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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008/12/04 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - Regular 1 OFFICIAL MINUTES ST. LOUIS PARK TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MEETING OF DECEMBER 4, 2008 ST. LOUIS PARK COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Bruce Browning, Rick Dworsky, Dale Hartman, Toby Keeler, Mike Mulligan, Rolf Peterson MEMBERS ABSENT: David Dyer and Kirk Morrow STAFF PRESENT: Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator OTHERS PRESENT: Arlen Mattern, Time Warner Cable Public Affairs Administrator 1. Call to Order Chair Browning called the meeting to order at 7:01 PM. 2. Roll Call Present at roll call were Commissioners Browning, Dworsky, Hartman, Keeler, Mulligan and Peterson. 3. Approval of Minutes for August 13, 2008 It was moved by Commissioner Dworsky, seconded by Commissioner Mulligan, to approve the minutes of August 13, 2006. The motion passed 6-0. 4. Adoption of Agenda Mr. Dunlap noted that the Customer Service Manager from Comcast was not able to be present for item 6b. The agenda was approved as presented. 5. Public Comment - None 6. New Business A. Comcast information on new cable rates and changes in services Mr. Dunlap displayed a PowerPoint presentation showing the new service changes and rates. The price hasn’t changed for high speed Internet, although the speed was now doubled. The In Home Wire Maintenance plan had dropped in price from $3.95 to $1.99. Most installation fees had remained the same. The bad news was that Standard cable will go up $3.51, and the DVR monthly rental and Digital Starter package had also increased. Channel 1000 has been eliminated, but the St. Louis Park Local On Demand programs can be found on Channel 1 under “Local Civic on Demand.” 2 Mr. Mattern said more channels will be added to HD, but was unsure when. Chair Browning asked if calling customer service, should they call the local number or the 800 number? Mr. Mattern replied the local number, 651-222-3333. Mr. Dunlap asked about special offers for basic cable and if they were doing any promotions? Mr. Mattern replied he hadn’t heard anything from marketing, but the promotion would be a special offer before the DTV conversion in February, 2009. Mr. Dunlap asked if HD channels come with basic cable? Mr. Mattern replied yes, with an HD converter box. Mr. Dunlap made a suggestion on a supplement to the price list with 3 columns: if you have these services, you now pay x, and after January 1 you will pay y. B. Comcast customer service update Mr. Mattern said they had been adding more programming in the last three months. As more analog channels open, there would be even more HD programming available. Comcast can always use more customer service representatives—they have over 500— because there is a lot of turn over. Representatives go through four weeks of training prior to answering calls on their own. Commissioner Keeler asked if there was a target hold time? Mr. Mattern replied they want to answer calls within 30 seconds, 90% of the time. Commissioner Hartman relayed an experience trying to initialize a box and was frustrated to wait on hold for 20 minutes and then having to follow up with an Email. Commissioner Peterson referenced a letter in the packet regarding KARE 11 and asked what was happening? Mr. Mattern replied their agreement would be expiring soon and if they do not reach a new agreement, Comcast would take them off the cable system, because KARE wants to charge Comcast for transmission of their channels. C. Comcast audit update Mr. Dunlap stated Scott Lewis has been hired and a non-disclosure agreement had been done with the City, Comcast and Mr. Lewis. They were currently working on the audit for 2006, 2007 and the first half of 2008. He would provide more detail at the next meeting. D. Review School District reports Chair Browning said he appreciated the written report. Mr. Dunlap stated that the School had not yet purchased the three new edit systems. He also commended School District producer Charlie Fiss for scheduling a blend of shows from all of the schools. 3 Commissioner Peterson stated School Board meetings were now being broadcast with picture in picture, which was a nice upgrade, because now when a PowerPoint slide is shown, the viewer can still see who is talking in a smaller window. E. WiFi hot spots Subcommittee update Chair Browning indicated the committee met over a month ago and looked for options for hot spots around the Rec Center. The City had settled with ARINC on WiFi and received additional fiber for future use. Mr. Dunlap added John McHugh hoped to have a map within the next month showing where the fiber runs so it would be possible to determine where hot spots could go. Potential locations were at Lenox Community Center, the Rec Center, and Westwood Nature Center. The Committee would schedule another meeting. F. Broadband over powerline (BPL) update Mr. Dunlap indicated there was no new information, but that one concern was with Ham radio interference with broadband over powerline and he would do more research. G. Set meetings for 2009 2009 meetings were scheduled as follows: February 12, May 7, August 13, October 8 and December 3. Mr. Dunlap would Email the Work Plan report for input. They would meet with City Council at a Study Session on March 23rd to present it. H. Draft Work Plan for 2009 Chair Browning suggested adding more discussion on fiber optics and suggested having a speaker attend a meeting. I. Draft Annual Report for 2008 Mr. Dunlap indicated this report to Council would summarize what had happened over the past year. J. Elect Chair & Vice Chair, effective next meeting Chair Browning called for nominations for Chair. Chair Browning nominated Toby Keeler for Chair. The Commission approved nomination of Toby Keeler as Chair. 