HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996/11/18 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - Regular 1
Minutes
Cable TV Advisory Commission -- St. Louis Park, Minnesota
7:00pm November 18, 1996
First Floor Community Room at City Hall -- 5005 Minnetonka Boulevard
1. Call to Order 7:06pm by Chairman Bruce Browning.
2. Roll Call
Also present were Commissioners Ken Huiras, Mike Ganyo, Tony Raiber and Joel
Brand; Arlen Mattern of Paragon Cable (later joined by Kim Roden), and John McHugh
and Reg Dunlap of City staff.
3. Approval of Minutes
Moved by Commissioner Huiras, seconded by Commissioner Ganyo; passed 5-0.
4. Adoption of Agenda Item 7. B. added at the request of Commissioner Brand.
5. Communications from Paragon Cable
Kim Roden of Paragon Cable distributed several documents; a letter describing the
1997 rate increases and new services; “Questions and Answers About 1997 Rate and
Channel Lineup Adjustments;” and “Talking Points for 1997 Price Adjustments.”
There will be five new services in St. Louis Park; MSNBC, FX, the Food Network,
Court TV and Classic Sports.
There will be price increases for Basic, the Standard Package, converter and remote
control rentals, installations, upgrade charges and the Disney Channel. There will be
price decreases for HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and the Movie Channel.
Public, educational and government (PEG) access programming charges will be broken
out separately on the bills and identified as “access.” In St. Louis Park the fee will be
$.86 per month.
Notice will begin the end of the week, to provide more than 30 day notice.
Mr. McHugh asked if access fees included Paragon staffed channel 34; Ms. Roden said
access fees refer to mandated fees, that differ in each city. They are highest in St. Louis
Park; currently in the Southwest Suburbs they are $.77 per month, but after refranchising
they will be $ .31.
Mr. McHugh asked if the new services will be added to the Standard package? Ms.
Roden said yes.
Mr. McHugh asked if a converter would be required to receive basic cable. Ms.
Roden said no, that they wouldn’t want to do that to their subscribers; 40% do not have
converters.
Commissioner Raiber asked how Paragon decides which channels to add? Ms. Roden
said new additions depend on customer requests; Time Warner’s ability to negotiate an
agreement; and available channel space.
6. Reports
Mr. Dunlap said that among the items in the packet was a programming report from the
School District.
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Commissioner Ganyo asked why the subscriber count in the Paragon August report,
month end, is not the same as the September beginning of the month figure. Mr. Mattern
will check.
Commissioner Brand said that Paragon reports monthly programming hours of 274,
365 and 342, and that he assumes the other local channels, Civic and Community TV,
total similar amounts. He said the School District report shows 30 minutes one day, 42
minutes on another, 2 hours on another, still meeting a level well below that suggested by
the franchise. Chairman Browning said that he didn’t disagree. Commissioner Brand
said that he saw a message on channel 32 (School District programmed) that said there
will be no more programming until the end of November.
7. Old Business
A. Publicity for Cable TV Commission: staff update
Mr. Dunlap said that the cable tv program on Boards and Commissions has been
deferred to early 1997.
B. Commissioner Brand had asked Commissioners to watch Metro Cable Network
(MCN) Channel 6 at the last meeting. He looked up the statute establishing MCN, that
its purpose is to provide one forum for all communities with cable tv, and that he’s not
sure they are meeting their directive. A lot of their programming is public access
programming from other cities, and lately they’ve shown a lot of infomercials. He said
they don’t monitor their channel closely enough, and that he would like to draft a letter
for the Commission to send indicating concern for their mission and whether they are
meeting it. Chairman Browning said that he could support that.
8. New Business
A. Election of Officers
Commissioner Huiras nominated Commissioner Brand as chair, and chairman
Browning seconded the motion. Chairman Browning nominated Commissioner Raiber
as Vice-chair, which was seconded by Commissioner Brand. Commissioner Brand
was elected chair, and Commissioner Raiber as vice-chair 5-0, effective next
meeting.
B. Amendments to by-laws (if any)
Two by-laws’ amendments had been distributed in the Commissioner’s packets.
Amendment One: Change article II “ seven members who are residents...to be
appointed by the City Council...” to “six. ”
Amendment Two: Add to article V. “If the School Board alternate meets the attendance
requirements in article XI, (‘To remain in good standing, a Commission member must
attend at least 60 percent of all regular meetings’) and if the alternate should be needed
to constitute a quorum, then they shall be counted as a regular voting commissioner for
that meeting.” If this amendment were in effect at least two canceled meetings could
have taken place, saving time for the Commission, Paragon Cable and staff.
Chairman Browning said that the first amendment was proposed to eliminate the
discrepancy between the by-laws (adopted in 1983, last revised in 1984) and the more
recent franchise (adopted in 1989) that identifies six Council appointees. Commissioner
Huiras said that the number of Council appointees is also referred to in article III, and to
change that reference as well.
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Commissioner Huiras moved the adoption of both amendments, Commissioner
Raiber seconded the motion, and it passed 5-0.
C. Right-of-way discussion
Mr. Dunlap described discussions he’s had with other staff regarding issues raised in
US West vs. Redwood Falls. City permit fees are currently adequate to cover ROW
construction, although the City reserves the right to redo a poor repair job and bill the
utility if warranted. Both APT and Sprint have been approved for pcs towers on the Park
Glen water tower, with leases based on the League of Minnesota Cities model ordinance
for revenues that are in the middle range of communities served. The Zoning
Ordinance adequately restricts communications towers in residential areas regarding
height restrictions, collapse radii and other pertinent concerns.
Commissioner Huiras said Sprint is selling their pcs service as of November 1.
D. Annual Report: summary of 1996; preview of 1997 topics
Mr. Dunlap distributed a draft of the 1996 work plan. Commissioner Ganyo said to add
the criteria for future funding requests from the School District to the July meeting.
Chairman Browning said that he, and new Commissioners probably, would like to see
the Paragon head end for a technology update. Ms. Roden said they’d be happy to host a
meeting, preferably a bit earlier in the evening so that a technician could be available to
answer questions. After some discussion it was decided to have the next meeting at
5:30pm February 3 at the Eden Prairie head end.
9. Communications from the Chair
10. Communications from City Staff
Mr. McHugh briefly described Community TV33’s programming report.
Commissioner Ganyo asked why one channel (33) was more programmed than the other
(96). Mr. McHugh said the older channel 33 is programmed to capacity, 96%, and that
channel 96 is reserved for longer format programming and displaying text messages. A
potential future use is MNDot Traffic Management Channel maps with KBEM radio
(noncommercial) as the audio component. Commissioner Brand said the MNDot
channel is currently carried in Minneapolis on the “B” cable, and asked the Paragon
representatives if it could be run in St. Louis Park. Mr. Mattern said he’d have to check
to see if it was technically possible.
11. Adjournment Moved by Commissioner Huiras, seconded by Commissioner
Raiber to adjourn at 8:55pm; motion passed 5-0.
Submitted by recording secretary Reg Dunlap