2011

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven, and West Haven – December 13, 2011

Call to order: A regular meeting of the CTAC, was held in Hamden. The meeting convened at 6:50 p.m., President Tad Weinstein presiding, and Jennifer Sacco, secretary.

Members in attendance:

George Alexander, H treasurer

Joyce Listro, NH

Peaches Quinn, NH

Johnes Ruta, NH

Jen Sacco, H secretary

Tad Weinstein, WH chair

Carl Lambert, H

Approval of minutes: November minutes to be distributed for approval at January 2012 meeting due to technical issues.

Reports:

Comcast representative not available to give report due to illness; CTV representative not present to give report.  Comcast report was shared in print format.

Johnes raised issue that PURA not interested in dealing with his concern and that raised by Elizabeth Cooney, member of the public, about offerings available in Comcast subscriber packages.  He suggested that we contact our legislators and ask them to look in to questions of choice/value/availability in cable programming.  Jen suggested that we compile complaints for legislators.  Peaches suggested we get Comcast’s response first, and address the issue again at January meeting, OR interview Comcast, and advocate nationally.  Jen suggested we could get other cable councils to sign on.  George suggested that we specifically write to our state representatives.

CTV has been off the air for at least 2 weeks while the servers gets updated at the station. 

Letter came to us from PURA saying that they have inquired with Comcast about refund/outage policy, and that subscribers may be eligible for a credit (they have to request it). 

George suggested we switch our checking account from TD to Connex to avoid a fee and so we can see our paper checks.  Carl made motion to switch banks; Joyced seconded.  Motion carried to move our account and to get debit cards for two officers.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:30p.m.

Jennifer Sacco 

Secretary                                                                        

CTAC

Minutes of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven, and West Haven
Meeting Date: November 2, 2011

Call to Order: A regular meeting of the CTAC, was held at CTV, Hamden, CT, on November 2, 2011. The meeting was convened at 6:11 PM, President Tad Weinstein presiding.

Members in Attendance:

George Alexander, H treasurer

Carl Lambert H

Joyce Listro NH

Peaches Quinn NH

Shalita Sampson H

Tad Weinstein, WH chair

Joe Schofield, CTV

Approval of Minutes: Motion was made by Peaches, and seconded by Carl, to approve the minutes of the October meeting. Motion carried.

Reports:
Comcast: Sharon Codeanne was absent, but a handout was distributed outlining the latest storm updates. Also,Joe Comcast filed on October 21, 2011 with PURA regarding changes to certain miscellaneous fees, which will be effective January 1, 2012.

CTV: Joe Schofield reported on the status of CTV’s move. Currently there are no buildings or prospects.

Bulletin Board has changed more videos. The goal is to generate interest in Public Access. CTV is waiting for return line from ATT.

December meeting will be on Tuesday, December 13th , 6:00 PM. More information will follow.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 PM.

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven, and West Haven – October 5, 2011

Call to order: A regular meeting of the CTAC, was held at CTV, Hamden, CT on 10/5/2011. The meeting convened at 6:00 p.m., President Tad Weinstein presiding, and Jennifer Sacco, secretary.

Members in attendance:

George Alexander, H treasurer

Joyce Listro, NH

Peaches Quinn, NH

Johnes Ruta, NH

Jen Sacco, H secretary

Tad Weinstein, WH chair

Joe Schofield, CTV

Sharon Codeanne, Comcast representative

Approval of minutes: Motion was made by Johnes, and seconded by George, to approve the minutes of the July meeting. Motion carried.  Johnes moves that we approve Sept. minutes; Joyce seconded. Motion carried.

Reports:

Comcast- Sharon presented Comcast monthly report of developments, including filing with PURA about new cable adapters to make digital conversion possible, which will be rolled out in November. For customers to get credit after Hurricane Irene, they have to call in to Comcast.  Outage and refund policy is sent annually to customers in policy notice. 

CTV- Tightrope server was to be removed with a 25% restocking fee; new server equipment also had to be removed after 2 days.  Old equipment is still in place until new system is up and running. PURA has not made a decision in the ongoing docket about 21^st century conversations.  Organizations cannot be producers; each new show must have a producer.  Relocation is still ongoing issue. 

Treasurer- PURA docket 11-08-06 on review process of community access providers is open for comments. George moved that we write an email with our support for the review process to PURA. Johnes seconds.  Motion passes.

December meeting will be in second week of December, Tuesday the 13^th.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.

