July 19, 1999

City County Building
Indianapolis, IN 46204

MEMBERS PRESENT:

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

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Stuart Rhodes

OTHERS PRESENT:

Chairman Curry brought the meeting to order at 2:40 PM

The first agenda item was the approval of the minutes for the Cable Board’s June 21^st , 1999 meeting. Motion was made by Mr. Leonard and seconded by Mr. Nelson, to approve the minutes of the Board’s June 21, 1999 meeting. Motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Curry stated this is likely to be the last meeting for Mr. Nelson as a member of the Cable Franchise Board, because his appointment to the Library Board will be considered by the City- County Council tonight.

Mr. Nelson thanked the Board and the Cable Agency and Channel 16 and Corp Counsel and the Cable Companies for all the support he has received while serving on the Cable Board.

The next item on the agenda was the adoption of final rate orders for Comcast and Time Warner. Ms. Piety stated that the Board packets include copies of the proposed rate orders as well as the reports prepared by Crow Chizek summarizing its review of the rate filings both operators made. Ms. Piety stated that Comcast has filed for approval of rates shown in FCC Forms 1240 and 1205. Time Warner filed a 1240. Ms. Piety stated the Cable Agency made several requests to the operators for additional information to substantiate the filings made by the operators to which the operators responded. Ms. Piety stated the reports prepared by Crowe Chizek show no apparent errors in the filings made by the operators. Ms. Piety stated the rate orders were been sent to the operators for comment and available to the public at the Cable Agency. Comcast’s BST maximum permitted rate is $11.03 with Comcast’s actual rate being $10.95. Time Warner’s BST maximum permitted rate is $9.6544 with Time Warner’s being $9.65. Comcast maximum permitted rates, which are also the actual rates charged, for equipment are: remote control-monthly $.42; addressable converter box monthly $3.76; and non-addressable converter box, monthly $.91. Comcast’s maximum permitted rates for installation charges, which are also the actual rates charged, are: install for unwired home-$46.66; install for per-wired home $31.11; install of additional connections at time of initial installation $15.55. install of additional connections requiring separate installation-$31.11; and changing tiers-$31.11.

Mr. Leonard asked Ms. Piety if what the Board is ordering is that the cable operators have done everything properly.

Ms. Piety stated yes.

Motion was made by Mr. Leonard, seconded by Mr. Nelson, to adopt the rate orders for Comcast and Time Warner. 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 last month. Mr. Maultra stated the Cable Communications Agency was asked to assist in facilitating entry into the Indianapolis market by a company called Metricom, which provides mobile Internet service. The agency will direct them to the appropriate City agencies for permitting and any necessary pole attachments as well as put them in touch with Larry Giegerich of the Mayor’s Hi Tech Task Force and the Indianapolis Economic Development Commission.

The Cable Agency addressed and made recommendations to Comcast’s latest response in its continuing dialogue to resolve possible non-compliance issues with the current franchise agreement. The Agency should be receiving a reply from Comcast within the next week.

The Cable Agency and Channel 16 have been working on budget prep matters with direction from Chairman Curry. Both Channel 16 and the Cable Agency have updated their budget narratives for this year’s presentation before the City-County Council.

The Cable Agency has updated its website and has included new links to recent stories regarding the Media One takeover, AT&T’s bid and other cable news related stories that affect cable consumers of Indianapolis and Marion County.

The Cable Agency took a number of cable complaints over the past month and worked with Comcast and Time Warner in an effort to resolve those matters. Mr. Maultra stated most of the complaints for Comcast concerned their realignment of channels , which is causing subscribers not to be able to get certain channels

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 June. In June there were 45 hours and 38 minutes of Live Meeting coverage. Tape Delay meetings totaled 5 hours and 30 minutes. Special Events Production totaled 19 hours and 57 minutes.

In the area of In-Kind Production, Channel 16 had 8 hours and 55 minutes. Series Programs totaled 3 hours and 30 minutes. Total new production for the month of June was 83 hours, 31 minutes, and 15 seconds; overall programming hours were 720 hours.

Mr. Montgomery reported that a television crew from Madagascar would be visiting Channel 16 connection with the conference of State legislators. Time Warner will downlink from Washington, D.C., for Channel 16’s use a program concerning solutions to youth violence.

