Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014/05/06 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - RegularUNOFFICIAL MINUTES ST. LOUIS PARK TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MEETING OF May 6, 2014 ST. LOUIS PARK COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Bruce Browning, Cindy Hoffman, Toby Keeler, Rolf Peterson and Andrew Reinhardt MEMBERS ABSENT: Dale Hartman and Bill Theobald STAFF PRESENT: Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator OTHERS PRESENT: Kate Hensing, Comcast Cable 1. Call to Order Chair Hoffman called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 2. Roll Call Present at roll call were Commissioners Browning, Hoffman, Keeler, Peterson and Reinhardt. 3. Approval of Minutes for December 11, 2013 It was moved by Commissioner Browning, seconded by Commissioner Keeler, to approve the minutes of December 11, 2013, without changes. The motion passed 5-0. 4. Adoption of Agenda It was moved by Commissioner Peterson, seconded by Commissioner Browning, to approve the agenda. The motion passed 5-0. 5. Public Comment - None 6. New Business A. Annual Report for 2013 Chair Hoffman stated they met with the City Council to discuss the direction of the Commission and would be brainstorming with Mr. Zwilling and Mr. Pires in September or October about the upcoming year. Commissioner Browning added that the City Council was receptive to what the Commission had been working on. In the past the Commission has dealt primarily with cable issues, but they need to broaden their scope. Fiber is around the corner in some fashion and TV via internet is also changing the scope of things, which will impact everyone in the next few years. B. Comcast call center reports Chair Hoffman said that the call center reports which were available do not include St. Louis Park calls. The reports show that all trunk lines were busy less than 1% of the time in the first quarter, then rose several percentage points, but in the last quarter it was back below 1%, which is an improvement. Mr. Dunlap said that call center information that was readily available was requested by the Commission at the December meeting because complaints logged by City staff had increased. Commissioner Browning thanked Comcast for providing the information, and asked if Comcast had modified their structure for customer service? At a past meeting, the Comcast representative talked about phone centers organized around specialties like billing or technical support since it’s hard for anyone to know everything. Has that been completed, since the numbers have been settled down a bit. Ms. Hensing responded that the call centers had undergone training through the Center of Excellence last year and that training had been completed. In the third quarter, the number of callers receiving a busy signal was high, but Comcast fired a third party vendor because they weren’t doing an adequate job, and the busy signal calls had gone down since then. Commissioner Browning asked if that was an overseas vendor? Ms. Hensing said she didn’t have that information. Commissioner Keeler said that the number of complaint calls in St. Louis Park was well under 1%. He asked if Comcast had that figure for the call center reports? For example, in one month there were 52,000 calls, so how many subscribers were in that area? Ms. Hensing replied that she would need to look into that. Chair Hoffman noted that the report from Comcast showed East side calls only and doesn’t include St. Louis Park, and asked if we could get reports to include the calls for St. Louis Park. Ms. Hensing replied she didn’t have the West side information. The East side has requested TSR reports, so that’s what is available. Commissioner Browning asked if the East side was larger than the West side? Ms. Hensing said she wasn’t sure but could ask. Mr. Dunlap said he had a very rough estimate that there were 300,000 customers in the East side and 175,000 in the West side, which includes Minneapolis and Bloomington and St. Louis Park. Comcast has been tabulating reports on the East side, and the Commission could consider making a formal request for the call center reports. C. Franchise fee audit update & selection of subcommittee Chair Hoffman said that a motion had passed to conduct a franchise fee review, that a subcommittee was needed to assist with the process, and asked for volunteers. Mr. Dunlap said a sub-committee would review the draft request for proposal, review the responses from firms and in one meeting or two, make a selection. The purpose is to provide transparency, so it’s not just one staff person making the selection. The recommendation then goes to the City Manager and the City Council. The last audit was done in 2008. Commissioners Browning and Keeler volunteered to be on the sub committee. 