Jennifer Sacco

Secretary                                                                                   

CTAC

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven, and West Haven – September 7, 2011

Call to order: A regular meeting of the CTAC, was held at CTV, Hamden, CT on 9/7/2011.

The meeting convened at 6:10 p.m., President Tad Weinstein presiding, and Jennifer Sacco, secretary.

Members in attendance:

George Alexander, H treasurer

Carl Lambert, Sr., H

Joyce Listro, NH

Johnes Ruta, NH

Jen Sacco, H secretary

Shalita Sampson, H

Tad Weinstein, WH chair

Approval of minutes: Motion was made by Carl, with correction as noted, and seconded by George to approve the minutes of the August 2011 meeting. Motion carried.

Discussion of format of minutes.  Members agreed that topics discussed would be included that highlight questions or issues in dispute, and points of information where necessary, as well as motions that are made and followup actions.

Officers’ reports:

            Comcast—sent to council via email;

            CTV—not present

            Treasurer—George brought letter from Town of Hamden about his and Jen’s reappointment, as well as letter from PURA (Public Utility Regulatory Authority), which says there is an investigation into Public Access television statewide.  Tad will scan in a handwritten complaint letter about Comcast, which he will send electronically to Comcast. 

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:02 p.m.

Jennifer Sacco

Secretary                                                                                       

CTAC

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven, and West Haven – August 3, 2011 

Call to order: A regular meeting of the CTAC, was held at CTV, Hamden, CT on 8/3/2011. The meeting was called to order at 6:10 p.m., Tad Weinstein, Chair.  Jennifer Sacco, Secretary, absent this meeting. Minutes recorded by Johnes Ruta, CTAC New Haven #2. 

Members in attendance:

(Secretary not present.) 
(Quorum not present.)

Kinson B. Perry,  Area Manager  External & Legislative Affairs, AT&T  
Kelly Wade Bettuci, Area Manager External affairs, AT&T 
Sharon Codeanne, Area Public Affairs, Comcast  
Paul Musco, President Board of Directors, CTV
Joe Schofield, Executive Director CTV

objected to by Johnes Ruta and George Alexander. Issue tabled for further consideration.

AT&T Representatives:

Kinson Perry, AT&T addressed the meeting: Describes AT&T service to area, hopes for AT&T to provide 
CTV service to area.    AT&T collects Subscriber Fees which are sent to CTV quarterly, accumulating to $250,000 since AT&T received a State wide license.  Previous representatives of  AT&T met with CTV Board several times.  
AT&T acknowledges “learning curve”  for connectivity with CTV, as the technical architecture of AT&T is different from CTV’s.  AT&T: All  Government Access Programming will be provided to CTV from AT&T channel 99. Special Audio programming will be available in SAP.   AT&T Channel 99 is a Menu Selection channel by which viewers will select and subscribe access categories. Selection of program drops a “cookie” for a specific PEG reception interconnect process.  Subscriber Fees are collected by AT&T  and forwarded to CTV.  

The technical specifications required are listed. A vendor will be authorized for the interconnection agreement, with a present choice of four different vendors.  CTV’s North Haven State Street location can be provided with a signal for Uverse Service within range of one of the T1 boxes. A private website URL will be provided by AT&T to monitor their signal strength.  AT&T has 12,000 subscribers within the Hamden, New Haven, West Haven district.   AT&T will provide feed and monitor Addresses defined in terms of “Green Zones” 

where service can be provided, and “Red Zones” where service cannot be provided.  AT&T will provide the equipment.  AT&T will pay for the T1 connection to CTV. The T1 line will be a demarcation point, external to the CTV building only.  

AT&T will provide a 1-Year Maintenance Agreement for CTV.  CTV will then own the equipment, 

CTV will pay for the maintenance from the Demarcation Point into the CTV building. CTV will pay for inside wiring to their TV distribution module.  

AT&T will perform tests for connectivity once connection is established and when any connection problems occur.

AT&T is unable to “black-out” coverage of live performances (such as at the Schubert Theatre in New Haven) and local sports events.  This situation with theatre performances carries issues of Equity Rights.   (George Alexander brought up issues also of “Intellectual Property” of license to broadcast certain programs especially those taking place in the coverage area itself where distribution cannot be allowed.Joe Schofield questioned aspects of “Equity Authorization.” Mentioned that CTV is scheduled to broadcast Garrison Kellior local talk. There followed a discussion of issues of “feed” and “distribution.

