2013

Weds.  November 6, 2013

Present:  

George Alexander, Treasurer, H

Don Levy, H

Jennifer Sacco, H

Tad Weinstein, WH, chair

Peaches Quinn, NH vice-chair

Johnes Ruta, NH

Phil Kimmel, H 

CTV representative not present at our request

Comcast representative not present at out request

Meeting called to order 5:55 p.m.

CTV and Comcast reports given in writing.

George moved to accept the October minutes and Peaches seconded.  Minutes approved.

George tells us the council received a letter dated Oct. 30th from Mike Maturo of the South Central Cable Advisory Council asking us to join a petitition/protest about the state raiding the PEGPETIA funds.  Because of our agenda, George suggested he would send a copy of the letter around to the council for electronic discussion.  Don moved that we joing the petitition, seconded by Johnes.  Motion passed.

Don agrees that he will draft language and contact relevant constituencies and state representatives on behalf of our council.  Jen will contact Maturo to let him know we are joining his council in their efforts.

December meeting is moved to Weds. December 18.  Peaches will call to make reservations at Sage, or Brazi’s, or Christopher Martin’s.

Discussion of CAC prize program to decide what we want to promote and how we want to disburse funds.

Decided we want to use program to highlight the role of public access.  Prize money will be targeted toward student populations.

George moved that we conduct the contest 2 years in a row, and each time award a 1^st prize of $1500, 2^nd prize of $1000, and 3^rd prize of $500.  Motion passed.

Schools targeted will be the public middle schools.  Motion passed.

Prizes will go to the student’s classroom where the project was promoted. 

Contest is to promote the first amendment by using public access spots to highlight societally relevant issues, such as:   first amendment rights, ecology/nature, global warming,  health, bullying, use of social media.

Has to be a video which can be broadcast on CTV.

Meeting adjourned 7:32 p.m.

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: October 2, 2013

Call to order: A regular monthly meeting of the CTAC was held at CTV, Hamden,
Connecticut on October 2, 2013. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy acting secretary.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH)

George Alexander, Treasurer (H)

Don Levy, (H)

Johnes Ruta, (NH)

Peaches Quinn, (NH)

Joseph Schofield (CTV)

Sharon Codeanne(Comcast)

Chairman Weinstein called the meeting to order at 6:05. A motion was made by Johnes Ruta to accept the minutes of the September 11 meeting. Joe Schofield of CTV pointed out that the minutes as presented failed to accurately reflect the current status of the PROPETIA funds for FY 2013-2014 and FY 2014-2015. Mr. Schofield noted that all of the PROPETIA funds for FY 2013-2014 had been exhausted and that all of the PROPETIA funds for FY 2014-2015 had been repurposed by state lawmakers to help close a projected budget shortfall. Mr. Schofield suggested that the minutes be corrected to reflect the current status of the FY 2014-2015 funds. Mr. Schofield also pointed out that before the 2014-2015 funds had been reappropriated to the General Fund he had been planning to submit a grant proposal on behalf of CTV. Acting Secretary Don Levy indicated that he would correct the minutes of the September 11 meeting to incorporate Mr. Schofield’s corrections. The motion to accept the minutes as amended was made by Mr. Ruta, seconded by Ms. Quinn and passed.

Sharon Coneanne presented the Comcast report. The report reflected two Community Relations initiatives and three marketing changes. The Comcast report indicated that as of November 1, 2013 the reactivation fee for XFINITY TV will increase from $5.00 to $6.00.

George Alexander remarked that he had received a letter from a local Comcast subscriber complaining of being assessed a fee to fix an equipment problem which interrupted his/her service. Ms. Codeanne indicated that Comcast only charges fee to re-establish service if and when the problem was caused by a failure in the customer’s equipment. She indicated she would investigate the specifics which led to this customer’s complaint.

Joe Schofield noted that the CTV staff had produced a live broadcast reporting on the outcome of the recent primary elections in the CTV viewing area. He said the CTV cablecast had been professional and well received and that CTV will also cover the general election on Nov. 5, 2013. The CTAC members informally thanked CTV for
providing an important pubic service by covering these elections. Joe also updated the CTAC members on CTV’s efforts to provide ATT U-Verse customers with CTV-originated programs. Joe pointed out that he hopes that cables are already available to allow ATT customers to receive CTV programming when CTV moves into its new home in January of 2014
The board revisited the discussion regarding the contest CTAC is planning which would provide cash awards to outstanding student-produced video projects. The board will meet at 5:30 on November 6 to discuss each topic.

Chairman Weinstein provided copies of the proposed agenda for the discussion of the proposed CTAC video contest. Treasurer Alexander gave his report indicting that CTAC maintained a balance of $11,712 in its account. He also said that he anticipated the addition of a new Hamden member to the CTAC board to fill a current vacancy.

