February 16, 1999

City County Building
Indianapolis, IN 46204

MEMBERS PRESENT:

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

OTHERS PRESENT:

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

The first agenda item was the approval of minutes for the Cable Board’s January 19, 1999 meeting. Motion was made by Mr. Hiltunen, seconded by Mr. Leonard, to approve the minutes of the Board’s January 19, 1999 meeting. Motion carried unanimously.

The next item on the agenda was the status report of the Audit of Cable Operators. Ms. Piety stated she has spoken with Lou Karrison and he is waiting for more information from Comcast, and once Mr. Karrison has received that information he anticipates preparing a proposed report.

The next item on the agenda was the Status Report of Review of operator rate filings. Ms. Piety stated Mr. Karrison has received from both operators supplemental information that was requested and he is reviewing the information and he will then prepare a proposed preliminary report to each of the operators for comments.

Mr. Curry asked if Mr. Karrison believed that the quantity of data received is the correct quantity, or does he think there might be some missing information.

Ms. Piety stated Mr. Karrison has not reviewed all supplemental information so whether or not information is missing is still unverifiable.

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 continues to review the compliance of the cable operators franchise agreements, which the City is required to do under Section 851-707 of the Cable Television Ordinance. Within the next couple of weeks we will contact the operators to meet with them individually to discuss areas of non-compliance in an informal manner. The Cable Agency has received the information from the cable operators as requested by Lou Karrison of Crowe/Chizek so that he might perform the rate review on the original submissions of the FCC 1240 form submissions, which pertains to rates, and the Form 1205, which generally pertains to rate adjustments to associated equipment. This was Mr. Karrison’s second request for additional information that he needed to complete his review.

The Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (IACT) solicited the Cable Agency in seeking comment and input on Indiana Senate Bill #215 that pertains to the siting of telecommunications towers. The Agency sought input from zoning and planning, as well as their counsel and funneled those comments on to IACT.

The Cable Agency was asked to testify to House Bill # 1601, which would allow residents in multiple dwelling units a choice in their video provider whether it be cable television or a satellite service provided by the residence’s management. Generally, the Cable Agency supports the Bill and was prepared to testify to it a couple of weeks ago but the sponsor of the measure took ill and it has been postponed. A companion issue that you should be aware of is that a new Federal Communications Commission rule that went into effect on January 22 now forbids landlords from blocking apartment dwellers and other renters from placing satellite dishes on their property. Regarding House Bill # 1601 and House Bill #1604, which deals with capping late fees charged by cable operators, the Cable Agency has linked the digest of the bills from its web site should anyone be interested in perusing them.

The Cable Communications Agency has constructed a draft for a request for information (RFI) as it pertains to the availability of a new access channel that comes into play under the terms of the franchise agreements under Section 6.01 for Time Warner and Comcast. The availability of this new access channel was triggered by the completion of the upgrading of the cable operators’ systems. The Agency drafted the RFI so that it is consistent with the terms of the franchise agreement that speak to the usage of access channels.

The Agency wrote a year end 1998 Business Report. A copy is in the board packet. Mr. Maultra stated this is the third year that the Agency has availed to be accountable through a year end business report. Mr. Montgomery also has provided the Channel 16 year end 1998 Business Report.

The Cable Agency has worked with both cable operators in mediating a number of customer cable problems with a summary and breakdown of problems attached to the Agency report.

Mr. Hiltunen asked in reference to the multi-dwelling unit testimony, he was made aware that there may be some multi-dwelling units that aren’t allowing cable on the property. He asked whether it would be helpful for the Board to pass a resolution to the legislature.

Mr. Maultra stated that this issue was passed out of committee last week. Mr. Maultra stated it would be up to the Cable Board if they wanted to pass a resolution pertaining to this testimony.

Mr. Leonard stated he feels before the Board takes a position to this bill, that the bill should be reviewed by the Board. Mr. Leonard also stated before the Cable Agency takes any position on either State or Federal Legislation that the Board have a opportunity to review the legislation.

Mr. Hiltunen stated in regards to the Legislation that, as he understands it, there is a problem in Indianapolis whereas multi-dwelling units are locking the cable companies out in favor of their own in-house systems that may or may not provide the same type of service.

Mr. Curry stated it would be good to read the bill. Mr. Curry asked whether Mr. Hiltunen would look at the bill and send information to the members of the Board. Mr. Curry also stated that if Mr. Hiltunen wanted to draft a resolution that would be fine and get comments individually and then have a public hearing at the next meeting.

Mr. Curry stated that he read the Cable Agency’s business report and he thought it was well done, congratulating Mr. Maultra and the Agency’s staff.

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 28 hours and 49 minutes of live meeting coverage. Tape Delay meetings totaled 4 hours and 59 minutes. Special Events Production totaled 9 hours and 3 minutes.

In the area of In-Kind Production, Channel 16 had 14 hours and 35 minutes. Series Programs totaled 3 hours and 30 minutes. Interactive Information Service Usage totaled 1,072 calls for the month. Under additional notes, Mr. Montgomery stated the 1999 State of the City Address was carried LIVE on the internet, using Channel 16’s video feed. The program was replayed at 7pm the same day on Channel 16. Channel 16 Business Report for the 1998 year was included in the Board packet.