CTV has three issues with the interconnection with AT&T:

(1) Return Signal monitoring.

(3) Distribution of contractually restricted content beyond the Hamden, New Haven and West Haven franchise.

“All AT&T derived fund are to be dedicated to AT&T.”  Kinson Perry responded, “There is a Repair Protocol for network repair and maintenance support.

Peaches Quinn addressed choices as connectivity issues.  AT&T would set up monitoring.

Equipment: 
DA = Distribution Amplifier.  AT&T Business Model was discussed: (1) different from Comcast; (2) issue of Program Distribution.

AT&T guards against unauthorized equipment access into its network system.

AT&T Participation in CTAC:

George Aleaxander furthers this issue by indicating that CTAC district’s residents expect AT&T to be responsible to CTAC advisory.

Member Reappointment: 

George Alexander reported receiving a letter from the Hamden Mayor’s Office that he and Jennifer Sacco have both been reappointed to the CTAC each for another two year term.  

Officers’ reports:      Not addressed due to lateness of the hour following above proceedings, now 8:00 PM.

Unfinished business:              Not addressed

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:03 p.m.

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven, and West Haven – July 6, 2011

Johnes Ruta, NH

George Alexander, H treasurer

Tad Weinstein, WH chair

Jen Sacco, H secretary

Carl Lambert, Sr., H

Peaches Quinn, NH

Paul Scanlon, WH

Joe Schofield, CTV

Comcast representative not present

Meeting called to order 6:05 p.m. by Tad Weinstein.     

June minutes approved by vote.  Sidney Evans, member of the public on the agenda, not present. 

Comcast report sent electronically, but accidentally deleted, so Tad will request Sharon re-send.

Joe Schofield of CTV reports that on average, there are 126 producers over a six week period at CTV.  Joe estimates 75 actually use the facility during a 6 week period.  There are not enough slots for everyone to have more than 1 hour per week.

Joe says there was a rule for 11 years that if a producer allowed students to learn how to produce on a show, that show could have an additional airing.  Ms. Shani no longer wanted students producing on her show with the CTV staff, and she developed her own crew, and other shows asked to be the training shows, so her show no longer qualified for a second hour. 

In discussion, Joe indicated that CTV has video on demand capability, but does not make all shows available at all time, as the space is finite.  Jen asked Joe if it was possible to put Ms. Shani’s show on demand, say, for two weeks after an episode’s initial airing, and would CTV be amenable to that as a resolution to the problem. Joe said yes, so long as a viewer would call the station and request her show being put On Demand.  Acc. to Joe, the DPUC would like for the CTAC to be able to help resolve the issue. If Ms. Shani would appear before our council, we could propose this as a solution to her.

Joe reports that he met with Mr. Sidney Evans to discuss the ASIM situation.  Mr. Evans expressed a desire to come back and do his show at CTV, and Joe said he’d need to come up with his own crew, as the CTV staff would not be made available. Mr. Evans said he understood, and was interested in returning to produce at CTV. Mr.  Czjakowski is still not allowed in the building, unless he comes with his lawyer.  If he attends civilly, he could attend our (public) meeting in the CTV building without his lawyer, but not as a producer. 

Paul proposes that we dedicate a meeting to dealing with an AT&T representative.  Peaches seconds the motion.  Tad will reach out to the AT&T representative.

Paul suggested that we meet away from CTV to ensure that we are accessible to more of the public. 

George read his proposed response to the DPUC docket pertaining to Ms. Shani’s complaints.  Peaches disagreed with the substance of the letter

In our discussions of the dispute between CTV and Ms. N’zinga Shani, we would like to propose the following solution.   CTV now has Video On Demand capability.  We propose that when an episode of any show airs (including Ms. Shani’s), if a member of the viewing public calls in and requests for CTV to make a specific episode available for additional airing, CTV put the episode requested up On Demand for the period prior to the airing of the next episode of the show, so that interested members of the public can view it at their leisure and see it more than once.  Clearly Ms. Shani’s show is of interest and service to the public, and CTV has responsibility to operate in a way that is fair to each of their producers.  We believe this is a reasonable solution to the problem as we understand it, and consider it fair to CTV, Ms. Shani, all other producers, and members of the CTV viewing public.

Johnes moves that we send this language to the DPUC provided we can see the completed wording of the letter; seconded by Peaches.  Approved by vote for our review by tomorrow.  If no response by 10:00 a.m., approval will be assumed. 