The next item on the agenda was the Cable Operator’s Report. Mrs. Shary Johnston stated Time Warner lost 394 customers for its full cable service. Installations: Time Warner had scheduled 3,494 and completed 2,745. Service calls for the month were 3,080 received and 1,804 completed. Incoming calls for the month were 39,556 with 94.5% answered in 30 seconds. Busy rate 1.10%. Time Warner had 6 planned outages and 63 total outages. Mrs. Johnston stated that Time Warner had new construction for the month at 3137 N. Central Avenue Lugar Towers, Waterman Apartments, Indiana Surgery Center, and Cozy Restaurant.

The Community Involvement report supports a lot of different community events and programming (See report). There were 141 hours of programming on WAV, an average of 33 hours per week.

Mrs. Johnston stated that after reviewing the article in the Nuvo newspaper concerning public access programming that there was some information that was not reported. One was an one inappropriate taping during a Channel 20 children’s fair which spoofed Captain Kangaroo with cigarettes and matches, another showed living in freight trains.

The next item on the Agenda was the Comcast’s Management Report. Mr. Apple stated due to new channel line up there are some subscribers who are not able to receive some of the programming on higher channels. Due to these problems Comcast has suggested that customers connect a VCR to their television sets, purchase a new television that would enable them to get the upper tier channels, or lease a converter box from Comcast. Mr. Apple stated that this box is being offered from Comcast at $3.19 per month and the first three months of the service would be waived. Mr. Apple also stated that Comcast could not just raise the price of the converter box on a whim because it is regulated by the FCC.

Mr. Curry asked if there is a charge to install the converter box.

Mr. Apple stated there is not a service charge for the tech to go out to the homes and install the converter box or any other related service caused by the new channel line up.

Mr. Apple stated that Comcast will be adding to another programming package to its digital service in August, stating there have been a number of requests for Spanish language programming.

Mr. Apple stated that Comcast lost 15 full basic subscribers for the month of June; however, Comcast picked up 1,000 digital customers in the month of June. Mr. Apple stated that Comcast is below 90% of calls answered in 30 seconds or less. Comcast had 146 outages for the month, 23 of them were planned. Comcast received and scheduled 3061 calls and completed 2,995; 35.2% were completed within 24 hours, 99.1% were completed in 36 hours or by customer request. Comcast scheduled 3,777 installations and 3,586 of those scheduled were completed.

Mr. Apple stated that Comcast had 63 hours of leased access programming, which is now carried on channel 98 due to the new channel line-up. WAV 53 had 141 of locally produced programming. Comcast aired and produced 15 public announcements and 18 newsmaker segments. For Comcast events and sponsorships; see report.

The next item on the agenda was the ETC Report. Mr. Harris stated ETC planning committee met on July 6, 1999. The goal of the committee is to create a structure and plan for future of the ETC. This will serve as a piece to be used for acquiring funding from different sources to secure long range goals better serving the Indianapolis and Marion County area. These plans include, but are not limited to, establishing a paid management position, setting-up an equipped facility, and increasing the number of intern positions. Mr. Harris stated the next ETC Planning Committee Meeting will take place on August 16, 1999.

Mr. Harris stated the two previous presidents of the ETC, Amy Conrad Warner and David Donaldson, still have important involvement in the organization. Amy will manage the financial piece, while David will manage the playback operations of the ETC. ETC will be meeting on July 22, 1999 to further discuss roles and how they will work together for the betterment of the organization.

ETC Base Funding: last month David Donaldson requested, for consideration, increasing the annual base funding from the Cable Franchise Board to $50,000. These funds will be used for student intern stipends, master control playback, and programming expenses. The ETC is now formally requesting this amount starting with the current fiscal year.

Mr. Harris asked how should he proceed with the request for these monies.

Mr. Curry asked Mr. Harris to define this fiscal year.

Mr. Harris stated currently the funding for ETC is $30,000 a year and operations are more than $30,000 yearly. Mr. Harris stated that ETC is requesting $20,000 additional dollars this current fiscal year to add on to the $30,000 already to be received.

Mr. Curry stated that this request should be put in writing and submitted to the Board.

Mr. Harris stated as reported by David Donaldson, the ETC has evaluated automated playback equipment similar to what is used by WCTY, channel 16. As stated in a July 12, 1999, letter to Mr. Carlton E. Curry, Chairman of the Indianapolis/ Marion County Cable Franchise Board, the ETC is requesting Capital Funding for automating playback equipment for both educational access channels.

