October 15, 2001

City County Building
Indianapolis, IN 46204

MEMBERS PRESENT

Carlton Curry, Chairman
Stuart Rhodes, Member
Peter Blum, Member
Daniel Lynch, Member
Charlie Hiltunen, Member

OTHERS PRESENT

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

The first item on the agenda was the approval of minutes for the Cable Board’s October 15^th, 2001. Motion was made by Mr. Lynch to approve the amended minutes showing Mr. Blum absent, seconded by Mr. Hiltunen. Motion carried 3-0.

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. Stating the Cable Agency has been assisting Action Audits in their request of additional information with regard to the audit they are performing on Comcast’s submitted filing of FCC (Federal Communications Commission) rate forms 1240 and 1205. These forms reflect rates associated with the limited basic tier of service (1240) and associated equipment and labor (1205). The Cable Agency has also received Time Warner’s rate filing for the same forms.

The Agency and legal counsel has had discussions with the INET (institutional network) consultant of their findings with regard to the implementation of the INET by the township fire departments per the Comcast franchise agreement.

Mr. Maultra stated this begins his last year of his second term, serving on the NATOA (National Association of Telecommunications Officers & Advisors) Board of Directors. Stating this year he will be the chair of the Publications Committee and will continue to assist with the Legal Counsel Committee as well as the Conference Committee.

The Agency and its legal counsel reviewed the requirements of those items the cable operators are to include in their monthly report to our office and this Board. Per the 851-cable ordinance, Time Warner is not meeting compliance of the monthly reporting requirements and we are advising them of such.

The Cable Agency has been serving as a consumer advocate to Indianapolis and Marion County subscribers in assisting them in mediating cable complaints on their behalf.

The next item on the agenda was the Channel 16’s Government Access programming report presented by Mr. Montgomery. Mr. Montgomery highlighted some activities of Channel 16 for the month of September. In September there were 37 hours 4 minutes of Live and Tape delayed meetings. Special Events productions totaled 16 hours and 54 minutes. Series programming totaled 3 hours.

Total new Production was 56 minutes and 58 minutes.

Mr. Montgomery stated In-Kind productions in the pipeline—IPD Recruiting Video, Association of Indiana Counties Recognition Video, Indianapolis Fire Department Smoking Cesation Video, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Program, Department of Public Works Leaf Collection Guidelines PSA.

The next item on the agenda was the Cable Operator’s Management Report. Mrs. Shary Johnston stated Time Warner had a loss of customers in month of September. Installations were completed within 7 days at a 100%. Incoming calls for the month were 9.4 seconds of average answer time. Service calls were completed within 97.%. Time Warner reliability percent for outages were 99.99%.

The Community Involvement report supports a list of different community events and programming (see report).

The Board and Mr. Nesbit discussed the Time Warner monthly report format. Chairman Curry suggested that Time Warner and member of the Cable Agency and a board member met before the December Board meeting, to come to an agreement on the monthly report format.

The next item on the agenda was the Comcast Management Report. Mr. Apple stated Comcast had a loss of customers in the month of September. Incoming calls for the month were 85,652 received and 66,515 handled. Comcast had 107 outages. Comcast received 4,138 service calls and scheduled and completed 2,670; 98.4% within 36 hours or by customer request. Installations: Comcast scheduled 3,253 and completed 2,406; 100% within 7 days or less. Comcast had 41 complaints for the month.

The next item on the agenda was the TOTALink presentation. Mr. Bill Roberts stated TOTALink of Indiana is presently in a holding status regarding the commencement of construction of the proposed network for Indianapolis and Marion County. An extension of the commencement of construction for a period of up to 12 months was considered at the previous meeting of the Cable Franchise Board.

TOTALink has completed the pre-construction work for two to three years of construction, and has requested the pole owners (IPL, Ameritech, and Time Warner, and among others) suspend any additional work on poles to make space for attachments by TOTALink.

 TOTALink management continues to closely monitor the condition of the financial capital markets. Recent national events have added additional concerns as to the timing of a favorable financial climate for TOTALink to advance from pre-construction phase. Management is investigating alternatives to conventional debt financing as a means to advance the plans for competitive telecommunications in Indianapolis but cannot predict at this time the likelihood or timing of the success of such efforts.

At the request of Councilor Robert Massie, TOTALink has recently presented an undated status of its network build out to the Rules and Public Policy Committee of City-County Council. Mr. Roberts stated the report was received with encouragement from the members.

TOTALink, along with its owners, Utilicom Networks, and TOTALink partner, Bectren Corporation, continue to be optimistic about the ultimate development of a fiber-optic based broadband network by TOTALink for commercial and residential customers in Indianapolis.

The next item on the agenda was the ETC report. Mr. Harris stated on October 3^rd , ETC held a meeting at the Fairbanks Building on the Butler University campus to discuss the ETC connection. ETC, IPS, Butler University, IUPUI, and Time Warner Cable staff were present. Bill King from Time –Warner cable was given information on what type of connection is needed. Stating Mr. King informed everyone that TWC would have the engineering needs and costs prepared in 5-10 business days. And also informed the group that once TWC is given the go ahead, it will take between 2-4 weeks for the connection to put in place.

"IPS Marching Band Contest" was taped at IPS Emmerich Manual High School on Wednesday, October 10^th. It featured performance form the 5-IPS high schools in the annual event. This program will begin being seen on ETC 1 this month.

"On Your Own" is a series that will be produced by an independent producer. It will focus on educating single adults on ideas and advice that will help enhance their lives during this stage. Production begins this week.

"IPS Focus on Handwriting" is a program designed to aid parents in working with their children to improve writing skills. This program will begin in November.

"Open Court" is a series that is designed for grades K-3. The programs are designed to aid parents in teaching their children reading skills. This program will begin in November.

Under New Business, Mr. Maultra presented the approval of monies for Action Audit to review Time Warner latest rate filing. Mr. Maultra stated on October 1^st, Time Warner submitted to the Cable Agency office, their rate filing for year 2002, effective January 1^st. Traditionally, the Agency budgets for this audit and has these forms are reviewed by a qualified auditor.

Currently Action Audit, as approved by the Cable Board, is reviewing Comcast’s FCC Forms 1240 and 1235, which cover rates for limited basic cable and associated equipment and labor.

Action Audits has quoted us the same amount to review the Time Warner forms as they quoted for Comcast, that being $6,500.

The Cable Agency respectfully asks the Cable Board for approval of funds not to exceed $6,500 for Action Audit to review Time Warner’s 2002 rate filing.

Motion was made by Mr. Hiltunen, seconded by Mr. Blum, to approve funds not to exceed $6,500 for Action Audit to review Time Warner’s 2002 rate filing. Motion carried unanimously.

There were no further business to come before the board; Mr. Curry adjourned the meeting at 3:45p.m.