Minutes Cable TV Regulatory Commission of 12 10 08MINUTES OF CABLE TV REGULATORY COMMISSION MEETING
December 10, 2008
CITY HALL ANNEX CONFERENCE ROOM #2
MEMBERS PRESENT: Charlie Ellis, Ron Tigges, Andy Bellings, Walt Webster, Kevin
Stevens arrived at 5:50 p.m.
MEMBERS ABSENT: None.
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig Nowack, City of Dubuque Cable TV Coordinator
Kathy McMullen, Mediacom
Lee Grassley, Mediacom
Craig Schaefer, Loras College
Jennifer Tigges
Mr. Ellis called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m
Acceptance of the Agenda
Upon a motion by Mr. Webster, seconded by Mr. Tigges, the agenda was approved by a vote of 4-
0.
Approval of the Minutes of the November 12, 2008, Meeting
Upon a motion by Mr. Webster, seconded by Mr. Bellings, the Minutes of the November 12, 2008,
meeting were approved by a vote of 4-0.
Public Comment
There was no public comment.
Mediacom Digital Tier Proposal
Mr. Nowack informed the Commission that the Tele-Programming Commission voted at its
December 2 meeting to continue discussion on this proposal.
Mr. Ellis stated his desire that the faster Internet speeds promised by the proposal pertain to
consumers. He also asked about the length of time simple converter boxes would be available at
no charge in order to receive the PEG channels. Mr. Grassley said that was negotiable.
Mr. Grassley clarified that Mediacom's offer to stream the PEG channels is to stream only to
Mediacom customers, not to everyone on the world wide web. Mr. Ellis said he would like to see
an example of this streaming to make sure it was of decent quality. Mr. Tigges requested the bit
rate and the resolution of the proposed streaming.
Mr. Ellis stated that moving the PEG channels to a different channel position would be a deal
breaker as far as he is concerned.
Mr. Schaefer raised several points about the proposal in his concern that the commissions know
exactly what they are recommending:
1) Increased Video On Demand (VOD) hours. If it's currently at 20 hours, what would it be
increased to? Is anybody using this service now?
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2) Streaming of the PEG channels. Would this not only benefit people subscribing to
Mediacom's Internet service?
3) He is concerned that we do not isolate the least among us. This probably means the
elderly and the low income.
4) Over the past couple of years that has been a great deal of re-investment of time, energy,
and money in the PEG community by both Mediacom and the access users. Mr. Schaefer
does not want to lose that momentum. A loss of viewers could chill this momentum.
5) Nobody wants a new box in their house, especially if they have to pay for it.
6) What separates cable from satellite is PEG. Although one may have more than the other,
both services have HD. But only cable has PEG. And what makes the Dubuque franchise
so unique are its provisions for PEG. The driving force behind this proposal is an increase
in HD channels to compete with satellite, yet it does so at the cost of what makes cable
truly unique.
7) All five PEG channels should be upgraded to HD, not just CityChannel 8 and Channel 19.
Mr. Bellings proposed adding to a possible recommendation to proceed the urgency of making a
decision while Mediacom is still motivated to negotiate. He said that waiting too long could reduce
the City's bargaining power.
Mr. Tigges moved to move forward with a proposal that negotiated the following elements, knowing
that some elements may need to be modified:
1) Increased hours for Video On Demand (VOD);
2) PEG channels streamed on the Internet (Mediacom's offer is to stream the channels to all
Mediacom subscribers nationwide);
3) Unencrypted PEG channels on the digital tier;
4) Maintain current PEG channel positions;
5) Availability of simple converter boxes in order to view PEG channels on the digital tier
6) The requirement that there be a sufficient inventory of simple converter boxes for
subscriber pick-up;
7) PEG channels available in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) simultaneously,
starting with public school channel (19) and government channel (8), and perhaps one
public access channel to be financed by the annual $300,000 system upgrade fund in the
current cable franchise agreement;
8) AMediacom-financed comprehensive public awareness/consumer education campaign
that would include such items as:
a. Direct mailings
b. Newspaper ads
c. A test where one access channel, probably CityChannel 8, would go digital for a day
so subscribers could determine their capability of receiving digital signals
d. City approval of campaign ads/materials;
9) A schedule of HD channel rollout;
10) Higher Internet speeds for consumers;
11) A plan to address loss of viewership in group facilities such as nursing homes;
12) Possibly staggering the migration of the PEG channels to the digital tier so they do not all
disappear at once; and
13) Recognition that the City's bargaining position will be weakened as time goes on.
The motion was seconded by Mr. Bellings and approved 5-0.
Mediacom General Manager's Report
Upon a motion by Mr. Bellings, seconded by Mr. Stevens, the Mediacom General Manager's
Report and Staff Report were removed from the table by a vote of 5-0.
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Ms. McMullen reported that on December 17 Mediacom will be adding four new channels to the
HD tier: HGTV, Food, FX, and Speed.
Staff Report
Mr. Nowack reported that a great deal of work has been done on the revamped City website which
went live on November 21 and officially live on Tuesday when a press release was issued.
Mr. Nowack informed Ms. McMullen that an encoder in the Emergency Alert System went down on
November 25 and was sent in for service; however, the City was not informed that the system was
not functional. He asked that he be informed immediately when something like this occurs in the
future.
Future Agenda Items/Comments ~ Concerns
None.
Adjournment
Upon a motion by Mr. Webster, seconded by Mr. Bellings, the meeting was adjourned at 7:05 p.m
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