Minutes TV Cable Reg. 7 12 06
MINUTES OF CABLE TV REGULATORY COMMISSION MEETING
July 12, 2006
CITY HALL ANNEX CONFERENCE ROOM #3
MEMBERS PRESENT: Charles Ellis, Chairman, Ron Tigges, Kevin Stevens
MEMBERS ABSENT: Michael Pratt, Walt Webster
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig Nowack, City of Dubuque Cable TV Coordinator
Kathy McMullen, Mediacom Area Manager
Mr. Ellis called the meeting to order at 5:39 p.m.
1. Acceptance of the Agenda.
Upon a motion by Mr. Stevens, seconded by Mr. Tigges, the agenda was approved
unanimously as distributed.
2. Approval ofthe Minutes ofthe May 10, 2006 Meeting.
Upon a motion by Mr. Stevens, seconded by Mr. Tigges, the Minutes of the May
10,2006 meeting were approved unanimously as distributed.
3. Public Comment.
No one was present to address the Commission.
4. Status of Telecom Projects in Dubuque.
There was no discussion on this topic.
5. Franchise.
Mr. Nowack mentioned the recent amendment to the franchise agreement relating
to the I-Net.
6. Legislation
Mr. Nowack presented a handout regarding pending federal legislation that may
affect the Franchise. In particular he mentioned HR 5252, a House bill known as
COPE, and S. 2686, a Senate bill that recently passed the Senate committee and
has now been renamed HR 5252, or ATOR. Also in the handout was a copy of a
recent newspaper editorial by Mayor Roy Suol and a letter from a number of
national coalitions expressing their concern to the Senate committee leadership
regarding S. 2686.
1
7. Mediacom General Manager's Report.
Ms. McMullen reported that construction on the I-Net officially began the preceding
Wednesday. She informed the Commission of the various methods Mediacom is
using to keep the public informed of the presence of its constructions crews. This
includes messages on CityChannel 8 and cards with information and a phone
number that get placed on door knobs of houses when the crews come around.
She noted that I-Net construction should not affect residential cable service since it
is a separate cable, but Mediacom will at times be working in the public right-of-
way. She also said that a cross-channel announcement should begin airing by the
end of the week that announces the construction.
Mr. Nowack said that CityChannel 8 currently doesn't have any announcements
regarding I-Net construction. He also said that he was concerned that contacts at
the I-Net site get enough notice when the fiber will actually be installed in their
buildings. Ms. McMullen stated that her construction coordinator, Tim Meyer, has
been working closely with the City's I-net construction coordinator, Steve Brown.
Ms. McMullen also said that the system upgrade required in the franchise
agreement will begin by the end of August and is on track to be finished by June 5
of next year. This upgrade, she said, will result in a few service interruptions. Mr.
Ellis noted that it is important to make sure the public is notified of outages.
Mr. Ellis noted the changing landscape of sports television and that regrettably
many of the regional networks will go away and make it difficult for people to watch
the teams they follow closely.
8. Staff Report
Mr. Nowack reported that the new CityChannel 8 graphics system premiered on
the air today. He also noted that soon the City will begin producing some regular
programming with some of the new equipment that's been acquired. He also
announced that he will shortly be installing a weather station on the roof of City Hall
Annex to be able to display its weather data on City Channel 8.
9. Future Agenda Items
The Commission agreed to add Legislation to future agendas.
10. Adjournment.
Upon a motion by Mr. Stevens, seconded by Mr. Tigges, the meeting was
adjourned at 6:05 p.m.
2