Month

August 2019

29
Aug
2019

August 7, 2019 Minutes

CTAC Meeting Wednesday, August 7, 2019 

Attendees: 
Peaches Quinnn – (New Haven) –  Acting Chair
George Alexander – (Hamden) – Treasurer
Laurel Coleman – (Hamden) – Advisor
Yvonne Manning-Jones  – (New Haven ) – Advisor.
John Jessen – (New Haven Public Library System) – Advisor
Johnes Ruta – (New Haven) – Acting Secretary

Meeting convened at 6:06.

  1. 1.   July meeting had been canceled due to July 4th 2..  Review of June 5, 2019 Minutes
    No corrections required.
    John Jessen makes Motion to accept. George Alexander seconds this Motion.
    Vote unanimous.

 

  1. CTV Report The use of CTV office spaces during the summer is limited as CTV Summer Hours indicates
    facility closes at 4:00 pm. CTV Receptionist Agnes has returned to the CTV office to keep
    open for our CTAC meeting. THANK YOU, Agnes!
    Joe Schofield indicated via message to us that did not receive Minutes email (as he should
    be included in this release).
    Joe also asks that he be copied on the Agenda for upcoming meetings on the previous Friday,
    in order that he be able to attend when required: The CTACForward email distribution list
    should include   [email protected]

    4.     COMCAST

Announcements from Sharon Codeanne were emailed today to the CTAC members.

Comcast has expanded eligibility of our Internet Essentials program to all qualified low-income households across
         our service area. This is the largest expansion in the history of the program and represents a culmination of 11 prior
expansions of eligibility.  This expansion will more than double the number of households eligible for the program
(from 3.2 million to nearly 7 million) and will allow Internet Essentials to reach previously unserved populations
including low-income people with disabilities, seniors not currently covered in pilot markets, new parents, and adults
without children in the home. This expansion allows us to cast the widest possible net and ensure that those who
would benefit the most from being connected have the opportunity to join the program.  To be eligible for the
program, low-income households must be eligible for public assistance programs such as Medicaid, the National
School Lunch Program, SNAP, HUD Housing Assistance and others.

The Press Release information on COMCAST’s INTERNET ESSENTIALS is included at the bottom of
this document, *   and the   .docx and PDF of the Inernet Essentials Brochure are also attached with this
email of the August CTAC Minutes.   FREE DIGITAL LITERACY TRAINING sessions will also be
offered at the New Haven Public Library and some schools in Comcast Franchise areas. See doc & PDF.
 Johnes asks about Comcast scheduled rate increases considering Comcast package plans previously
guaranteeing no rate increases ?

The CTAC members agree that Sharon Codeanne should come to the next meeting on September 4th.

5.     Old Business

(a) George Alexander gives update on community awards. George makes Motion to give $3,000 to Partnership
Center for Daycare.   The previous CTAC meeting on June 5th voted this down in favor of giving $1,000
to each town in the NH/WH/H area.
Peaches Quinn comments that “All not-for-profit Senior Adult Day Care centers in New Haven have closed.

It is defined that awards can be granted to be eligible only to centers that subscribe to Comcast.

(b)   Chair-personship
Peaches Quinn (Vice Chair) , presently Acting Chair, says that she cannot assume position of Chair
because she is currently active in the Connecticut Legislature for the Coalition for Aging.
Johnes Ruta states that he also has duties on two other Boards of Directors in CT, so assuming
to the CTAC Chair would create a hardship along with freelance work needed for financial survival.
Other members also defer for personal reasons.

CTAC Chair is normally appointed to attend the Connecticut Cable Advisory Council meetings,
on a quarterly basis, which are held in Middletown, CT on Rte. 372.

Johnes proposes Motion to have “line-up of alternatives” to Chair meetings and attend the State
Cable Advisory meetings. Line of Peaches ,Quinn, Johnes Ruta, Laurel, Yvonne, John Jessen, etc.
Next CT Cable Advisory meeting is in December 2019.
Yvonne Manning-Jones seconds this Motion. Vote unanimous.

6.   Town Representation

West Haven CTAC representation is now down to 0 = zero, due to the resignation of Tad Weinstein.

State of Connecticut assigned representation quota should be 4 from each participating town,
plus 1 from the town’s Library System, plus 1 from the town’s Board of Education.

Peaches suggests idea to change the name of the Cable Television Advisory Council in order
to attract new membership for each town.

7. CTAC Jurisdiction

State Cable Television Advisory Council, and therefore local Councils have no jurisdiction over
Satellite TV systems, or over RoKU, Netflix, or any other such internet television access systems.

