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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013/12/11 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - RegularOFFICIAL MINUTES ST. LOUIS PARK TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MEETING OF December 11, 2013 ST. LOUIS PARK COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Rick Dworsky, Dale Hartman, Cindy Hoffman, Toby Keeler, Rolf Peterson and Bill Theobald MEMBERS ABSENT: Bruce Browning STAFF PRESENT: Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator; John McHugh, Community TV Coordinator OTHERS PRESENT: Kate Hensing, Comcast Cable 1. Call to Order Chair Theobald called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 2. Roll Call Present at roll call were Commissioners Dworsky, Hartman, Hoffman, Keeler, Peterson and Theobald. 3. Approval of Minutes for October 23, 2013 Commissioner Peterson noted the tour of Comcast was excellent and it was interesting to see the infrastructure. It was moved by Commissioner Keeler, seconded by Commissioner Peterson, to approve the minutes of October 23, 2013, without changes. The motion passed 6-0. 4. Adoption of Agenda It was moved by Commissioner Keeler, seconded by Commissioner Peterson, to approve the agenda. The motion passed 6-0. 5. Public Comment - None 6. Action Items A. Comcast presentation on new cable rates and/or changes in the channel line up Ms. Hensing, Comcast, stated on January 1, 2014, there would be slight price changes due to increases in programming and business costs. Customers who have limited basic, DVR service or Internet Essentials would not see any increases at this time. Customers were notified in their bills and the changes would also be posted on the web site. Mr. Dunlap showed a graphic with some of the price changes. Digital Economy, starter and preferred would increase $3 month; Digital premier, increase $6/month; Internet, increase $2/month; Cable modem rental, increase $1/month; Triple play packages, increase $5/month (except Economy, $3); MultiLatino packages, increase $10/month. There was also a downgrade fee, with no in home visit, decreased from $5 to $2.99. All through the month of December, there is no fee for change in service for 30 days. The information will be put on the City web site as well. The City has authority over basic cable rates, but the City has no direct authority over the services where the price had increased. There is no action required by the TAC. Ms. Hensing noted a few changes to channels were Bloomberg TV moving from 251 to 103 and the Oprah Winfrey Network was moving from 103 to channel 120. Commissioner Hoffman asked if there was a charge to downgrade services, was there a fee to upgrade? Mr. Dunlap replied yes. Sometimes when you change services, there might be a special package involved and there might not be a fee. Generally, when you make a change at your request, then there is a fee. B. Comcast customer service update Mr. Dunlap showed a grid of the complaints received by City staff for the past 5 years. He said total complaint calls increased from 49 in 2011 to 61 in 2012 to 95 in 2013. Two categories stand out which the Commission has talked about as being more of a problem than in the past. Technical service complaints went from 9 last year to 28 this year, and telephone customer service complaints increased from 8 to 32. Ms. Hensing said the Centers of Excellence call centers had gone through a complete change in the last year and those changes had been completed. Comcast rolled out a lot of new products this past year, and is finally seeing a plateau in customer calls and the numbers are getting back to normal levels. Comcast has recently fired one of their third party vendors that took telephone calls because they were not up to Comcast standards. Since the transition, the number of busy signal calls had dropped dramatically. Mr. McHugh asked if the location of the third party vendor was the Philippines. Ms. Hensing replied she was not sure of that and could get back to them. Mr. McHugh said that they had heard a lot of complaints about that location and wanted to know if that could be the one that was fired. Mr. Dunlap said Commissioner Browning wanted to address training of staff for technical issues. Ms. Hensing replied with new products, there often are a few kinks. All of the techs that do X1 are knowledgeable and know how to work the product and put it into homes. They go through intense training and are very good at what they do. Commissioner Peterson commented a friend of his just upgraded to the Triple Play and got a new modem in his house that didn’t work. He couldn’t access wirelessly. They called Comcast and the tech took care of it right away. They had to put the modem in bridge mode. It was a Sunday afternoon and very fast and a good experience, better than he had in the past. Ms. Hensing that is part of what they are aiming for at the Center of Excellence. Commissioner Dworsky