Minutes_Cable TV Regulatory 9 10 08MINUTES OF CABLE TV REGULATORY COMMISSION MEETING
September 10, 2008
CITY HALL ANNEX CONFERENCE ROOM #2
MEMBERS PRESENT: Ron Tigges, Charles Ellis, Andy Bellings.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Walt Webster, Kevin Stevens.
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig Nowack, City of Dubuque Cable TV Coordinator
Kathy McMullen, Mediacom
Mr. Ellis called the meeting to order at 5:32 p.m.
1. Acceptance of the Agenda.
Upon a motion by Mr. Tigges, seconded by Mr. Bellings, the agenda was approved
unanimously as distributed.
2. Approval of the Minutes of the January 9, 2008, and June 24, 2008, Meetings.
Upon a motion by Mr. Tigges, seconded by Mr. Bellings the minutes of the June
24, 2008, meeting were approved unanimously.
3. Public Comment.
No one was present to address the Commission.
4. Mediacom General Manager's Report
Ms. McMullen reported that the Big Ten Network is now in the local Mediacom
cable system lineup. For those that do not know, she said, mostly Iowa games are
carried here in Dubuque. Also, the other game is carried on Channel 22. This
week that will be the Louisiana -Lafayette/Illinois game. She has not heard
anything about a rate increase due to acquiring the BTN.
When Mr. Nowack asked about the BTN in HD, Ms. McMullen responded that
there has been talk about getting it, but there is nothing concrete yet. She said that
many of the games on the BTN are not produced in HD. Mr. Ellis said that the
BTN's featured game of the week is always in HD, but some of the other games
are not.
A discussion followed about how the Big 10 games are divvied up by each of the
telecasting entities that has rights to them. Also discussed were the various ways
of publicizing which games are being carried each week here in Dubuque.
Ms. McMullen stated that on Monday the decisions will be made as to which
organizations will be getting Arts & Cultural grants. Seventeen very deserving
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organizations requested grants this year. The annual luncheon will be held on
October 15 at the Grand River Center.
Mr. Ellis complimented Mediacom for carrying the various Olympic channels. NBC
did a great job in making various events available on different channels.
Ms. McMullen stated that Mediacom is preparing for the digital transition in
February, and that she and Mr. Nowack had done a show for CityChannel 8 on that
subject. Also part of that show was Mediacom's Government Relations Liaison for
the Central Region, Lee Grassley. Ms. McMullen said that she now reports to the
Central Region rather than the Eastern Iowa/Northern Illinois region.
5. Staff Report
Mr. Nowack reported the City recently acquired an HD camera in order to start
compiling a library of HD footage in preparation for a switch to high definition at
some point in the future. After getting the camera, he realized he needed a way to
down convert that footage so it could be used now in standard definition. So the
City applied for and received a grant for a Sony deck that plays HD and
automatically down converts. With this new equipment, he recently shot the Irish
Hooley in HD as well as shooting yesterday's departure of the American Queen.
That footage now exists in both HD and SD and SD Featurettes have been
produced and are now on the air on both.
Sageville School is now connected to the I-Net. Mediacom did that job locally
instead of hiring contractors and the job was completed before the start of the
school year. The school district is very pleased to have the I-Net connecting their
various facilities.
Video Producer Erich Moeller is now fully integrated into the Cable TV Division. In
FY08, the division produced 11 City Journal programs. On Monday, barely two
weeks into the third month of the fiscal year, he and Erich taped their ninth show in
FY09. Additionally, they have now equaled the number of Featurettes they did in
all of FY08.
6. Future Agenda Items/Comments 8~ Concerns
No new items were discussed.
7. Adjournment.
Upon a motion by Mr. Bellings, seconded by Mr. Tigges, the meeting was
adjourned at 5:53 p.m.
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