  1. New Business
    Recommendation to support pending CT Legislature Bill 6421 – an Act concerning the regulation of cable television rates; requires that Title 16 of the General Statutes be
    amended to regulate cable television rates.
  2. Financial – George Alexander

Three cable television bills payment checks were received this month at CTAC from banks,
and are being returned to those banks. This is an ongoing problem despite the fact that
subscribers are directed in their billing not to remit to CTAC !

10. Time change possibility for meetings

This idea is tabled (put off to another meeting).



Next meeting Wednesday, September 4, 2019 at 6:00PM.

Meeting adjourned: 7:11 PM.

August 7th , 2019 Minutes respectfully submitted by Johnes Ruta (New Haven) Acting Secretary.
August 29th , 2019.

8
Aug
2019

June 5, 2019 Minutes

CTAC Meeting Wednesday, June 5, 2019 

Attendees: 
Tad Weinstein – (West Haven) –  Chair
George Alexander – (Hamden) – Treasurer
Yvonne Manning-Jones  – (New Haven ) – Advisor.
John Jessen – (New Haven Public Library System) – Advisor
Johnes Ruta – (New Haven) – Acting Secretary
Laurel Coleman – (Hamden) – Advisor

Meeting convened at 6:05.

  1. Review of May 1, 2019 Minutes
    Two corrections received by Johnes before meeting,
    One correction from Tad, one correction from George – applied to May Minutes.
    Laure; makes Motion to accept May Minutes.   Tad seconds this Motion.
    Vote unanimous.

    2.   July meeting to be canceled due to July 4th holiday.   Next meeting August 7th.

    3.   Adult Centers for towns in three venues:
    a. New Haven venue – not yet identified

    b. West Haven venue – no yet identified

    c.   Hamden venue identified and contributed

    Letter from Hamden venue:

PARTNERSHIPS CENTER FOR ADULT DAY CARE
3 Industrial Circle Hamden, CT 06517

Phone (203) 248-8854 Fax (203) 287-1880

May 25, 2019

The Cable Television Advisory Council for Hamden, New Haven, and West Haven
PO Box 8415 New Haven, CT 06530-0415

Dear Tad Weinstein & Friends:

On behalf of the participants, staff, and Board of Directors of Partnerships Center for Adult Day Care, I would like to thank you for your generous pledge of $1000 to support our organization. Your gift will be put to vital use to fund our Cablevision service which provides internet service for our offices as well as cable television.

We are grateful for George Alexander’s recommendation for this donation and would welcome your further involvement with Partnerships. Partnerships provides daycare for frail elderly clients with dementia and Alzheimer’s which enables its participants to remain living at home for as long as possible. Your support helps us to provide vital support for the quality of life for the participants, family members and caregivers. Partnerships provides service to residents of the greater New Haven area, which includes the towns of Hamden, North Haven, New Haven, Bethany, Orange, Wallingford, East Haven, West Haven and Branford.

I would welcome meeting you to answer any questions and providing a tour of our center at your convenience.

Please feel free to contact us at (203) 248-8854 for any further information you may need. Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

Mary Beth Kiely, R.N. Director

  1. COMCAST Report – Report received from Sharon Codeanne.

 

C O M C A S T

May 23, 2019 Via Electronic Filing and Is` Class Mail

Jeffrey R. Gaudiosi, Esq. Executive Secretary

Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority 10 Franklin Square New Britain, Connecticut 06051

Re: Important Information — Xfinity TV Channel Updates

Dear Secretary Gaudiosi:

I am writing to you on behalf of Comcast/Branford, Comcast/Clinton, Comcast/Danbury, Comcast/Groton, Comcast/Hartford, Comcast/Lakeville Comcast/Middletown, Comcast/New Haven, Comcast/Norwich, Comcast/Old Lyme, Comcast/Plainville, Comcast/Seymour, Comcast/Vernon, Comcast/Waterbury, and Comcast/Connecticut as part of our ongoing efforts to keep you informed about key aspects of Comcast services.

Hitz

We are committed to keeping you and our customers informed about changes to Xfinity TV services. Accordingly, please note that as of July 17, 2019, customers who subscribe to the Digital Premier Tier, receive Digital Premier Tier as part of their package, or subscribe to one of the packages listed below, will receive Hitz, a new service that will include more than 200 movie titles selected from a variety of top studios. As of that date, Cinemax will no longer be available with Digital Premier Tier or those packages listed below. For more information about this change, please visit http://xfinity.com/hitz. We are notifying customers who subscribe to these services of this change.

