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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997/03/10 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - RegularMinutes Cable TV Commission Meeting St. Louis Park, Minnesota 5:30pm March 10, 1997 at Paragon Cable’s Eden Prairie Head End (10210 Crosstown Circle) 1. Call to Order 5:40pm by vice chair Tony Raiber 2. Roll Call Also present were Commissioners Bruce Browning, Ken Huiras, Jill Boddy, Mike Ganyo and a few minutes later, Bob Jacobson; Arlen Mattern of Paragon Cable; and John McHugh and Reg Dunlap of City staff. Each person at the meeting introduced themselves and gave a bit of background, since there were two new commissioners present. 3. Approval of Minutes Moved to approve by Commissioner Huiras, seconded by Commissioner Browning, passed 6-0. 4. Adoption of Agenda Commissioner Browning added item 8. D., follow up questions from minutes of November 18, 1996. Commissioner Ganyo moved to approve the agenda, as amended, seconded by Commissioner Browning, passed 6-0. 5. Communications from Paragon Cable A. Communications Arlen Mattern, Paragon Cable’s Public Affairs Administrator, said that the rate increases went smoothly. He distributed a packet on Cable in the Classroom that includes a video tape called “Classroom Connections” produced by Time Warner. Mr. Mattern says many schools use Cable in the Classroom, and that more should. Commissioner Huiras asked if St. Louis Park schools were using it; Mr. Mattern said they were all mailed the packet and Paragon’s education coordinator made presentations at the schools, upon request. B. Tour of Head End At 6:00pm Bernie Doffing, Paragon’s Engineering Manager, entered to lead a tour of the head end. He was asked to summarize how this head end ranks, technology wise, with other cities. He said if this isn’t the best head end in the country, he’d be surprised, because of the new technologies used. The Commissioners visited the master control area, where tapes are replayed and all the satellite delivered channels are monitored. Mr. Doffing said the ad insertion system uses MPEG II compression to play commercials for 26 satellite delivered channels, and that he can monitor 20 of those channels from his home in Hastings. He said all the metro area cable systems are interconnected via fiber optic cable. Mr. Doffing showed the Commissioners the modulators and receivers necessary for each channel, a total of 230 to serve 11 cities including Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Richfield, Edina, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Fridley, Shakopee, Chaska and Fridley. Currently a laser transmitter combines the signals for St. Louis Park with other cities, but they are planning to separate St. Louis Park in the future to allow more flexibility, since the 550 MHz system has more capacity than any other system except Minneapolis. Lance Leupold, Paragon’s Production Supervisor, gave a brief tour of the 3 camera studio and described some control room changes that would incorporate a second SVHS edit system and improve the layout for operation by one person. The studio is open 6 days each week, slightly more than 48 hours, including 3 evenings. Back in the conference room, Mr. Doffing sketched the fiber backbone of the St. Louis Park system, and said it, along with Minneapolis and the Southwest systems (Edina, Eden Prairie, Richfield, Hopkins and Minnetonka) is capable of a return signal from subscribers to the head end, a capability needed to provide telephony and high speed data services. Also needed are the capital and desire to get into that revenue stream, which would have to be down the road later after direction from the corporate offices. He said the company is looking for Time Warner to show the way in this area. Another big problem in adding telephony is that the standards haven’t been developed at the FCC, meaning each competing manufacturer offers proprietary equipment. 6. Reports Mr. Dunlap said the School District and Civic Channel programming reports, the staff logged complaints, and several articles were in the Commissioners packets. Commissioner Jacobson said there is a significant population of nesters in St. Louis Park, and folks who are up late at night when not much is on basic cable service. He said something between basic and the full package was what they needed, and that the Lenox group could be surveyed for what they want. Mr. Dunlap said the Civic Channel could add more all night replays, if that would help. Commissioner Huiras said that the subscriber numbers are still going up for the basic tier, and asked if there was any way to track if this meant they were dropping the more expensive service. Mr. Mattern said this is not possible. There was discussion about free previews, making phone calls and other marketing to let the public know about the many channels available. Mr. McHugh said that maybe the St. Louis Park Review, the new weekly paper, would do a feature story on Paragon. He said he would send the contact information to Paragon’s Public Affairs Department. 