The October regular meeting of CTAC was adjourned at 7:03.

Respectfully submitted by D. Levy, acting CTAC secretary

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: September 11, 2013

Call to order: A Regular meeting of the CTAC was held at CTV, Hamden, Connecticut
on September 11, 2013. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy acting secretary.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH)

George Alexander, Treasurer (H)

Don Levy, (H)

Johnes Ruta, (NH)

Peaches Quinn, (NH)

Joseph Schofield (CTV)

Chairman Weinstein called the meeting to order at 6:05.

Approval of Minutes of August 6, 2013. Motion was made by J. Ruta and seconded by P. Quinn. Motion carried.

Joe Schofield reported that CTV has closed on its new building on Lower State Street in New Haven, adjacent to its old studio. CTV will be hiring a contractor to move equipment and should be ready to begin limited production in January. CTV has accepted the services of a New Haven architectural firm on a pro bono basis. The decision has
been made not to undertake any substantial renovations to the building until after the move is complete in order to better determine what changes to the building will need to be made. The most important decision will be to determine if the studio will be constructed on the first or on the second floor.

J. Schofield indicated that there will be a space in the new building suitable for CTAC to hold its monthly meeting, and he said CTAC is welcome to use the space for its monthly meetings. He also said that he is looking forward to overcoming the technical issues which heretofore have blocked AT&T from carrying all three channels of CTV local
programming on its cable system in the three communities.

D. Levy asked J. Schofield if he had learned whether or not any of the funds set aside from subscriber fees intended to provide grant money for equipment purchases throughout Connecticut to encourage the production of local programming (the PEGPETIA Grant Program) were still available. Schofield said that all of the 2013 funds had been reallocated to cover a projected deficit in the Connecticut General Fund. Schofield indicated that he was working through local elected officials to determine if there would be funds available in the 2014 fiscal year to support a grant request he was planning to submit on behalf of CTV. The fact that there is currently no money for 2013
PEGPETIA grants makes moot the CTAC plan to encourage local applications.

T. Weinstein reminded the members that the CTAC Secretary Jennifer Sacco was absent due to the birth of her healthy baby earlier in the week. D. Levy made a motion to send J.Sacco a token of CTAC’s appreciation of her work over the years by sending a baby gift. A discussion followed as to the administrative appropriateness of such a gift. It was
decided that precedent had been set with CTACs small gifts to acknowledge the passing of former board members. A motion to allocate funds for a gift certificate from Baby Gap was made by D. Levy, seconded by P. Quinn and passed unanimously. P. Quinn indicated that she would purchase the gift card and would send the receipt for Treasurer
George Alexander for reimbursement.

The board revisited the discussion regarding the contest CTAC is planning which would provide cash awards to outstanding student-produced video projects. It was decided that T. Weinstein and P. Quinn would brainstorm to establish a series of issues which need to be addressed prior to making public the news of the CTAC Video Contest. The board will discuss each topic and then vote on whether not to adopt the proposed rule. They will report their progress at the October meeting.

The September CTAC meeting was adourned at 7:04.

Respectfully submitted by D. Levy, acting CTAC secretary

Weds.  August 7, 2013

Present:  

George Alexander, Treasurer, H

Don Levy, H

Jennifer Sacco, H

Tad Weinstein, WH, chair

Peaches Quinn, NH vice-chair

Johnes Ruta, NH

CTV representative not present

Comcast representative not present

Meeting called to order 6:15 p.m.

George moves we approve minutes; Johnes seconds.  June minutes approved.  General discussion of PEGPETIA grants ensued; Johnes raised the question of who administers the funds, particularly if the fund gets raided by the state.   Other members argued this issue did not fall under the purview of our council, specifically.

843 State St. has been purchased by CTV; they hope to relocate in December.

Comcast report given via email.  George raised concern about the move by Comcast to start encrypting television signals so that consumers can no longer access Limited Basic signals from Comcast as of Sept. 17^th without additional (for fee) equipment   This means consumers will have to pay on a regular basis for use of decryption devices for their televisions, an effective rate increase on Limited Basic customers.  Council agreed to ask Sharon for more information about this change.

September meeting will be postponed to Weds. Sept. 11^th, because the 4^th is the start of Rosh Hoshannah.

Jen will put the discussion about the grant decisions to be made in an email. 

Meeting adjourned 7: 03 p.m.

Weds.  June 5, 2013

Present:  

George Alexander, Treasurer, H

Don Levy, H

Jennifer Sacco, H

Tad Weinstein, WH, chair

Peaches Quinn, NH vice-chair

Joe Schofield, CTV

Comcast representative not present

Meeting called to order 6:11 p.m.