A viewer wrote us a three page letter which Tad will scan and send to us online due to the late hour.

Meeting adjourned 7:38 p.m.

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven, and West Haven – June 1, 2011

Tad Weinstein, WH chair

George Alexander, H treasurer

Sharon Codeanne,  Comcast Representative

Richard Gay, WH

Carl Lambert, Sr., H

Joyce Listro, NH School System Representative

Johnes Ruta, NH

Joe Schofield,  CTV Representative

Paul Scanlon, WH

(members listed alphabetically)

Meeting called to order at 6:02 p.m. by Tad Weinstein, Chairman.

Minutes approve by vote for May meeting.

COMCAST REPORT – Sharon Codeanne
George gave customer’s check received to Sharon.

Sharon tells us that Comcast has added new functions to their viewing system :  (1)  May 26, WUVN_LATA was added to Basic Tier Service.  (2)  Effective July 4, 2011, VeneMovies  will change its name to “Viendo Movies”  and “SiTV” will change its name to “Nuvo TV.”  (3)  Effective August 1, 2011, Comcast will change the name of “Basic Service” level to “Limited Basic.”  (4) “DVR Record & Watch from Any Room”  is now available.

Johnes Ruta raised the question about Comcast hiring Meredith Atwell Baker immediately after resigning from the FCC, raising a question of a “revolving-door” conflict of interest and reward of a former FCC Commissioner for favoritism to Comcast.  Johnes also noted that Comcast had cut off funding for a Seattle, Washington, local TV access project called “Seattle’s Reel Girls” which had criticized Comcast for hiring Meredith Atwell Baker immediately after resigning the FCC.

Joyce Listro asked Sharon what constitutes the difference between Comcast and “XFinity”?  Sharon said that this is just a renaming for marketing purposes.

Johnes asked whether Comcast’s “Price Changes” of “Bundled Services” would ever show a lowering of rates, considering that technological advances meant a lowering of Comcast’s costs ?   Sharon stated her doubts that prices would go lower, and argued that Comcast’s costs were rather rising. 

George Alexander commented about Comcast’s introductory Bundled Prices were only good for 6 months, and only to new customers.

Paul Scanlon commented about Comcast Rebates were effective as attractive marketing.  Sharon explained that the availability of Bundled Package prices cannot be specified 12 months in advance. She also commented about the complexity of Bundled Package  prices.

George commented about Comcast Customer Service, saying that a question to a representative he called about had been passed from Rep to Rep.  He criticized the tiers of Customer representatives, that many did not have the knowledge of how to resolve problems encountered with the Internet and are not willing to escalate problems that are beyond their knowledge,

George said each Comcast rep had opened a new trouble ticket, requiring him to explain each time his internet problem, giving him the impression that there were different Comcast tech support groups that do not access the same open-ticket data base.

George told how eventually a Comcast Technician had come to his house, had talked to his Earthlink  tech to resolve the email client problem.

George also asked about Comcast threshold to add another CTV channel to accommodate the need for more local access production programming, i.e. more than one hour per week per producer. Joe said that they neither have the volume of programming to require another channel nor the funds for the equipment.

Joyce Listro commented about a school field-trip which took place to Comcast to see the technical operations.

CTV —  Joe Schofield
Joe Schofield commented about Comcast Production helping to train CTV.

The CTV Server is going back to the Tightrope system.

The CTV production studio is quieter during the summer months.

CTV is still seeking a new space for its offices and studios.

An Open Letter from N’Zinga Shani to DPUC Commission Chairman Kevin DelGabbo was distributed regarding One World Progressive Institute’s program “21^st Century Conversations” current scheduling on CTV.

Old Business —  George Alexander
George asked Joe Schofield if he could provide the number of regular CTV producers using CTV studio facilities.  Joe said the number is around 280, but would confirm the actual number and email to George. 

Joe said this number also changes from month to month.  Producers fall into two categories:

(1)  “Producers” are those who use the CTV Facility to record their programs, and (2) “Sponsors” are all other program producers, i.e. those who submit their externally produced programs on DVD for CTV broadcast.

Someone asked about the transmission codes that CTV follows regarding categories of programming.

The CTV codes are incompatible with the system that Comcast uses for on-screen Info display of  TV program data. Acquisition of these codes requires an expensive subscription that CTV does not have funds to afford.

Joe was asked about what are the “laws” by which CTV determines which program is qualified or restricted on which “Program Educational Governmental” (PEG) channel. He replied that they could be found under Federal Code specifications and if CTAC was interested, CTAC members should find them by themselves.

