FEBRUARY 24, 1998

City-County Building
Indianapolis, Indiana

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Carlton Curry, Chairman
Steve Nelson, Member
David Leonard, Member
Stuart Rhodes, Member
Charlie Hiltunen, Member

OTHER PRESENT:

Chairman Curry brought the meeting to order at 2:30 P.M.

SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION

The first agenda item was the approval of minutes from the Cable Board=s January 12, 1998, meeting. Motion was made by Mr. Nelson, seconded by Mr. Hiltunen, to approve the minutes of the Board's January 12, 1998 Board Meeting. Motion carried unanimously.

The next item on the agenda was the status of Comcast's outstanding audit issues. Ms. Piety stated that she and Mr. Curry are still trying to work out an written agreement with Comcast.

The next item on the agenda was the Status Report-Comcast and Time Warner rate review. Ms. Piety stated, in regard to the current year’s rate review, both operators have complied with all the City requests for documents. Those documents have been forwarded to Mr. Lou Karrison. Mr. Karrison has provided Ms. Piety with a preliminary report of his review of the rate forms and supporting documentation. Ms. Piety stated Mr. Karrison’s report will be available for the next Board meeting.

Mr. Stuart Rhodes arrived.

Ms. Piety also followed up on a public comment made by Mr. Smashey last month, in regard to the Board’s review of Time Warner’s equipment rates. The Social Contract for Time Warner permits Time Warner to blend its equipment and installation rates on a regional basis rather than going on a local system by system basis rates.

Time Warner is required to submit its Form 1205, which documents equipment forms, to the FCC for review. If the FCC has not responded to Time Warner in the 30 days, Time Warner then can charge the updated equipment and installation rates. Ms. Piety stated that there is a provision in the Social Contract, that the Local Franchising Authorities may review the FCC -approved equipment and installation rates. If Time Warner is actually charging an excess of those rates, the Board may enter a rate order refunding the amounts of any charge over the Commission -approved rates. Time Warner is not required to file Forms 1205 with the City; however, Ms. Piety is willing to retrieve the rate filings if possible, and review them.

Mr. Curry stated that, if the Board wanted to look into this matter, the Board would need to send a request to Time Warner for the forms. Mr. Curry asked whether the rate filings with the FCC are public documents.

Mr. Satterfield stated that Time Warner would provide the Board with the rate filings.

Mr. David Leonard arrived.

Mr. Curry stated that the Board needs to decide whether to request the rate filings from Time Warner so that there can be a independent assessment of the equipment rates. Motion was made by Mr. Hiltunen, and seconded by Mr. Rhodes, to write a letter to request the rate filings from Time Warner. Motion carried unanimously.

Ms. Piety presented the 1998 Agreements with Miller and Van Eaton. One agreement is for assistance in reviewing basic tier rates and the second agreement is for assistance in the City’s Cable Franchise Agreements. The total dollar amounts and the billing rates for each agreements are identical to the 1997.

Mr. Curry stated that there are sufficient funds in the budget to pay for both contracts.

Mr. Hiltunen asked whether Miller & Van Eaton will look at Time Warner’s equipment rates under the contract dealing with the regulation of basic cable service.

Ms. Piety stated the City’s review of Time Warner’s equipment rates is limited to comparing actual rates to those shown on the Forms 1205. The FCC is responsible for determining whether the amounts shown on the Forms 1205 comply with the FCC’s rate regulations. Miller & Van Eaton’s assistance in rate regulation has been more related to legal questions having to do with rate regulation and assistance in drafting the final rate orders.

Mr. Nelson asked what was the term of the contracts.

Ms. Piety stated that there is no ending term , but the City has the ability to cancel the contracts with 10 days prior written notice, otherwise the contracts carry over from year to year.

Mr. Nelson asked if the previous agreements were in force.

Ms. Piety stated that agreements were done in Fall of 1996 with Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone for use of 1997. The City encumbered funds and purchase orders for these agreements. As of January 1, 1997 the municipal telecommunications lawyers left Miller Canfield and became Miller Van Eaton. The City at this point was unable to draw on the purchase orders issued for contract because of the name change of the firm. Ms. Piety stated Miller & Van Eaton only bills the City if the City request services and these are not retainer agreements.

Mr. Rhodes responded stating there were outstanding purchases order issued to Miller, Canfield which were released so that the funds could roll back into the general fund.

Motion was made by Mr. Hiltunen, seconded by Mr. Leonard, to approve the 98 agreements with Miller &Van Eaton. Motion carried unanimously.

The next item on the agenda was the Cable Agency Report. Mr. Maultra presented the Cable Agency report which highlighted the events that have taken place at the Cable Agency in the last month.

