July 6, 2011 Minutes
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.