4 Chair Browning called for nominations for Vice Chair. Chair Browning nominated Rolf Peterson as Vice Chair. The Commission approved nomination of Rolf Peterson as Vice Chair. K. NATOA conference update Commissioner Keeler said he attended the NATOA conference in Atlanta and found it well attended and very informative. Many of the attendees were aware of the WiFi project in St. Louis Park. Many communities were installing dark conduit during construction projects and would be able to pull fiber later. He believed St. Louis Park needs to study getting more fiber in the ground and run conduit when streets were torn up. Other items discussed included: public meetings on YouTube and Pod casts, to reach younger audiences. He attended mostly the broadband and public policy seminars and they were very worth while for learning about the industry. He attended the awards program and noted that St. Louis Park staff had not submitted any programming for awards, and offered to help staff so that next year they might be considered for an award. Mr. Dunlap also attended the conference, and spoke with a Vice President of Comcast who said that switched digital video would be coming in the next year or so. In Portland, Oregon and Detroit, Michigan, Comcast will provide two free digital receivers to people that currently subscribe to the analog service, which is a generous policy. 7. Unfinished Business A. Digital TV transition publicity Chair Browning said it was a good idea to do a video about the DTV transition. He also said some TV stations in the east and south have done “soft” turn offs to find out how many people are totally surprised when they lose the station. The first time it was done the station received 1000 phone calls, and the second time there were half as many calls, so it’s a good idea to keep publicizing the change in February, 2009. Another issue is the marginal coverage areas that exist now with ghosting or a weak signal could be a big problem, because the digital signal is either received clearly or is totally absent. An outside antenna is not a bad idea and will pick up signals better than an indoor antenna. It’s a misnomer that it’s a digital antenna that’s required, it’s not. It’s a UHF antenna that’s required, but they are marketed as digital because that’s the buzz word. Mr. Dunlap stated that John McHugh is doing informational sessions about this including showing how to hook up the digital tuner. Commissioner Keeler added there was a session at the NATOA conference on DTV and suggested people get their coupons early and hook up the converter to try it out. Reception in apartments or in shadows of buildings may be a problem. We want to avoid having TV’s go into the trash and so if you buy a new TV, use the existing recycling 5 programs. There will be a lot of new digital TV’s purchased and a lot of old TV’s that won’t be needed anymore. Mr. Dunlap stated Hennepin County has two recycling centers and do not charge for TV recycling. Commissioner Hartman asked if a digital TV can receive analog channels, and Mr. Dunlap said that Comcast is simulcasting the signal both in analog and digital, so a customer would receive the digital version of the analog channels. B. Update on fiber optic ordinance Mr. Dunlap stated this would be continued through next year and had no other update. 8. Reports A. Complaints Chair Browning asked about technician training? Mr. Mattern was unsure how long it was but said the training is substantial and there is a training facility in Minneapolis with a house built inside for training. Chair Browning has had online billing with Comcast and still receives a printed monthly statement. He asked if that’s the way it should work, since he just saw an announcement about Eco-friendly online billing systems. Mr. Mattern said he would check into that. Mr. Dunlap displayed a chart showing complaints about billing, programming options and prices had gone up, but complaints about customer service had gone down for the years 2004-2008. He said the telephone number for City staff was on every cable bill in case customers need to call with complaints or questions about cable service. 9. Communication from the Chair - None 10. Communications from City Staff - None 11. Adjournment Commissioner Dworsky made a motion, Commission Hartman seconded to adjourn at 8:25. The motion passed. Respectfully submitted by: Amy L. Stegora-Peterson Recording Secretary