The Cable Agency has been working extensively on matters of Right-of -way. The Agency has prepared and provided extensive research, documentation and testimony before the House and Senate Commerce Committees as well as the Council’s Committee on Rules and Public Policy. The Agency has offered input and recommendations pertaining to Wireless Tower Zoning Ordinance being prepared by DMD. With the adequate number cable rate complaints received by the Cable Agency, notice was served to Time Warner of the Agency’s intent to file a formal complaint with the FCC to review TimeWarner's increase in expanded basic service. Time Warner has 30 days to file the appropriate justification forms.

The FCC recently found in favor of Comcast's appeal that was filed as a result of the Agency‘s original cable complaint filing with the FCC for increases dating back to November 1, 1996. The Agency asked Rick Elrod of Miller and Van Eaton to review the FCC’s decision to see if there was any basis for the Agency to appeal the decision, and was advised not to take the appeal. As part of the Agency efforts to identify tax-payer funded agencies that are eligible for fund raising assistance, Mr. Maultra informed the Board that through Channel 16's touring video produced for the Children’s Guardian Home Foundation, $500,000 was recently contributed.

This was a direct result of the Foundation using the video produced at Channel 16 to show a prospective donor. Additionally, the PSA produced at Channel 16 for the Guardian Home and its subsequent airing on TV 16 as will as the partnership Channel 16 has with Comcast to air the PSA on the Indianapolis Interconnect, has now netted the Guardian Home $50,000. The Cable Agency, along with Peggy Piety has prepared the re-adoption of the rate regulation rules to be performed by the Board by a vote today. Finally, the Cable Agency has worked with both cable operators in mediating a number of customer cable problems. Comcast had 115 complaints for the month. Time Warner had 65 cable complaints for the month.

The next item on the agenda was the Channel 16 Programming Report, presented by Mr. Montgomery. Mr. Montgomery highlighted some of the activities of Channel 16 for the month of January. In January there were 40 hours and 52 minutes of live meeting coverage. Tape Delay meetings totaled 4 hours and 48 minutes. Special and Events Production totaled 12 hours and 45 minutes.

In the area of In-Kind Production, Channel 16 had 6 hours and 59 minutes of productions. This included 5 hours of EPS Channel Showtapes. In references to Series Programming, Channel 16 had 5 hours and 30 minutes of production. The total for the month of January for all productions was 70 hours and 54 minutes. Interactive Information Usage totaled 1,340 calls for the month . Mr. Montgomery also stated that Channel 16 has a new employee ,Debbie Fratrik, as a programming and production coordinator.

Mr. Montgomery stated that the Crime Stoppers organization will be tracking the results of the PSA that they got from Channel 16. Channel 16 is producing specific spots that target individual perpetrators to be shown just on Channel 16, and the results will be tracked.

Mr. Montgomery asked for the Board’s feedback and consideration on a previous item. Jay Pirtle from the Department of Public Works asked the Department Public Works’ weekly auctions of Channel 16 to promote on Tuesday and Wednesday prior to the Friday’s auction. Mr. Montgomery stated the concern he had was that ADESA is under contract with DPW to operate these auctions. ADESA is a " for profit" organization and receives 84% percent of the auction proceeds. The City receives 16%.

Mr. Curry stated the ADESA issue would appear to exist under Channel 16’s guidelines even though this is a City partnership because of the high percentage the "for profit" corporation receives.

Mr. Leonard stated his main concern would be the promotion of ADESA over other auto auctions.

Mr. Rhodes stated ADESA does more than just auction City Vehicles they do dealer auctions.

Mr. Hiltunen asked whether the weekly auctions are strictly City vehicles or City property’s.

Mr. Montgomery stated that these are abandoned vehicles and not necessarily City vehicles. The buyers put $50 as earnest money down and they are responsible for the vehicles.

Mr. Nelson asked if there was a cost involved for Channel 16 to promote the auctions.

Mr. Montgomery stated it would be an In-Kind service.

Motion was made by Mr. Hiltunen, seconded by Mr. Leonard, for Channel 16 to promote the City’s abandoned vehicle weekly auctions. Motion carried unanimously.

The next item on the agenda was the Channel 16 Digital Conversion Plan. Mr. Montgomery stated a few points in the Digital Conversion Plan report that he and Mr. Rodenbarger prepared. The information has been prepared to serve as an initial guideline for the acquisition and implementation of digital video equipment at Channel 16. The conversion is necessitated by the Federal Communications Commission’s mandated drive to convert all broadcast and cable television operations in the United States to a digital format by early in the next century.