asked when the transition date was and when the third party was terminated? Ms. Hensing replied the Center of Excellence was completed in November and the third party vendor was released at the end of October. Mr. Dunlap said there were not a lot of options spelled out in the franchise in terms of what the Commission could do. They could let Comcast know that they were watching the complaints to see if Comcast can make improvements in customer service, because complaints had gone up the last two years. He distributed a handout including the code of federal regulations on Customer Service standards that are incorporated in the franchise by reference. Most of those standards Comcast exceeds by a mile, for example, they commit to a two hour window for appointments and the customer service standards say a four hour window. One of the things the Commission could consider is whether or not to pursue the Comcast phone records to see if they were answering the phone within a certain amount of time (30 seconds). Other communities had gone after this information and there has been difficulty getting the reports. The last thing the Commission could consider would be studying if an ordinance should be adopted with stricter customer service standards than what is in federal law. That was not included in the franchise agreement, however in the franchise agreement and federal law it says nothing can preempt a cities ability to pass further customer service standards if they choose. Mr. Dunlap said this is the menu of options and that he wasn’t suggesting any of those actions be taken tonight. Chair Theobald said the two big changes that happened or finished happening with the Center of Excellence being up to par and firing the telephone answering services, those seemed to hit the categories that had the major spikes in phone calls. Maybe that bears some monitoring over the next few months to see if the transition process flattens out the numbers a little bit. Commissioner Keeler stated it would be nice if Comcast could provide their measurements of customer service in terms of the phone calls for the last year or so. How long before a call is answered, or how long is the transfer time? He said I know you’re monitoring that but we’ve never seen that information. Based on federal regulations, they should have accessibility to that. It was moved by Commissioner Keeler, seconded by Commissioner Dworsky, to make a formal request to Comcast to provide the Commission with data on their call center response times in terms of call answering times, busy times and time for transfers as outlined in federal regulations. The motion passed 6-0. Mr. Dunlap indicated he would request that information on behalf of the Commission. Ms. Hensing noted he could send the request to her. Commissioner Hoffman asked if they could monitor if lines were busy and if calls were dropped. Ms. Hensing replied she gets the final report, but was not sure of the details. The numbers are submitted from vendors, but she could see length of phone calls. C. Draft Annual Report for 2013 Mr. Dunlap noted he hadn’t completed the draft, but submitted a report to City Council on the audit. He uses the minutes summary from the 2013 work plan. D. Set meetings for 2014 Mr. Dunlap stated they went to a Wednesday meeting the last few years and if they stay on that day, they need to avoid Planning Commission meetings. Commissioners agreed to change the meeting day to be on Tuesday’s. 2014 meetings will be held: February 11, May 13, August 12, October 14, and December 9. E. Draft Work Plan for 2014 Mr. Dunlap distributed a draft work plan. If Commissioners have other items to add, let him know. The audit will be discussed several times. F. Elect Chair & Vice Chair, effective next meeting Mr. Dunlap noted Mr. Theobald was not eligible to be Chair next year. The current Vice Chair is Commissioner Hoffman. Chair Theobald called for nominations for Chair. Commissioner Keeler nominated Commissioner Hoffman for Chair and it was accepted. Chair Theobald called for nominations for chair two more times. Nominations were closed. Chair Theobald called for nominations for Vice Chair. Commissioner Peterson nominated Commissioner Keeler for Vice Chair and it was accepted. Chair Theobald called for nominations for Vice Chair two more times. Nominations were closed. A voted was taken on the nominations of Cindy Hoffman as Chair and Toby Keeler for Vice Chair. The motion passed 6-0. 