Minutes Cable Regulatory 12 10 03MINUTES OF CABLE TV REGULATORY COMMISSION MEETING
DECEMBER 10, 2003
CITY HALL ANNEX CONFERENCE ROOM # 2, 1300 MAIN ST.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Charles Ellis, Chairman, Ron Tigges, Walt Webster
MEMBERS ABSENT: Michael Pratt.
OTHERS PRESENT:
Kathy McMullen, General Manager of Mediacom
Merdll Crawford, Cable Franchise Administrator
Mr. Ellis called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m.
1. Acceptance of the Agenda.
Upon a motion by Mr. Webster, seconded by Mr. Tigges, the agenda was
approved as distributed.
2. Approval of the Minutes of the September 10, 2003 Meeting.
Upon a motion by Mr. Webster, seconded by Mr. Tigges, the Minutes of the
September 10, 2003 meeting were approved as distributed.
3. Public Comment.
There was no one present to address the Commission.
4. System Upgrade.
Mr. Crawford told Commissioners that the item had been placed on the agenda for
the October meeting as an opportunity for status report of the Mediacom
distribution system upgrade which was in progress at that time. He reported that
the distribution system upgrade to 750Mhz is largely completed now, although
headend equipment has not been entirely upgraded yet to permit new services.
Ms. McMullen confirmed this, and predicted that at least some high definition TV
programming would be made available as an option during the next quarter, with
video-on-demand services coming later, perhaps in the third quarter of next year.
She expected the first HDTV programming on Dubuque's cable system to be
provided by ESPN, Bravo, and Showtime, but was not certain if or when broadcast
HDTV signals such as those transmitted by Iowa Public Television would be
offered. She described the set top boxes that would be required to subscribe
HD-I-V programming through Mediacom.
5. Status of Telecom projects in Dubuque.
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Mr. Crawford told Commissioners of the completion and filling of the new 4th zone
water tower near the comer of the Northwest Arterial and JFK Road. He described
the design of the tower and the accommodations for wireless telecommunication
facilities and told Commissioners that a draft lease is already prepared, but that no
requests have been received yet from PCS or cellular carriers to lease space on
the tower.
He reported that the acquisition or merger of You Squared by Comelec has
apparently stabilized and improved reputation for reliability of that wireless service,
and that McLeodUSA was apparently seeing some degree of success in Dubuque
with their own DSL product.
Mr. Crawford also mentioned inquiries he has received into the possible setting up
of a Iow power radio station giving information about Dubuque tourist attractions
and events and how to find them, aimed at visitors entedng the city as well as
moving from one site to another within the city.
Franchise Renewal.
Mr. Crawford related developments both behind the scenes and at the negotiating
table which suggested conflicting signals regarding Mediacom's intention. On the
positive side, he relayed the completion of the 750Mhz upgrade and other signs
that Mediacom engineers, particularly at the loc-al office, had been doing a great
deal of measuring and design work in preparation for an institutional network
proposal of some sort in response to the City's stated needs in this area. Also, he
had met the new Mediacom Vice-president for the northern Illinois and eastern
Iowa area, and was impressed with the background, expertise, and personality of
this individual, who had pledged to help move the franchise renewal process along
from the Mediacom side.
On the other hand, no face-to-face negotiations have occurred between Mediacom
and the City teams since June, and a response letter and e-mail from the New
York office within the past few weeks have been largely unresponsive to the City's
institutional network needs. While there may be more design detail coming from
Mediacom, and while the presence of the new Vice-president may focus the cable
operator more effectively on this renewal, the negotiating tern for the City will be
briefing City Council and Commissions in January 2004 regarding some other
options and recommendations.
Medicom General Managers Report.
Ms. McMullen distributed copies of a chart showing the addition of a number of
channels and the relocation of a few in the digital optional packages, effective
December 18, which represent the first actual program offering enhancements
resulting from the recent system upgrade.
Cable Franchise Administrator Report.
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Mr. Crawford distributed to Commissioners a copy of his memo to the City
Manager describing the recent appeals court ruling upholding in part the FCC's
declaration that cable modem service is not a cable service. Members of the
industry have begun an appeal to the Supreme Court of this ruling, and it is not
clear at this time whether attomeys representing cities will also join in that appeal.
The most immediate impact in Dubuque is that Mediacom does not pay franchise
fees on the revenues derived from cable modem service, and does not recognize
any regulatory authority of the City in subscriber disputes regarding cable modem
service.
A second handout from Mr. Crawford was a statement from Senator Lamar
Alexander of Tennessee in the recent U.S. Senate debate which almost, but not
quite, passed a poorly worded bill to make permanent the ban on taxation of
lntemet access service, (which could expand to exempt cable service and other
services from taxation as well).
An article from the Washington Times was also included pertaining to the decline
of quantity of local public issues programming on all forms of television.
Last handout was a copy of Mr. Crawford's memo to the City Manager, with
support documents, seeking another temporary extension of the current Mediacom
franchise, to June 30, 2004.
Future agenda items.
There were no additional items to be added to the agenda
10. Adjournment.
Upon a motion by Mr. Tigges, seconded by Mr. Webster, the meeting was
adjourned at 6:15 p.m.
MC/cj
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