The scope of the digital conversion is to replace current NTSC analog video equipment with it digital equivalents, retaining the current production capabilities in place at Channel 16. Mr. Montgomery stated as the digital acquisition plan evolves and becomes firmer, yearly requests for capital equipment funding will be submitted to the Cable Franchise Board for consideration. (See attached Digital Conversion Plan report).

Mr. Hiltunen asked whether this Digital plan is a total replacement of equipment.

Mr. Rodenbarger stated the equipment is getting old and needs to be replaced soon whether Channel 16 going digital or not.

Mr. Nelson asked if a conversion box is going to be utilized by subscribers to receive digital signals.

Mr. Rodenbarger stated that for the end users new television sets will be available and/or set top converter boxes will be available for older televisions.

Mr. Curry asked whether Channel 16 has scheduled discussions with the Time Warner technical people concerning Channel 16’s proposed conversion.

Mr. Rodenbarger stated that he has not discussed any plans with Time Warner technical staff because of the preliminary nature of the Plan.

Mr. Satterfield of Time Warner stated that digital is a unknown issue and what the broadcasters have been given is an extra channel if they agree to transmit another signal in digital. Mr. Satterfield stated that in the year 2006 that extra channel is lost, unless there are not enough digital televisions in use to do away with the analog system. The conversion to a digital world is unknown. Mr. Satterfield stated that the cable companies are looking to service customers with digital advancements as an additional type of service for cable subscribers. Government Access is its a part of basic service so that customers would have to have either a digital television or a converter box to support a channel 16 digital signal.

Mr. Curry stated that since the signal is sent to Time Warner, that the Board would be interested in acceptability of that signal.

Mr. Satterfield stated that a digital signal can be transported into a 6 MHz bandwidth, and Time Warner can put it on the system, although it would be difficult to see.

Mr. Rodenbarger stated that in 2001 there may not be enough penetration of digital sets in households throughout the county and Channel 16 might loose viewers.

Mr. Curry stated that before the Board finalizes digital transmission, a decision can be delayed , and if necessary Channel 16 can continue sending analog signal to the Cable op until our cooperation with the cable carrier.

Mr. Satterfield stated that the cable company can take any kind of signal.

Mr. Curry stated that the City should not make a substantial investment and the investment is ahead of its time. He also stated that in regard to equipment Sony is discontinuing, Channel 16 might want to purchase a small stock of replacement parts to support the equipment Channel 16 has.

The next item on the agenda was the Cable Operators’ Reports. Mr. David Wilson presented Comcast’s report. Mr. Wilson reported that Comcast ended the month of January with 113,071 customers which was a decline from last month. For incoming calls Comcast had 78,825 calls; 86% of those were answered in 30 seconds or less. Comcast had 58 outages for the month, 6 of them were planned. The average number of customers per outages was 290 for the month. During the month of January Comcast received and scheduled 2,603 calls completed 2,517; 56.6% percent were completed within 24 hours; 99.0 were completed in 36 hours. Comcast scheduled 2,833 installations and completed 2,616 of those scheduled.

Mr. Wilson stated that during the month of January, Comcast had 29.5 hours of community interest programming aired on channel 50. WAV-53 had 165 hours of locally produced programming. Comcast aired and produced 9 public service announcements. Community events and Sponsorships, Comcast produced a Public Service Announcement to promote the new Hoosier Heirloom Birth Certificate. Also Comcast donated more than $2,000 in equipment to Warren Central High School’s Walker Career Center so their students could continue wiring the school with cable. Comcast also renewed its sponsorship of the Indianapolis Urban League and sent seven employees to their Corporate Luncheon on January 26, 1998. The first four installments of "Comcast Newsmakers" were taped on January 28, 1998. "Newsmakers" is a four and half minute interview program which will be aired at the top of the hour on CNN Headline News.

Ms. Shary Hoffman-Meadows presented the Cable Operator’s Management Report for Time Warner. Ms. Hoffman stated that Time Warner has noticed an slight growth of its number of customers. Time Warner completed 4,375 installs for the month of January. Incoming calls total for the month was 55,035; answering 85.8% within 30 seconds . Service calls total was up for the month of January with 2,956 calls, 94.5% of those calls completed in 24 hours. Ms. Hoffman reported that the percentage of planned outages was 54.8% and unplanned outages was 45.2% . Time Warner is approximately 50% through the actual upgrade for the Indianapolis system and hopes to have all systems upgraded by the end of this year. Community Involvement report supports a lot of different community events and programming in the year.