Discussion took place about the Qualifications of scheduling for locally produced shows: Joe specified that all programs are limited to 1 hour per week.  Producers who produce multiple shows are allowed one hour per week per show.

Joe said that there is currently no one on the Waiting List for schedule time slots, and that CTV is having trouble filling all available time slots of the week.  Joe said that it is “an administrative nightmare to schedule all producers and all programs per week.”   Joe said further , “It was one person who had contacted the DPUC and contested this issue who caused this CTV Regulation to be strictly enforced now.  He discussed possible planning measures to accommodate this problem.

Joe said the President’s Weekly Address is now not on the Government Channel and sponsored by a local producer in order to enable it to be viewed by all customers.

Comcast moved the CTV Government Channel to channel 96. Joe mentioned that some Comcast customers have old wiring in their homes that disable channel 96, and that each of these wiring deficiencies must be serviced; Comcast rewires customer wiring on CTV request. 

Docket # 10-10-06
Paul Scanlon asked whether CTV is available yet on ATT ?  Joe stated that this is still a license issue that is unresolved, and that “ATT should be invited to a CTAC meeting to discuss their Policy and technical issues.

CTAC  May Minutes
Tad told the CTAG meeting that the May Minutes had not yet been approved.  All members indicated that they had read the May Minutes distributed by email.   Paul made a motion to approve the May Minutes, and Richard Gay seconded this motion. Vote take to approve was carried in affirmative.

New Business
Regarding Sydney Evans’ request to be added to the CTAC Agenda to make statements.  Johnes made a motion to add Sydney Evans to the July agenda to be allowed to speak for 5 minutes. Paul Scanlon seconded, and vote approved.  Mr. Evans in attendance as member of the public  agreed to this time allocation.

Tad adjourned the meeting at  7:04 PM.

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven, and West Haven – May 4, 1011            

Johnes Ruta, NH

George Alexander, H treasurer

Tad Weinstein, WH chair

Jen Sacco, H secretary

Carl Lambert, Sr., H

Richard Gay, WH

Joyce Listro, NH

Sharon Codeanne, Comcast representative

Paul Scanlon, WH

Meeting called to order 6:06 p.m. by Tad Weinstein.     

Report from Comcast.  Johnes asked how to remove things from “favorites list” for cable box—asked for access to instructions from Comcast.  George commented that he had trouble with tech support three times, in reference to delayed receipt of email from Comcast servers.  Tech support was unable to help him because they didn’t understand the problem, or were unable to do anything to help.  Sharon asked that George forward her the details so a tech could look into it.  Johnes said he experienced a similar problem.

Richard moved to accept minutes from April, Johnes seconded.  Minutes from April meeting approved.

Discussion of policy change regarding the scheduling of CTV producers’ shows has been conducted online between George and Joe Schofield from CTV.  Question is whether producers can ever be offered   a second hour of airing per week.  Rule was recently implemented by CTV that producers can each only have one hour per week, but that would appear to leave some room in the schedule for additional airings.  Joe agreed with George in email that priority should be given to locally produced shows, over satellite produced programs.  Johnes and Joyce expressed an alternate concern, which is that alternate news programs (via satellite) may be more preferred to locally produced shows, from the standpoint of viewers.  George and Joyce want clarification of what legal restrictions exist dictating what qualifies to be shown on public access, educational, and government channels.  Johnes and Joyce raised the question if there should be a second public access channel (if government and educational channels can’t be used for overflow).  Sharon says there are regulations from the DPUC that may answer these questions of definition and threshold for additional channels, so she will forward to us. 

We agreed Joe should be asked again to answer what number of active producers are currently producing shows.  We still don’t have an answer to this.

Joe had sent an update to docket 10-10-06 electronically (pertaining to broadcast issues with AT&T), and Tad expressed sentiment that CTV should be being broadcast on AT&T—this is an ongoing stalemate, apparently.

George reported that we received mail copies of all kinds of DPUC filings, pertaining to AT&T and CTV and the DPUC.  All are available online to be read.

Tad suggested that we have a sit down between AT&T and CTV to try to resolve the issue of CTV not being broadcast on AT&T.

Paul moved that we send a statement to the DPUC indicating we want to see a resolution to this.  George seconded.   Motion passed; Paul will draft language and circulate to the rest of us via email.

Meeting adjourned 7:00 p.m.