7. Unfinished Business A. Comcast/Time Warner/Charter mergers Mr. Dunlap presented a slide show about the mergers. Comcast is proposing to purchase Time Warner and spin-off all Minnesota customers to a new company. There is a possibility it wouldn’t happen and it is being reviewed by the FCC and FTC. St. Louis Park’s responsibility is to review the legal, technical and financial capabilities of Spinco, as it’s called, which doesn’t exist yet, so the review is tricky. He expects to partner with other cities to review the transfer and get outside legal advice. Commissioner Keeler stated that 80% or more of the MACTA members have Comcast as their cable provider, so they will be actively involved in monitoring this process. Commissioner Browning asked if this would just affect the Twin Cities or outside areas of Minnesota? Mr. Dunlap replied it would affect all Comcast subscribers in Minnesota. Mr. Dunlap said he was not sure when all of the details would be available, but there are many questions that will affect customers, like whether or not email addresses change. He said the transfer is contingent on Comcast being able to buy Time Warner. Ms. Hensing said they were still running as Comcast and if and when the merger goes through, it will still be Comcast, and it could take a year to finalize everything. The Board of Directors and Executive Committee should be named soon and she would share the information when it was available. Commissioner Keeler asked if they should continue with the audit should this transaction go through? Commissioner Browning said that’s the kind of thing we’d look at under the circumstances. Mr. Dunlap said it was advantageous to complete an audit before the transfer was approved and deal with any non-compliance or customer service issues. The RFP would require the audit to be completed by the end of the summer. Chair Hoffman asked when the current franchise expires, and if all the current standards would remain the same if it was transferred to Spinco? Mr. Dunlap said the current franchise goes through 2021 and would stay in effect for the new company. B. Complaints Commissioner Browning noted many people question if they aren’t happy with the provider why can’t someone else come in? Other providers can, but it is not economically feasible for another to come in. He said Wide Open West was interested years ago, but they didn’t have the financial capability to do so. Mr. Dunlap provided updates that complaints 16 and 19 were resolved to the customers benefit. Ms. Hensing stated that as of April 29th, they completed their digital network enhancement to an all-digital system so no longer can a TV with a QAM tuner receive TV signals. So now Comcast has HD DTA’s available, so a customer currently having limited basic service will not have to pay the $10 HD technology fee for the next year. Customers get up to three boxes at no charge. Mr. Dunlap said people with limited basic cable can apply for the HD DTA free offer until August 28, 2014. C. Future of cable TV technology memo Mr. Dunlap noted there were articles in the packets left over from the last meeting when there wasn’t a quorum. Commissioner Browning said that internet is becoming a bigger part of things with Hulu and Netflix available. He said that he sees complaints about costs for these services, but the costs are pretty similar for satellite, dish or cable. For new customers to satellite or cable, there’s frequently a special lower rate but when the introductory offer is over, the cost goes up. And there is an off switch, if you don’t want to take it. D. Park TV program summary Mr. Dunlap stated this information was provided to give Commissioners an idea of what the channels do and the number of programs produced. Commissioner Browning said Park TV does a great job, and that he finds out things from Scott Smith on Park Update that he wouldn’t find out otherwise. It’s well worth going to the City web site to see the videos, and it’s a good way to find out what’s happening in the community. Chair Hoffman asked if the summary was different than the ones that John McHugh had previously prepared. Mr. Dunlap said that this was a different format. E. Future Role of Telecommunications Advisory Commission-see item 6A F. Fiber Study Updates Mr. Dunlap noted on page three of the annual report, Mr. Pires added more detail about how the Highway 100 bridge construction would re-route the City’s fiber. The City will also build fiber to the St. Louis Park library at some point. In October when the Commission meets with Mr. Pires and Mr. Zwilling, they will have the opportunity for a more detailed fiber optic study update. The Council was also very interested in having Mr. Pires work with the Commission to expand the City’s use of fiber. Commissioner Browning asked if they were putting in conduit or fiber at Highway 7 and Louisiana Avenue in the construction area? Mr. Dunlap replied yes, that any time the City tears up a road, they add conduit for the future installation of fiber. 8. Communication from the Chair, Commissioners and City Staff Chair Hoffman welcomed new Commissioner Reinhardt and thanked Commissioner Dworsky for his 12 years of service. Commissioner Reinhardt said he was pretty new to St. Louis Park but had been very involved in Brooklyn Park for years, including on Commissions and with Channel 12. He said it was great to be part of the Park TV open house and seeing the live truck and what St. Louis Park does in cable TV. Commissioner Keeler said that MACTA conference would be held in June, and the NATOA conference will be in October in St. Paul. He also said there would be a conference call by the MACTA Legislative committee on Thursday to discuss the Comcast Time Warner merger. 9. Adjournment The meting adjourned at 7:45. Respectfully submitted by: Amy L. Stegora-Peterson Recording Secretary