The next item on the agenda was the ETC Report. Mr. Donaldson presented the ETC report. ETC is revising the distribution system for the Monthly Programming Guide. A business reply card is being mailed in early March requesting recipients to declare their preference for receiving a mailed copy or accessing the schedule on the ETC Web Page @ www.c-2000/etc. The Proposal Review Committee approved several new programs for upcoming time slots, such as Today’s Voice, Warren Township Today, Rudiments of Religion and IPS School Board Meetings. Programming overview for February 1998, showed ETC provided; 382 hours of tape/live programming, 234 hours of locally produced programming, 118 hours of purchased programming, 30 hours of free or donated programming, and 321 hours of SCOLA Foreign Language Programming.

Mr. Leonard asked whether Mr. Donaldson had any idea when IPS Board will be voting whether IPS TV will broadcast its meetings.

Mr. Donaldson stated he did not know the IPS time frame on this issue.

Mr. Maultra stated that the IPS Board voted not to have Channel 16 broadcast the meetings, but to have IPS TV to do it.

Under Old Business, there was a Public Hearing for Re-Adoption of Rate Regulations Ms. Piety stated, due to a new ordinance passed by the City -County Council, all regulations that were not submitted to the Clerk of the City- County Council by November 1, 1997 sunsetted as of December 31, 1997. Local rate regulation should be authorized so the City can be continue to review both operators’ basic tier rates. Ms. Piety stated there are no changes in these regulations, and she suggested that they be re-adopted as is.

Mr. Kevin Earles from Public Access of Indianapolis, read a letter from Andrea Price President of PAI. The letter made five points: 1) that it is a disservice to the consumers of cable television to allow the increase of subscription fee while at the same time prohibiting responsible and responsive non-profit organizations from being eligible to even apply for use of a majority of franchise fee collected each month, if the purpose is to support public access television; 2) that the Board renew its support of educational access television by increasing its funding of ETC; 3) that the Board mandate the coverage of all City-County Council Committee meetings by Channel 16, as a service to not only cable subscribers but to the citizens and taxpayers of Indianapolis; 4) that the Board mandate that Channel 16 provide at least ½ hour of free television time to every candidate running for office in Marion County in the November election of 1998; and 5) that the Board recognize that an active Public Access Channel will only serve to strengthen an industry that has seen falling subscription rates for the past five years. (see attached letter).

James Smashey stated that, in the absence of competition it is essential to have oversight of rates. Mr. Smashey stated that he must be sure that all rules are parallel to rules of the Cable Service Bureau for the recognition of the Local Franchise Authority. Mr. Smashey stated the pressure on rates is going to be upward as the upgraded systems are put into place. Regulation is in place, but Mr. Smashey is concerned that the absence of competition will not give the subscribers any downward pressure on rates. 

Mr. Alfred Chandler stated he would like some information on the new rate increases.

Mr. Curry stated that Mr. Maultra could assist in Mr. Chandler with information in regards to the new rate increases from Comcast.

Mr. Curry stated that he could respond to one or possibly two of the five items in the Ms. Andrea Price letter. Mr. Curry stated that to mandate coverage of all City -County Council Committee meetings it is outside of the Board’s power. The Board will consider mandatory time on Channel 16 for every candidate running for office in Marion County in the November 1998 election. In reference to increasing funding of ETC, the City is carrying out a six or five year plan with ETC, and he does not advise modifying that.

Motion was made Mr. Hiltunen, seconded by Mr. Leonard, to re-adopt the rate regulations as submitted. Motion carried unanimously.

Under New Business, Ms. Piety stated that Indiana University recently contacted her concerning the grant agreement that this Board authorized last August in the amount of $65,505 for equipment for the shared Educational and the Public Safety Channel. IU did not receive a check from the PEG grant fund until the middle of December of 1997, so they have not been ble to purchase any equipment under the grant. However the grant agreement requires them to account for their expenditures by February 28 1998. IU requests an extension of this time since they have not had enough time to purchase equipment. By consent the Board directed Ms. Piety to amend the grant agreement so that the expenditure report is due by July 20, 1998.

Under Public Comment, Kevin Earles asked whether any of channel 16’s old equipment would be available to Public Access.

Mr. Curry stated that all City equipment is first ordered to other governmental entities, and then not for profit organizations are eligible to request whatever is left.

Mr. Chuck Schlisla introduced himself as the new Executive Director of Collaboration 2000.

There being no other business to come before the Board, Mr. Curry adjourned the meeting at 4:30 P.M.

________________________
Mr. Carlton Curry, Chair

________________________
Mr. Charles Hiltunen, Member

________________________
Mr. David Leonard, Member

________________________
Mr. Steve Nelson, Member

________________________
Mr. Stuart Rhodes, Member

ATTEST:

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Ms. Janise L. Winston, Recording Secretary