Cable Advisory Council, Area 2

Bridgeport, Fairfield, Milford, Orange, Stratford, Woodbridge

Minutes, September 14, 2006

Present at Parson’s Complex, Milford: Howard Jacobson, Jody Eisemann, Gerry Speno, Bob Greenberger – Fairfield; Mike Manente, Dennis Guaglianone, Phil Kearney – Milford; Pat Tancreti, Ron Davis, Marlene Silverstein – Orange; Bruce Alessie – Stratford; Laurence Grotheer – Woodbridge; Steve Shaye – Cablevision; Tom Castelot – Sound View

Call to order at 6:55 p.m. A motion was made and seconded to approve the June minutes which passed unanimously.

Membership Action Plan Howard announced to the members that, going forward, the membership action plan would be a joint effort with the Vice Chair. The council has one new member from Fairfield, Bob Greenberger. There are three newly appointed members from Stratford, one of whom, Bruce Alessie, is present. Howard noted that recent population estimates for Area 2 towns could entitle Stratford to an additional representative because its population hovers around 50,000. Bruce added an appointment for the Education vacancy can be expected soon.

Treasurer’s Report Paula submitted her report in absentia via Howard. Council’s current, current balance is $5,845.89. Paula reported these disbursements: Clerk, postage and supplies for April, May, 241.71; June dinner meeting, 214.49; GATA monthly meetings, refreshments, 119.76; DPUC hearings, travel, lunch, 53.68. Total disbursements, $629.24. Closing balance, $5,216.65. He said he was unsure if Paula had submitted the request yet to Cablevision for the yearly stipend. He passed along a signed copy of the form to Steve Shaye to deliver to Deb Hutton.

Chair’s Agenda The meeting schedule for the 2006-2007 year will be as follows:

Oct 12, 2006 Fairfield Nov 9, 2006 Orange

Mar 8, 2007 Stratford Apr 12, 2007 Woodbridge

May 10, 2007 Milford (at Platt?) June 14, 2007 dinner meeting TBA

Vice-Chair Nomination Howard reminded the members that Ron has been serving in a temporary appointment as vice-chair since Carol’s resignation last year. He made a motion to vote without debate to formally appoint Ron as vice-chair. All present voted in favor.

Needs Assessment Summaries Howard reviewed some of the conclusions regarding public access from the Moss-Barnett report: The needs assessment affirmed that the majority of the programming on Sound View’s E and G channels consists solely of free feeds mainly from the Connecticut TV Network and the Annenberg Channel. Although subscribers seem generally satisfied with the public access programming, subscribers in several of the towns indicated a desire to narrowcast town specific government access programming on Cablevision’s I-Net as did their school districts. The researchers decided that some funding should be allocated separately to E and G. At a minimum they suggested 25%-33% and concluded that because of the high level of dissatisfaction in the towns the current model for PEG access should not be retained.

After the needs assessment was released, Howard filed a number of motions recommended and approved by council with the DPUC. Written exceptions or queries included: denial of SV request for surveillance of town-specific I-Net channels; Sound View’s accounting practices; nullify Section 5, Interconnection Agreement with CV; CV’s neglect of inactive I-Net channels; CT-N for basic tier channels. One unique filing occurred after the DPUC requested dialog on outstanding issues from an earlier docket (97-09-09) which gave Area 2 a third party provider for PEG and led to the re-emergence of consequences of this change for town specific organizations. The council’s GATA committee invited the six towns in Area 2 to come together and address a mandate from the DPUC as to whether or not the access providers “were fulfilling their access related responsibilities.” Stratford and Bridgeport were invited but did not attend. SV was not invited. A post meeting notice and declaration of principles was filed with the DPUC which disagreed with the present PEG model and its regressive policies.

Cablevision’s Application for License Renewal Howard said he and members of the GATA committee participated in relevant hearings at the DPUC in New Britain and testified in support of the principles stated earlier. Subscriber choice by Cablevision was reaffirmed and the chair extracted a promise from company officials under oath that the advisory council would remain active consultants on all community access budgetary and programming issues and continue as an active participant in I-Net activation and site decisions. Cablevision has consulted with the chair on its desire to once again become the provider of education and government access. Cablevision has decided that the advisory council should play a critical role in reviving the dormant transmit/receive I-Net channels in Area 2. The chair said that the funding mechanism, if approved by the DPUC, initially would include funds derived from the “excessive reserves” held in escrow by SV.