7. Old Business A. Proposed revision of Cable TV Commission bylaws Mr. Dunlap said that a more thorough revision and simplification of the bylaws seemed necessary after the Commission had adopted two amendments at the November 18 meeting. Commissioner Browning proposed some changes, and Deputy City Manager Joanne Kutzler, Mr. McHugh and Mr. Dunlap also contributed. The intent was to remove the redundancies and discrepancies between Ordinance #1783 (Boards and Commissions) and the Commission adopted bylaws, last revised in August 1984. There was considerable discussion about Article III, Section 2, regarding the School District alternate member being counted for a quorum, passed at the November 18 meeting. Commissioner Browning moved to delete Article III, Section 2, Commissioner Ganyo seconded, and it passed 6-0. Commissioner Huiras moved to adopt the amended bylaws, Commissioner Browning seconded and it passed 6-0. 8. New Business A. Set meeting schedule for 1997 Mr. Dunlap distributed a proposed meeting schedule for 1997; May 12, July 14, September 15, November 10 and January 26, 1998 for next the annual meeting. There was discussion that mid-July might be a difficult time, but the consensus was that the schedule would work and that the advance notice helps in rescheduling possible conflicts. Mr. McHugh said he would provide copies of previous cable subscriber surveys to the new commissioners (other commissioners already have them) prior to the next meeting. B. ISD 283 (Channel 32) funding discussion Commissioner Ganyo asked if the level of programming on Channel 32 was good. Mr. Dunlap said it was lower than the other local channels. There was some background discussion for the benefit of the two new commissioners. The consensus was for staff to contact the District to clarify the criteria for funding requests, and to suggest that they comment on progress made in the past year toward meeting the goals outlined at the Commission meeting on May 13, 1996. C. Proposed revision of Paragon monthly report Commissioner Huiras asked that the number of total households be included, establishing the potential market. Mr. Mattern said that the information on DMX and Sega could be provided if households were changed to units, which is the way Paragon tracks these products. Commissioner Jacobson moved the adoption of the proposed report with the amendments mentioned, Commissioner Browning seconded, and it passed 6-0. D. Bruce Browning: follow up questions on November 18, 1996 minutes Commissioner Browning asked why the number of the households at the beginning of a month was not the same as the as the households at the end of the previous month. Mr. Mattern said the reason for the difference was a typographical error. Commissioner Browning asked about the possibility of adding the MNDOT channel, listed in the minutes as something Mr. Mattern would check on to see if it was technically possible. Mr. Mattern said it is technically possible, but the picture quality is minimal and Paragon considers it unsuitable. He said that they would consider adding it if MNDOT would upgrade the service. Commissioner Jacobson said that the MNDOT channel could be listed on the survey. Commissioner Ganyo said that Commissioner Brand’s request at the November 18 meeting to consider sending a letter to Metro Cable Network, Channel 6 be added to a future agenda. Commissioner Jacobson so moved, Commissioner Raiber seconded it and it passed 6-0. 9. Communications from the Chair Vice chair Raiber welcomed the new commissioners, Jill Boddy and Bob Jacobson. 10. Communications from City Staff Mr. Dunlap said he would discuss the appointment of a youth member with School District Superintendent Carol Johnson, as a part of the Vision St. Louis Park recommendation to have youth representatives involved in Boards and Commissions Mr. McHugh distributed the programming reports for Community TV 33/96 for the last four months. There have been two space shuttle missions since the last Commission meeting. Commissioner Jacobson said that the Paragon head end is a wonderful facility that needed more promotion, and asked if a notice could be put in utility bills. Mr. McHugh said that the promotion of local channels was in his work plan, and that he would report progress at a future meeting. 11. Adjournment Moved to adjourn at 8:20pm by Commissioner Huiras, seconded by Commissioner Jacobson, and passed 6-0. Respectfully submitted by recording secretary Reg Dunlap