Minutes Cable TV Reg Dec 12 01MINUTES OF CABLE TV REGULATORY COMMISSION MEETING
DECEMBER 12, 2001
CITY HALL ANNEX CONFERENCE ROOM # 2, 1300 MAIN ST.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chades Ellis, Chairman, Ron Tigges, Wait Webster
MEMBERS ABSENT: Michael Pratt. Onb seat remains vacant on the Commission.
OTHERS PRESENT:
Kathy McMullen, General Manager, Mediacom
Merrill Crawford, Cable Franchise Administrator
Chairman Ellis called the meeting to order at 5:34 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 November 14, 2001 Meeting.
Upon a motion by Mr. Webster, seconded by Mr. Tigges, the Minutes of the
November 14, 2001 Commission meeting were approved as distributed.
3. Public Comment.
The Chairman noted there was no one present to address the Commission.
4. @ Home Cable Modem Service.
Ms. McMullen told Commissioners that by January 15, 2002 Mediacom would
begin migrating its current @ Home broadband cable modem service customers to
a new service, so that all customers could be accommodated and any problems
resolved before the end of February, when the @ Home transitional agreement
expires. Excite @ Home, thereafter, is expected to cease operations and undergo
liquidation of its assets. Ms. McMullen did not know as of the meeting time which
alternate service (or perhaps Mediacom"s own new network) would be placed into
service to replace @ Home in Dubuque.
She told Commissioners that AT & T Broadband had been using the Iowa
customer database erroneously to send a message to current broadband modem
customers with instructions for making changes to their software and modem
settings to accommodate the new AT & T Broadband network. Unfor[unately, if
Mediacom customers receive this message and follow its instructions, their
modems will no longer work with the @ Home service, which is still operating.
5. Status of Telecom Projects in Dubuque.
Mr. Crawford told Commissioners of indications that a second cellular or PCS
company may be interested in co-locating its transmission facilities on the new
Telecorp monopole tower in Murphy Park. He said there was also a possibility that
3.
another firm may negotiate with the owner of an existing tower along Cedar Cross
Road, perhaps to remove that tower and replace it with a shorter but more
substantial tower capable of holding multiple service providers.
Mr. Crawford told Commissioners about press coverage of financial reorganization
plans announced by McLeodUSA, which may also include Chapter 11 bankruptcy
involving the McLeod holding company, but not its operational subsidiaries.
Nevertheless, Mr. Crawford has contacted the City's Washington attorneys, its
telephone equipment vendor, and its telephone consultant as a precautionary
move in the event McLeod bankruptcy should expand to include the
telecommunication subsidiary. He told Commissioners that he did not expect
problems with continuation of telephone service to the City offices as a result of the
McLeod restructuring.
The first conceptual model of the City's new government website has been
demonstrated to the web committee and the development is still on schedule for
unveiling to the public in the spring as a part of City Expo.
Finally, Mr. Crawford told the Commission that the City's five-year street plan may
be revised for a somewhat less ambitious completion schedule, which will impact
the dates on which telecommunications conduit would be available in certain
neighborhoods.
Franchise Renewal.
Mr. Crawford reported on the City's retaining of CBG Communications to conduct
the ascertainment of the community's future cable-related needs, and told
Commissioners of all of the information that was currently being gathered and
shipped to CBG Communications for preliminary study of Dubuque and of its cable
system. Additional requests for technical information are being made to the cable
company and more data is being gathered from educational institutions and
community organizations. A three-day visit by Tom Robinson and possibly others
is tentatively scheduled for January 8 - 10 in Dubuque, and will include tours and
inspections of various PEG access facilities, the cable plant, and a series of
workshops for community organizations, business representatives, educational
institutions, local government, access staff and users, and a joint brainstorming
session with the two cable commissions. Each of these will also entail the follow-
up focused written survey for participants, and there will be a statistically valid
sampling of cable subscribers in Dubuque through another survey.
Mediacom General Manager's Report.
Ms. McMullen announced that East Dubuque would be spliced into the Dubuque
cable system neighborhood-by-neighborhood via leased fiber, which crosses the
Mississippi River via the Julian Dubuque Bddge.
She also told Commissioners that the remaining analog premium pay services will
be discontinued, and made available only as a part of digital packages. As of the
meeting, approximately sixty-eight subscribers have not already converted to digital
packages. This change will occur on or about January 15 and the affected
subscribers will receive thirty days notice. General notice of shorter duration will
also be placed in the Telegraph Herald.
Ms. McMullen told Commissioners that beginning January 15, 2002 the analog
spaces opened by the move of premium pay services to digital would be filled with
the Do-It-Yourself Channel on Channel 6, Bravo on Channel 16, and the Sci-Fi
Network on Channel 17. Commissioners agreed by consensus that this particular
addition of three programming networks could be made on January 15 without the
customary' thirty-day notice.
Ms. McMullen told Commissioners that a basic cable service rate increase would
be implemented on February 1,2002, and that thirty-day advance notice would be
given to all subscribers regarding that event. She did not indicate as of the
meeting time exactly what the increase would be in percentage or dollar amount.
Cable Franchise Administrator Report.
Mr. Crawford told Commissioners that the Dubuque Police Department had just
finished conducting a security ascertainment of the City Hall Annex building and
that the final written report was expected in the following week. Some procedural
steps will be implemented very quickly and he was not sure, at this time, how they
might affect the Commission meetings, which are currently held in that building. It
is likely that the 13th Street south door to the building will be locked twenty-four
hours a day, and Commissioners coming to a Conference Room # 2 meeting after
5:00 P.M. would need to use the accessible entrance and the elevator.
Mr. Crawford also distributed the preliminary schedule of City Council budget
hearings and noted the night and time of the Cable TV Division hearing.
Commissioners are invited to join the City Council for supper in the Library prior to
that evening's set of hearings.
Future Agenda Items.
It was agreed that the anticipated joint meeting with the Cable Community
Teleprogramming Commission and CBG Communications in January will take the
place of the regular January Commission meeting.
10.
Adjournment.
Upon a motion by Mr. Tigges, seconded by Mr. Webster, the meeting was
adjourned at 6:24 P.M.
MC/cj
3