the 2007-8 calendar year would be September 20 at
Platt Tech. The meeting schedule this year will include a visit and session
with staff at the CV Customer Center in
Complaint in
Year in
Retrospect. Howard cited a
portion of a resignation letter he received from Bob Greenberger in which he
stated that despite the council’s best intentions the DPUC’s
decision has rendered the council “toothless and ineffective.” Howard added that, in effect, the
mismanagement claims by the needs assessment authority of the E and G access channels
by Sound View and an offer by Cablevision to manage the E and G channels with
full participation by the Area 2 advisory council (the Area 9 model) were
ignored. Howard asked the members to
consider the question. Had CAC failed to convey effectively to the
commissioners what remains a serious disconnect
between Area 2 towns and PEG management? What exactly over the past year can the
council take credit for and what can they build upon going forward?
Gerry said he had prepared a statement which he maintained
would summarize the year in retrospect and he asked that it be posted as an advisory on the council’s website. A
motion was made and seconded and all members agreed. Howard added that he would
also append it to the CAC annual report to be submitted in August. Dennis said that since his appointment in
2005 there has been a monumental change in the group; they are now doing things
instead of talking about them. Dennis
added that he felt that the council works together as a coordinated unit. The DPUC decision is the first shot, not the
entire war.
Marlene said that all during the recent franchising period
the council’s job was to educate the public, which they did, and she feels that
they should continue to do so going forward. Gerry added that CAC should consider
a taped show on public access to remind viewers that they have already paid for
public access so they have a voice in it--perhaps something produced offsite in
a half hour format. And Mike suggested a Meet
the Leaders type of program, relating back to the issues that the council
is concerned with.
Howard asked Pat his thoughts on what CAC should do going
forward. Pat said that a larger
commitment is needed from the teachers and participants of the educational
community but Phil stated that public access only works in education if it is
part of the school curriculum. Marlene
said that as far as educational participation goes, in many towns the issue is
really the teacher’s contracts and remuneration for their time. Gerry suggested that maybe Cablevision would
support a grant process to supplement teacher salaries for their time but Jen
said she thought the answer would be no from Cablevision on that issue.
Bruce said that the biggest change in
Ron asked: “Has the council failed? No.” Its members, he said have helped build Orange
Government Access and
Phil said that the
deal Milford has with Sound View is not contingent on all the towns in Area 2
being in agreement, but he felt that everyone was saying the same thing, that
the strength lies in the alliances between town specific communities, as seen
in Milford, along with the support from Cablevision and attention from the
public and press.
Mike said it is his opinion that the council had been more
effective in the past than recently.
With all its networking, he felt the council really hadn’t gone far
enough. He suggested that CAC petition the
DPUC for a docket to clarify where the council’s “power” lies.
Gerry had the idea that maybe there is something the
council could do simultaneously with the formation of the statewide advisory council;
possibly creating a day that celebrates a statewide vision. Gerry said this act
of cohesiveness could be persuasive.
Sol Silverstein, an Orange PEG activist and guest, told the
membership he felt that without the support of the council Stratford,
Woodbridge and Milford public access would not be up and running.
Cablevision Jennifer
said she is very happy to be the council’s contact for Cablevision and to be
someone the members know and with whom they can get in contact. She said that
in working with three different councils, she tries very hard to relay issues
back to corporate, to have them see the council’s side but at times the issues
are not the best business decisions for Cablevision.
Gerry commented that the council intends to address the
stakeholders and, if they see the importance of their input, he felt it would
be a very effective tool for corporate persuasion. Mike suggested the
possibility of a PSA and Jennifer said that Cablevision sponsors a PSA day
quarterly. Area 9 is usually a
participant. CAC or GATA could script
and tape the PSA and Cablevision would edit the tape and broadcast it on one of
their channels: TNT, CNBC, MTV, ESPN or News 12.
Howard reminded the
council that Area 9 is still trying to determine if they want to work with
Cablevision because of the content issue.
He asked Jennifer what’s going on here. Jennifer explained that
Cablevision does not want to wire the towns and have them take money provided
by Cablevision, just so ATT can also have access to their content. If ATT wants to wire the towns themselves to
get programming, then Cablevision would feel it was okay. Jennifer ended with a
Adjournment