The next agenda item was the Cable Operator’s Report. Mr. Jay Satterfield highlighted some of the activities of Time Warner for the month January. Mr. Satterfield stated Time Warner loss 83 subscribers and gained 1,112 residential pays for the month of January. Time Warner completed 3,522 installs for the month of January with 5,142 scheduled. Incoming calls for the moth were 48,897 with 88.9% answered within 30 seconds or less. Busy rate was 2.0%. Service calls for the month were 1,626 scheduled and 1,581 completed. Time Warner planned 6 outages for the month and had 71 outages.

The Community Involvement Report supports a lot of different community events and programming, including producing (4) promotional spots for "Sixty-Thirty" program. Time Warner produced commercials promoting Sunday Jazz Concerts and IFC Film Nights at the Indianapolis Artsgarden. Time Warner also hosted a Cable in the Classroom Workshop at Shortridge Middle School on Saturday, January 23^rd.

Mr. Apple presented the Cable Operator’s January Management Report for Comcast. Mr. Apple stated Comcast’s ending total subscribers are 110,256. For incoming calls, Comcast had 136,525 calls; 12.67% of those calls were answered in 30 seconds or less. Comcast had 194 outages for the month, 0 of them were planned. Comcast received and scheduled 2,525; 38.0% were completed within 24 hour; 79.8% were completed within 36 hours or by customer request. Comcast scheduled 2,770 installations and 2,204 of those were completed.

Mr. Apple stated that during the month of January, Comcast had 40.5 hours of community interest programming aired on Channel 50. WAV 53 had 153.5 hours locally produced programming. Comcast aired and produced 12 public service announcements. For Comcast community events and sponsorships, see report.

The next item on the agenda was the ETC Report. Mr. Schisla presented the ETC report. Mr. Schisla stated Indianapolis Public Schools reports that feedback to "Live" IPS Board Meetings has been positive. It is difficult to track viewership of the board meetings, but based on anecdotal information from Board Members and personal contacts, the programs seem to be reaching an audience of interested viewers. IPS is thrilled with the opportunity to share these meetings over ETC. At this time, there is no plan to increase the number of Board meetings ETC air due to limited resources.

ETC successfully aired segments from WRTV6 program. "Faith in the Heartland" on January 26-28. Fours area High School Students from Cardinal Ritter H.S. and Bishop Chatard H.S. participated in the Pope’s St. Louis visit with WRTV Channel 6 Reporters.

WTHR, Channel 13 has agreed to allow ETC to re-broadcast "The Brain Game". The Brain Game features competition among area high school students on issues and topics of the world. ETC is pleased to re-air these programs in a non-commercial format, which will allow increased viewing opportunities for students.

Mr. Curry stated that under New Business, Mr. Maultra will present a request for information draft on access channel. He stated that as the Board is aware, the contracts which were negotiated with the two cable providers in the county indicated that upon the build-out another channel would be made available for educational or government use. Mr. Curry stated this actually occurred a year sooner than the original dates in the franchising agreements. To assist the Board in preparing to use that channel, Mr. Maultra was asked to develop a request for information draft on Access Channel.

Mr. Maultra presented the request for information draft on Access Channel. He stated that while creating the draft it needed to be in the frame work of the Cable Franchise agreements with both Time Warner and Comcast. He stated Time Warner has been using the channel to show CSPAN-2. They have been asked to show graphics on the channel announcing to their viewers what the intended use of the channel would be. Mr. Maultra stated the eligibility rule would be trying to maintain the quality.

Mr. Satterfield asked how long would Time Warner have the channel. The Board consented to Time Warner to continue using the channel for C-Span 2.

Mr. Curry stated that he would like the Board to view the draft presented by Mr. Maultra and discuss it at the next Board meeting.

Ms. Andrea Price presented a proposal and business plan for Public Access Channel. PAI is requesting the use of the fourth access channel which is available in Indianapolis, for the establishment of a community based media center, and for the management of the channel by Public Access of Indianapolis. She stated PAI is seeking a contract between the City of Indianapolis for basic operation of the channel. See Business Plan.

Mr. Curry stated that the PAI presentation will be discussed at the next Board meeting.

Under Public Comment, Robert Pederson, Mr. Kevin Earles and Mr. Stuart Sobel of the public stated they are in favor of the PAI business plan for the usage of the fourth access channel. Mr. Earles asked for a copy of the RFI. He was curious to know how much of the franchise fee was provided to support the Recovery Network’s access to the cable access channel.

Mr. Curry stated that the Recovery Network did not use any franchise fees for access to the cable access channel.

There being no other business to come before the Board, Mr. Curry adjourned the meeting at 3:55 p.m.

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Mr. Carlton Curry, Chairman

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Mr. Charlie Hiltunen, Member

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Mr. David Leonard, Member

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Mr. Steve Nelson, Member

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Mr. Stuart Rhodes, Member

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Ms. Janise L. Winston, Recording Secretary