Under Old Business, Ms. Piety stated Time Warner audit issues item is a continuation of last month’s discussion concerning Crowe Chizek’s review of revenues and receipt transactions for both cable operators. Ms. Piety stated the only remaining issue, is the issue with Time Warner concerning amounts billed as franchise fees by Time Warner that were not treated as gross revenues for purposes of payment for franchise fees.

Mr. Curry stated from a Board action standpoint, the Board needs to decide if the Board wants to accept the Time Warner view which is payment of these amounts commenced on July 1, or whether payment should begin at an earlier date described in the settlement agreement. Mr. Curry stated that if the Board decides to accept the Settlement agreement date he would like to see a motion stating staff should pursue of Time Warner for those amounts. Mr. Curry stated if the Board agrees that Time Warner, needed to wait until they received notice from the Board to include these amounts and decided July 1^st would be the commencement date, then the Board needs to affirm that.

Motion was made by Mr. Leonard, seconded by Mr. Nelson, to send a demand letter to Time Warner for amounts back to the settlement agreement date. The vote was 3 to 1 with a "no" vote from Mr. Hiltunen.

The next item on the agenda was the discussion of the proposed Communications Policy. Mr. Leonard stated that after careful consideration he withdraws the proposed Communication policy resolution.

The Board with consent, withdrew the proposed Communications Policy.

The next item on the agenda was the PAI business plan. Ms. Price stated she wanted to follow up with a item she raised at last month’s meeting and that is relating to the ability of PAI to use the fourth access channel. Ms. Price stated that she put together an argument based on the Time Warner Vs Bloomberg in the City of New York. Ms. Price stated this case talks about appropriate use of access channels and encouraged the Board members to read the case.

Mr. Curry stated the Board members do have the case to review.

Ms. Price stated that she also spoke Mr. Van Eaton and provided him with a copy of the case. Ms. Price asked the Board to take action of the use of the full channel or the partial channel for the community.

Mr. Curry stated he would like the Board to review the case and get a feel from the Council Administration and Finance Committee how the committee feels about any funding for PAI.

Ms. Price asked the Board to consider asking for the channel and funding as independent issues.

Mr. Curry stated it will not easy to make this channel available. However, he is planning to visit Bloomington to visit its public access site.

Under New business, Mr. Curry asked the Board’s approval to submit the year 2000 proposed budget to the Council’s Administration and Finance Committee.

Motion was made by Mr. Hiltunen, seconded by Mr. Leonard, to present the budget to the Administration and Finance Committee. Motion carried unanimously.

Mr. Earles requested a copy of the proposed 2000 budget.

Under Public Comment, Mr. James Smashey questioned whether the notice to subscribers concerning the new channel lineup was adequate. Mr. Smashey also commented on past public access programming.

Ms. Andrea Price stated her support for PAI, and found it unfair for Time Warner to make negative comments about public access producers. She also reported on the Y TV camp held at the Baxter YMCA and organized by Mr. Earles for children 10-15.

Mr. Earles stated his support for PAI and further described the Y TV camp. After one week, participants with no prior video experience produced a high quality video about the YMCA. Mr. Earles asked the Board whether the fourth channel has been given to the government for government access.

Mr. Curry stated specifically, no.

Mr. Earles stated whether given the possible merger with Time Warner being bought out by Comcast the Board would delay a decision for on fourth channel until this deal is done.

Mr. Curry stated the usage of the fourth channel has no bearing on the transactions made by the cable operators.

Mr. Earles stated that there might have to be a reopening of the franchise agreement.

Mr. Curry stated if Comcast and Time Warner swap there may have to be a transfer of responsibilities for that contract.

Mr. Kama Juanasi supports PAI.

Mr. Blair Karsch stated his support and desires for the PAI.

Mr. Warren Ingel stated that he is very dissatisfied with Comcast is new channel lineup. He owns 4 televisions which cannot receive the high tier channels.

There being no further business to come before the Board, Mr. Curry adjourned the meeting at 4:50 pm.

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Mr. Carlton Curry, Chairman

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Mr. Steve Nelson, Member

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Mr. David Leonard, Member

________ABSENT_____________________
Mr. Stuart Rhodes, Member

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Mr. Charlie Hiltunen, Member

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Ms. Janise Winston, Recording Secretary