Minutes_Cable TV Commission 2 3 16 MINUTES OF CABLE TV COMMISSION MEETING
February 3, 2016
CITY HALL ANNEX — 1 st FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM #1
MEMBERS PRESENT: Jennifer Tigges (Chair), Ron Tigges, Sr. Carol Hoverman, Pauline
Maloney, Mark Dolson.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Kathy McMullen (Vice-Chair), Alan Vincent.
OTHERS PRESENT: Craig Nowack, City of Dubuque
Jim Barefoot, Mediacom
Mike Willis, University of Dubuque
Nathan Ripperger
JTigges called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m.
Acceptance of the Agenda
Upon a motion by Hoverman, seconded by Maloney, the Agenda was approved 5 - 0.
Approval of the Minutes of January 6, 2016
This item was tabled pending receipt of the January 6, 2016, meeting minutes.
Public Input
There was no public input.
Grant Recipient Letters
Willis and Ripperger thanked the Commission for its funding support which has enabled them to
produce much of the programming they sent to the shared educational access channel in 2015.
Ripperger noted that UD's media program is in its infancy and they don't have the students yet to
produce more programming, especially collegiate sporting events. He also noted that they could not
obtain permission to broadcast some of the presentations they recorded over the course of the year.
JTigges wondered if the university sports teams themselves had game recordings that could be
broadcast, but Ripperger lamented that such footage was usually an extreme wide shot that was not
particularly interesting to watch for the average viewer. He also stated that the lack of play-by-play
audio was a factor as well.
Nowack noted that he had received no letters from Dubuque Community Schools except for the one
that came from The Forum, nor had he received anything from Holy Family Catholic Schools.
Request for Funding
Nowack presented a request for funding on behalf of the City of Dubuque which replaces the request
he made last month. Last month's request, which the Commission approved, did not go to the City
Council for final approval because of a mathematical error. The current request is for$6285.35 for
the purchase and installation of three pieces of equipment to stabilize CityChannel Dubuque as it
originates programming in HD. The equipment includes a cleanswitch router to provide synchronized
switches between various video sources on air, a frame synchronizer to correct variant signal
problems that have caused some trouble in the on-air operation, and a test pattern generator that can
generate various HD test patterns and colored backgrounds to fill the side pillars created when
upconverting a 4 x 3 SD signal to a 16 x 9 HD signal. This funding request will reimburse the City for
the equipment that has already been installed and which has corrected the problems that need
addressing. Upon a motion by Dolson, seconded by Maloney, the request for funding was approved 5
- 0.
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Mediacom Cable Report
Barefoot reported that staffing issues at Mercy Medical Center, since resolved, took Mercy Mass off
the air for a short period of time. He also provided an update on his attempt to reach out to the local
churches who provide worship service recordings for air to help them improve the technical quality of
those recordings. And finally he noted that he has been in contact with two women who would like to
produce a local talk show to air on the public access channel.
Cable TV Report
Nowack stated that the City's budget season is upon us and that he would be presenting the Cable
TV budget to Council at the end of the budget hearing on Monday, February 8. He informed the
Commission that Cable TV has started re-inserting in-meeting presentations in HD into City Council
meeting recordings in order to improve picture quality. He described the workflow they use to make
that happen. He updated the Commission on the digital encoding project and noted that he expects
the one millionth weather record from the weather station atop City Hall Annex to be obtained on
Sunday. That weather station was placed there in August 2006 to provide current downtown weather
information for CityChannel Dubuque. He also updated the Commission on new programming for the
channel.
Adjournment
Upon a motion by Hoverman, seconded by Dolson, the meeting was adjourned at 4:38 p.m.
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