Howard also reported on the status of the third party provider as argued through the briefs. The brief from the Office of Consumer Council had faint praise about the performance and reputation of Sound View and even went so far as to propose that another third party provider be sought. The brief from the Attorney General’s office reviewed the failed policies of SV in dealing with Area 2 towns. The AG took some cues from the needs assessment findings in concluding that the Department may want to leave Sound View as the outlet of choice for those towns not yet ready for town specific programming, namely Bridgeport and Stratford.

The brief from the Town of Orange was the most radical in proposing that Sound View be removed as the community access provider in Area 2. Sound View’s brief touted future benefits for subscribers with their investment of reserve cash in state of the art equipment for on-demand retrieval of archive programming and technical upgrades for training. Sound View also requested that the department reject demands that Sound View be discharged as the Community Access Provider. Additional information on all these briefs can be found on the DPUC website. The deadline for filing briefs is now over and there will be additional discussion after the initial draft decision which is due the first week in October. Oral arguments will follow and the final decision for license renewals is set for November 1, 2006. The current franchise termination date is October 31, 2007.

Standing Committees GATA Marlene said the committee met over the summer, attended the DPUC hearings and assisted Howard with key town level response filings. If Cablevision is given back the responsibility of the E & G channels, GATA’s first priority will be the development of an open and transparent system for funding immediate needs of towns committed to town specific programming.

Towns Stratford Bruce reported on content from Stratford now appearing system wide on Channel 79. They are currently airing town hearings Another program, Spotlight on Stratford, will feature happenings of exceptional interest to locals, David Wright, Information Technology Department, administers the programming schedule and the town wide bulletin board.

Woodbridge Laurence announced that the Government Access Television Group is now a town commission and its chair is Sheila McCreven. He then shared a complaint received by the Human Services Department from a senior citizen about loss of access to the Turner Classic Movie channel, now digital, unless a box is purchased for a $10 fee added to the monthly bill. Laurence said that something has to be done to address the needs of seniors with limited resources or homebound. Howard explained that the issue of discounts has been on the council’s agenda for some time. He said Casimir, a former rep from Stratford, had researched the issue at the request of the chair and the results were shared with D. Hutton earlier. She said she would bring the discount question to corporate’s attention. Howard said he would obtain a copy of Casimir’s research for Lawrence. Howard asked Steve if he could also send Laurence a copy of the Litchfield model. Steve added that by law a provider cannot be required to offer senior discounts. Discounts must be a voluntary offer. In the Litchfield case, the program was inherited with purchase of the franchise. Bob asked if tier packaging was also a senior issue and Howard replied that it was. Jody asked if it would be helpful to invite disgruntled seniors to attend the next meeting. Howard said it would be very instructive for all parties.

Fairfield Howard reported that Fairfield has begun a review of all I-Net sites in schools and town buildings. Upgrades of equipment for some sites will be necessary.. Cablevision is installing transmit/receive equipment at one new high school building, the public library renovation and a new Historical Society building. Receive equipment has also been scheduled for two new elementary school buildings. Cablevision’s I-Net department has been very responsive. The FairTV organizing committee is holding discussions with the Board of Selectman on the extent of town commitments to its narrow casting plan and an office/tech location.

Old/New Business None

Cablevision Steve commended Howard for his good job in summarizing the briefs. He reported that the refranchising process has been a quick one, hastened by the department. A lot is happening in the field and Cablevision is awaiting the draft decision.

Public Comment Tom Castelot, Sound View president, announced that the staff will be holding the annual Tommy Awards on November 6. SV is looking for judges to rank tapes entered in the competition if anyone is interested. Tom said a high school summer camp had just concluded. One part-time employee, Ricky Mestre, will now work full time, he said. Tom offered access in person at his offices to any documents from the recent DPUC hearings. Howard questioned whether Sound View provided access to the public of minutes of their regular and annual board meetings . Tom replied that they are not a public organization, they are a not for profit and therefore they do not take requests for copies of their minutes. Jody asked if it would be possible to obtain the names of persons who attended regular or annual meetings. Tom replied yes.

Adjournment at 8:30 p.m. The next meeting will be Thursday, October 12, town of Fairfield, Sullivan Hall. Council members arrive at 6:15 p.m. for refreshments; Public meeting begins 7 p.m. Directions enclosed.