7. Reports A. Franchise fee audit update Mr. Dunlap stated there was a draft report for City Council (12/16 Council Meting) waiting to be approved by the City Manager. At the August meeting, the Commission recommended the City move ahead with a franchise fee audit. He would send a copy when it was approved by the City Manager. It summarized the last few audits and the cost and the amount of funds that were recovered. He said the report includes a rather leisurely timeline because it includes a review of 2013 and Comcast won’t have those figures right away. There is a potential partner with another franchise authority, but the question is whether they’ll want to audit the same time period. The report says for the Commission to be involved in reviewing the requests for proposals, which is something they can discuss at the February meeting and decide if they would like to have a sub committee. Commissioner Keeler asked if they wanted to try to concentrate on the fees for how they restructured their offerings and how they discount it. Not so much the right population count for users in St. Louis Park, but the right amount for all of the special packages. Mr. Dunlap noted that was part of the discussion and it would be made part of the request for proposal. Commissioner Keeler believed it would be good to have a subcommittee working on this, or it could delay the process. Chair Theobald agreed, but they could discuss it further at the next meeting. B. Complaints Commissioner Peterson asked what kind of work Comcast was doing that they damaged a concrete apron? Mr. Dunlap replied he didn’t go to the site and just got the description second hand. Comcast had pledged to repair it next spring including the landscaping. He was unsure of the layout and what the work was. Commissioner Keeler asked if it was a third party contractor or a Comcast crew? Mr. Dunlap did not know that. Mr. McHugh said there was a reference to another company. C. Future of cable TV technology update Mr. Dunlap suggested this be deferred to the February meeting. Ms. Hensing said they rolled out X1 and will continue trying to get to all customers. Wi- Fi hot spots are listed at Xfinitywifi.com. They are currently in small and medium businesses and customers can login at that location. There are hundreds of locations in the Metro area. Mr. Dunlap asked if they had gotten any feedback on the speeds? Ms. Hensing replied they were some of the best speeds. Commissioner Hoffman asked if that was part of every internet package? Ms. Hensing replied if you have the login name from Comcast, you can use that service. There is no charge, just login with a regular Email address. If you don’t have Xfinity internet, and are not a Comcast customer, you can use it twice a month for free, after that you will be charged. Comcast would like to get hot spots rolled out to all City Hall’s. Mr. Dunlap said right now people that have an HD TV in their homes that isn’t connected to a Comcast box still receive basic cable. Comcast sent notice in November that they are going to encrypt basic cable, but that hasn’t started yet. People should think about getting a box for their other TV’s, because at some point those TV’s won’t receive any cable channels. It is $2 per DTA or box. Comcast has started encrypting channels in other cities. Ms. Hensing believed St. Louis Park wouldn’t be changed to have encryption until next year. She would try to get the dates out so customers are aware of the change. D. Wireless microphone protection act Mr. Dunlap said this was something Scott Smith brought to his attention. It was only three years ago the spectrum was sold and changed, which raises billions of dollars for the federal government and causes TV broadcasters nightmares because they have to redo equipment. There is good news, the spectrum auction has been delayed into 2015, which helps so they don’t have to worry about devices sharing the same frequency. Commissioner Peterson said he loved the comments about the New York City theater district and that it must be a tremendous obstacle, with all those theaters in such close proximity using wireless microphones. 8. Communication from the Chair Chair Theobald thanked the Commission for allowing him to chair for the year. 9. Communications from City Staff Mr. McHugh distributed the original programs that had been recorded for Community TV this year and said they’ve recorded 82 programs so far. They had several more to record before the end of the month. It is a busy time of year and a great service for the community. Chair Theobald asked how they go back to find a show? Mr. McHugh replied some are on YouTube and you can search for it at YouTube/slpcable. The music performances recorded in the schools will transition to YouTube, and in the title of those programs, he will use the key word “isd283music,” to allow for easier searches. Commissioner Keeler stated NATOA would be having their 2014 conference next fall in St. Paul. It would be a pat on the back to submit some videos for NATOA awards and to have some of them attend the awards show. He added that the Minnesota Legislature created an office of broadband development to deal with the expansion of broadband internet service across the state and have selected a director from Northeastern Minnesota. 10. Adjournment Commissioner Keeler made a motion, Commission Hoffman seconded to adjourn at 7:55. The motion passed. Respectfully submitted by: Amy L. Stegora-Peterson Recording Secretary