Minutes_Cable TV Commission 3 4 15 MINUTES OF CABLE TV COMMISSION MEETING
March 4, 2015
CITY HALL ANNEX — 1 st FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM #1
MEMBERS PRESENT: Kathy McMullen (Chair), Ron Tigges (Vice-Chair), Jennifer Tigges,
Pauline Maloney, Sr. Carol Hoverman.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Alan Vincent. One seat is vacant.
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig Nowack, City of Dubuque
Jim Barefoot, Mediacom
Craig Schaefer, Loras College
Mike Willis, University of Dubuque
Nathan Ripperger, University of Dubuque
McMullen called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
Acceptance of the Agenda
Upon a motion by JTigges, seconded by Maloney, the Agenda was accepted 5 - 0.
Approval of the Minutes of January 7, 2015
Upon a motion by RTigges, seconded by Maloney, the Minutes were approved 5 - 0.
Public Input
There was no public input.
Request for Funding
Mr. Schaefer presented a request for$15,893 for an HD video replay system and a portable HD
recorder to use on the many sports broadcasts at Loras College. For years Loras has borrowed
Mediacom's replay system, but it is SD only and currently does not work. Maloney moved to approve
up to $16,400 for the request. The motion was seconded by Hoverman and approved 5 - 0.
Digital PEG
Nowack informed the Commission of a project he's been looking into regarding replacing the analog
modulation equipment at the four local access origination sites with digital equipment. Except for
CityChannel Dubuque, which still has an analog channel, all other PEG channels are digital and it
seems counterproductive to send analog signals only to have Mediacom convert them back to digital.
Nowack has also made inquiries with Mediacom about getting an HD channel for CityChannel
Dubuque. Mediacom is open to the idea but the City would like to wait until it can know better how
many people might be adversely affected. Nowack says this discussion is very preliminary and at
some point he will have a formal proposal for them.
PEG Programming Reports
The Commission discussed the annual programming reports received by local groups that have
received funding for equipment. One aspect discussed was how long should programming
requirements be in place. Nothing concrete was decided. Mike Willis from University of Dubuque
informed the Commission that UD simply forgot to submit programming to the shared educational
channel. As soon as it was brought to his attention UD made several submissions.
Mediacom Cable Report
Barefoot reported that he has conducted tours of the public access facilities recently for students at
NICC and UD. He has also received some recently discovered programming from a local access
producer. He told the Commission that Mediacom has been getting reports of low audio during Mercy
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Mass, but those reporting the problem are not providing a location. Mediacom would like to look into
the problem but they need to know where it is.
Cable TV Report
Nowack discussed some upcoming productions in the works and showed the Cable TV Division's
video for its FY2016 budget presentation.
Adjournment
Upon a motion by JTigges, seconded by RTigges, the meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.
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