The following packages offered in the past or currently will be modified with the change described above:

 

Digital Premier Package Digital Premier w/ Sports Digital Showcase Entertainment Package Everything Package HD Digital Showcase MultiLatino Total HD Triple Play Premier Double Play Premier Tier w/ Sports Premier w/ Sports Double Play Total Premium Ultimate Pak Cinemax will still be available to purchase separately as a Premium channel. Customers who currently subscribe to Cinemax as a separate Premium channel or with our Digital Preferred with 1 Premium (Cinemax) service will continue to receive the channel. For those customers, as of July 10, 2019, the following channels will only be located on channels 1822 to 1835, where a vailable: More Max, Action Max, Thriller Max, 5Star Max, MovieMax, OuterMax, and Cinemax. We are notifying customers who currently subscribe to these channels through bill messages.

WCCT

 

Beginning June 26, 2019, we will no longer provide WCCT as part of the channel lineup in Bethel, Danbury, Ridgefield and Shelton, Connecticut. This is because our business agreement with the station’s owner to carry this out-of-market broadcast station in these towns has ended.

Letter to PURA May 23, 2019 Page 2 of 3

WCCT is a CW affiliate based outside of the local broadcast area for Bethel, Danbury, Ridgefield and Shelton. WCCT provides the same network programming carried on the local CW station, WPIX (SD channel 11; HD channel 1011). Other WCCT syndicated programming is also available on other local stations that remain on the local TV lineup.

WPIX

Beginning June 26, 2019, we will no longer provide WPIX as part of the channel lineup in Comcast/New Haven, Comcast/Seymour (except for Shelton), and Comcast/Waterbury. This is because our business agreement with the station’s owner to carry this out-of-market broadcast station in these towns has ended.

WPIX is a CW affiliate based outside of the local broadcast area for Comcast/New Haven, Comcast/Seymour, and Comcast/Waterbury. WPIX provides the same network programming carried on the local CW station, WCCT (Comcast/New Haven channel 11, HD channel 1020; Comcast/Seymour and Comcast Waterbury channel 7, HD channel 1020). Other WPIX syndicated programming is also available on other local stations that remain on the local TV lineup. We understand that WPIX’s news, weather, sports and other content may be of interest to our customers. While this station will no longer be available, customers can view content for WPIX at www.pixll.com.

Please feel free to contact me at 860-505-3477 if you have any questions regarding this filing.

Sincerely,

Sharon L. Codeanne Director, Government & Regulatory Affairs

**********************************************************************************

5. Correspondence:   none to enter.

6. Election for CTAC Officers:
T
he next meeting on August 7 will schedule the election of new CTAC officers, especially
as our Chairperson Tad Weinstein is resigning the CTAC because he has moved his residence to   Milford which is outside of this CTAC franschise district. A replacement for Chair is thus
needed as a priority.

7. Membership
New advisors for CTAC are needed to fill vancant seats on the council. Members are
requested to inquire to activists for volunteers.

History question: Laurel Coleman asks all members present how they were individually
recruited to join CTAC.   Tad Weinstein, Peaches Quinn, and George Alexander have all been
members for more than 20 years.   Johnes Ruta began coming to meetings in 2007 to request
Comcast to carry the Classic Arts Showcase (CAS) free satellite feed on the Comcast lineup.
CAS is a cultural channel featuring short videos of classical music concerts, ballet, and cultural
stories. Comcast never fulfilled this request, but Johnes, an independent art curator for the
New Haven Free Public Library at that time, was subsequently appointed in 2008 as a CTAC
Advisor by New Haven Mayor John DeStefano.   In 2008, New Haven Citizens Television (CTV)
subsequently offers CAS coverage in many vacant time slots on their program lineup.
[ Note to Joe Schofield from Johnes Ruta:   SINCERE THANKS for this promotion of general culture !! ]

8.   Issues: Privacy Rights.

Discussion on general cable television in the present age of WiFi, Public WiFi, FireStick technology,
and other Apps, Comcast X1 programming, Netflix, Amazon Prime, et cetera.

In the Connecticut Legislative representation, promotion of Net Neutrality, and maximum privacy
protections are issues to be observed and promoted to cable franchises with CTAC concensus.



Next meeting Wednesday, August 7, 2019 at 6:00PM.

Meeting adjourned: 7:11 PM.

June 7th , 2019 Minutes respectfully submitted by Johnes Ruta (New Haven) Acting Secretary.
August 2nd, 2019