Loading...
Minutes Cable Teleprogramming 2 6 07MINUTES OF CABLE COMMUNITY TELEPROGRAMMING COMMISSION MEETING February 6, 2007 CITY HALL ANNEX - 2nd FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM #2 MEMBERS PRESENT: Jennifer Tigges, George Herrig, Pauline Maloney, Sr. Carol Hoverman. MEMBERS ABSENT: Burton Everist. Two seats remain vacant on the Commission. OTHERS PRESENT: Jim Barefoot, Mediacom Craig Nowack, City of Dubuque Cable TV Coordinator Mr. Herrig called the meeting to order at 5:42 p.m. 1. Acceptance of the Agenda. Upon a motion by Sr. Hoverman, seconded by Ms. Maloney, the agenda was accepted unanimously as published. 2. Approval of the Minutes of the January 22, 2007, Meeting Upon a motion of Ms. Tigges, seconded by Sr. Hoverman, the Minutes of the January 22, 2007, Commission meeting were approved unanimously. 3. Public Comment None. 4. I-Net Overview City of Dubuque Information Services Manager Chris Kohlmann was unable to attend to make a presentation on the Dubuque institutional network, or I-Net. 5. Access Equipment Expenditures Mr. Nowack presented revised quotes for board room equipment on behalf of Gary Olsen and Dubuque Community Schools. Ms. Tigges noted that the vendor for one of the quotes, ECS, is doing some of the other work in the board room at The Forum, and that the school district is only asking for money for the television needs for this room. Since the two quotes are so close, she would like to see the business go to ECS since they are already doing work there. A motion by Sr. Hoverman to approve $30,000.00 for the listed equipment, seconded by Ms. Maloney, was approved unanimously. Mr. Nowack presented a request for funding for a portable teleprompter system for the access community. He stated that he would have the need for such a device a handful of times each year. He said he had discussed this matter with both Mr. Barefoot and Gary Olsen and they thought they would have occasions each year to use one, although Mr. Barefoot is considering a permanent system for the public 1 access studio. Mr. Nowack also brought up for discussion the problem of needing a laptop computer on which to load the prompter software and feed the prompter monitor. A discussion about this ensued, and it was suggested to allocate an extra $1,000 to purchase a laptop to accompany the teleprompter. Also discussed were the specifics of each quote and the concerns that a sturdy tripod be purchased to properly support the prompter. Ms. Malone made a motion to approve $10,000 for a teleprompter system, including a tripod and the teleprompter software, as well as an extra $1,000 for a laptop computer to feed the teleprompter, for a total of $11,000.00. The motion was seconded by Sr. Hoverman. The motion passed by a vote of 3 -1, with Ms. Tigges dissenting. There was a discussion regarding equipment needs for the I-Net. Mr. Nowack mentioned the necessity of a network switch at each of the twelve core/ring locations in order to manage the use of this new community resource. He thought that the purchase of these switches might be an appropriate use of this fund and that such a request or requests might be forthcoming as the I-Net becomes operational. 6. Access Programming and Promotion Mr. Barefoot reported that Kids in the Kitchen, which he submitted to the Beacon Awards on behalf of Gary Olsen and the school district, is one of the finalists from the pool of 493 entries. National Geographic has entries in this category. He plans to go to Washington, DC, for the awards ceremony on March 13. 7. Mediacom Cable Report Mr. Barefoot said that Mediacom is involved in the Get Reel Film Festival. This is a high school competition. Mr. Barefoot expects more than 30 films from a class at Hempstead. Senior and Wahlert are also involved. The deadline for submissions is at the end of March. Star Cinema has offered a theater to screen the films. He expects to run the winners on public access. The top prize is $1,000. Mr. Barefoot also reported that he is very close to having a "really cool playback system." Once he gets the access codes for the server functionality approved last night by City Council, everything will be in place. He can sit at anon-linear editor and move files around the building, he just cannot get them on the server. He can also now control the access channels from anywhere in the world he can get an Internet connection. On a couple of final points, Mr. Barefoot plans on going to NAB this year, and he said he desperately needs to have a garage sale to get rid of old equipment. Mr. Nowack reported that he has contacted the school district about their annual auction. City policy places certain restrictions on disposing of old equipment. Finally, Mr. Barefoot asked the Commission to consider money for dedicated cabling at various venues when new money becomes available in July. Grand River Center and Five Flags would be good places to run cable to facilitate broadcasts from those locations. 2 Mr. Herrig mentioned some new Sony cameras that might be able to be' controlled remotely by the Sony Anycast Station. He thought Mr. Barefoot and Mr. Nowack might be able to utilize these cameras in some of their field productions. 8. Cable TV Division Report Mr. Nowack reminded Commissioners that the Cable TV budget presentation before the City Council is scheduled for February 26. As usual, Cable TV is the last presentation of the evening. He also stated that today is his first anniversary on the job, and that this year things are less hectic. He reported that CityChannel 8 now as automated on screen program listings. One screen always shows the next two programs to air. Another screen shows a line-up of four programs coming up at some point on the current day or the next day. This service has been available since the first of the month. These screens update every ten minutes. 9. Video On Demand Although there have been some technical problems with VOD, for the most part Mr. Barefoot reported that things are going fine. He needs to get new content regularly to keep things fresh. Mediacom is considering adding another shift in order to encode material for VOD. Some VOD programs have been incorrectly encoded and only available on HD set boxes. Ms. Tigges wondered about the turn-around time. Mr. Barefoot said it's currently about a week. 10. Future Agenda Items No new items were considered. 11. Adjournment Upon a motion by Ms. Tigges, seconded by Ms. Maloney, the meeting was adjourned at 7:03 p.m.