May minutes approved by online vote.

CTV report given.   AT&T is still not connected because CTV is month-to-month at their current location, and the landlord does not want the disruption or expense involved with the installation under the parking lot since they do not have a long-term lease. 

The new location for CTV still has some environmental issues that the bank wants a costly process to look into further, which is delaying the process.  Joe believes the concerns will be answered fairly easily, however, and they have new assessments ongoing.  They are hopeful to close within the next month or so.

Comcast sent a written report of their public outreach and channel lineup changes. 

The news release that Don drafted regarding the PEGPETIA grants was reviewed, with some additional clarifications suggested by Joe Schofield about stipulations of the grant program—that programs be aired on CTV, and that the support offered by CTV for grant-seekers is for residents of the three towns served only.  Also, Joe raised the concern that the state may be raiding the PEGPETIA funds (again), so that there is a chance there will be no funds available, anyway.  We will hold off on releasing our press release until we know that the funds are available, which Joe is looking into for us.

George summarized the contents of our mail received.  We received a paper copy of price adjustments sent to the state by Comcast; Peaches suggested that we seek an electronic copy from Sharon so that we can post a link from our website.  A general suggestion was raised that we seek all documentation from Comcast in digital format so that we can post on our website.

We revisited the issue of making grants to schools in the three districts; we had discussed in the past asking students to submit video public service announcements, possibly about the value of public access in a democratic society, or possibly about the value of voting.  We had agreed previously that we would target the public middle schools as eligible schools (though George suggests that we reconsider this).  The PSAs could be aired on CTV.  We will continue our discussion online to firm up our contest specifications.  We need to firm up: which types of schools are eligible, how many prizes to offer and for how much and for what, what format we want to receive the videos in (and length), how many students count as a team, what the subject of the PSAs should be, stipulations around ownership of the content (becomes property of CTV), how we’ll announce the contest, the deadline/timetable, our criteria for judging and when it can be judged.

July meeting will be cancelled because of proximity to the 4^th.

Meeting adjourned 7:13 p.m.

Weds. May 1, 2013

Present:  

George Alexander, Treasurer, H

Don Levy, H

Johnes Ruta, NH

Jennifer Sacco, H

Tad Weinstein, WH, chair

Peaches Quinn, NH vice-chair

Joe Schofield, CTV

Sharon Codeanne, Comcast

Meeting called to order 6:10 p.m

Comcast report given.  A few increases for installation and equipment fees will be effective July 1^st.

CTV report given.   AT&T is still not providing a return line to the CTV headquarters.  Also, there is language in the proposed contract with AT&T which CTV is not willing to sign because of concern that it contravenes state law, and CTV still hopes to be able to resolve the problem without resorting to legal action. George has proposed that if the issue cannot be resolved soon, our board could contact PURA with our concerns about the issue being resolved. 

CTV hopes to close this month on a new location.

July meeting will be cancelled because of proximity to the 4^th.

Notifications have been sent to all the mayors, library directors, and superintendents that we have openings  and need new appointees.

Don will draft a press release highlighting the availability of PEGpetia funds from the state.

Meeting adjourned 7:12 p.m.

Weds. April 3, 2013

Present:  

George Alexander, Treasurer, H

Don Levy, H

Johnes Ruta, NH

Jennifer Sacco, H

Tad Weinstein, WH, chair

Joe Schofield, CTV

Sharon Codeanne, Comcast

Meeting called to order 6:06 p.m.  February minutes reviewed because March meeting was cancelled due to snow.  Johnes moved to accept the Feb. minutes, Don seconded.  Minutes approved.

Comcast report presented.  Some installation service prices are decreasing slightly.  George mentioned a letter from the State that legacy packages are being phased out, as some customers who had packages that were no longer available to new subscribers had been grandfathered in before, but would be losing their access to those packages.  They would have to buy a package available to the entire public (at a higher price.)

Johnes expressed concern that his Comcast bill had increased by $20/month, due to price increases.  Comcast claims that this is somehow due to competition.

CTV report is that the problems with the new cameras in the studio have a temporary fix, and fix should be permanent after they move, which hopefully will be November or December.

Return line from AT&T still not available to CTV.  There are some issues to be hammered out in the contract, as well as issues pertaining to the broadcast of licensed music outside the 3 towns where CTV is available on Comcast.

George indicated that we had received our $2000 check from Comcast to support our work for the year.

We received a copy of a letter from Joyce Listro (NH BOE), resigning her position on the council.

Motion made that letters will be sent to the mayors with copies to city school superintendents and librarians about the openings on our council. 

Meeting adjourned 7:10 p.m.