March 21st, 2005

MEMBERS PRESENT

MEMBERS ABSENT

OTHERS PRESENT

Peter Blum calls the March 21st, 2005 meeting of the Marion County Cable Franchise Board to order.

Mr. Blum stated the Cable Franchise Board is lacking a quorum therefore those items on the agenda that require voting will not be voted on today.

Mr. Maultra Director of the Cable Communications Agency thanks the Board for this opportunity to highlight some of the things that the Cable Communications Agency has been involved with during the past month.

The city is waiting for a response back from Comcast with respect to the Board's request on launch fees serving the premise as contra expenses as well as a response to Scott Lewis' letter, also requested by the Cable Board. Mr. Maultra stated Comcast does have a copy of the Los Angeles settlement regarding launch fees.

The Cable Agency has been further reviewing the Bright House data regarding their FCC submission for the 2005 rates. The Cable Agency have sent Action Audits findings on to the Cable Board and plan to take up the matter of those findings under old business at the April Board meeting.

The Cable Agency and Chairman Blum have followed up and met with attorney Aaron Haith, who serves as counsel to the City-County Council. Mr. Maultra stated more than likely the City will be invited to brief the Rules & Policy Committee regarding the possibility of franchising First Mile.

Chairman Blum and Rick Maultra had a meeting with ETC's financial and organizational future, having met with Elaine Bookwalter and with Caterina Cregor-Blitzer, who is the Executive Director of the Indianapolis International Center. Mr. Maultra stated the City continues to have productive meetings, which will hopefully result in a board of directors being courted to give the consortium guidance near and long term.

Mr. Maultra stated in reading the paper, it appears that House Bill 1518 which would deregulate telecommunications at the state level, effectively removing the oversight of the IURC, appears to be not one of the bills revived and revisited by House Republicans. Nevertheless, Mr. Maultra stated he understands that SBC, the bill's author, is looking for a sponsor at the House to bring it back that particular measure.

Indianapolis, area missions, including Light House and Wheeler have met with staff from Channel 16 and the Agency in looking at our initiative to create a higher visibility of their community work and promoting what their immediate needs are. Producer Alan Dhayer will be assisting on this endeavor.

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

For the month of February, the Agency received 25 complaints for Bright House. The area of high complaints for Bright House was billing procedures. Comcast for the month had 57 complaints. The areas of high complaints were in billing procedures.

Mr. Maultra concludes his report and opens for any questions.

Mr. Blum asked, Mr. Bryant, if the Cable Board needs to do anything more with First Mile. He asked is it up to Council to do something and if they know what it is, they needed to do.

Mr. Bryant stated he does not have anything to report. Mr. Bryant stated First Mile counsel was at today's Cable Board meeting and he informed First Mile he did not have an update.

Mr. Blum asked Mr. Bryant to follow up with Mr. Haith.

Mr. Bryant stated he would be happy to follow up with Mr. Haith.

The next item to discuss is the Government Access TV Program Report with Mr. Montgomery.

Mr. Montgomery, Manager of Channel 16, highlighted some of the activities of Channel 16 for the month of February. Channel 16 had 86 hours and 11 minutes of total new production. Mr. Montgomery stated in addition to the normal rooster of meetings, Channel 16 now covering the Children Health and environment committee of the City County Council. There were 44 events for Live & Tape delayed meeting coverage. There were 58 minutes of Live & Tape delayed meeting coverage. Special Events productions were 20 hours and 22 minutes and 30 seconds. In-Kind productions for City-County/ Government Agency were 2 hours and 22 minutes.

The next item on agenda was the Bright House monthly report. Mr. Al Aldridge, Director of Public Affairs and Buz Nesbit, Division President, reported for Bright House Networks.

As represented by Bright House, the company stated the month with 3,174 limited basic subscribers and ended the month with 3,012, which is a loss of 162 basic subscribers. February began with 60,834 full cable service subscribers, and ended with 61,146, which make a total system gain of 582 customers.

For incoming calls, Bright House represented receiving 48,673 calls. 48,512 of those calls were handled, and 45,655 were answered in 30 seconds or less. 94% of calls answered in 30 seconds or less. Bright House had a busy rate of 0.0%.

The complaint summary showed Bright House had 21 complaints from 20 customers with 9 complaints relating to billing.

Mr. Aldridge represented that 100% of service interruption calls were addressed within 24 hours. There was 0 planned service interruption with 12 unplanned service interruptions with an estimated of 702 subscribers with interrupted service. The total service interruption hours were 49.77. System reliability was 99.9960%.

100% of total service calls were addressed within the next business day, unless otherwise directed by customer. There were no appointments kept outside of the 4-hour service window during normal business hours, unless requested by customer.

100% of installations were completed within 7 days or by the customer request. There was no new construction done during the month of February.

Under public Affairs, the Division ran in-kind promotional spots for American Cabaret Theatre, the Indianapolis Arts Council, and Hemophilia of Indiana. The value of these gratis spots was $16,665.

For Community Affairs, the division was notified on February 1, that Duncan N.P. "Pat" Pritchett Jr., superintendent of the Indianapolis Public Schools, has been named the recipient of the first annual Administrator Award for Distinguished Support of Music Education. Pritchett was chosen for his commitment to saving district-wide education programs in his 40,000-student school system in a partnership with Bright House Networks and the Vh1 Save the Music Foundation. This program has awarded over 500,000 in music scholarships to 18-IPS schools in the past four years.

The Division was on of the major sponsors of the 10th Annual "Hearts for Hemophilia" February fundraiser. The division donated over $2,000 to the 2005 event.

Bright House Networks in conjunction with The Circle City Chapter of The links was the major corporate sponsor of the sneak peek of the Jazz Song Fest being performed by the Asante Children's Theatre at the Indiana History Center. The musical, which runs for the next couple of weeks, features tributes to Indiana Jazz legends such as Pookie Johnson and Hampton Sisters.

Bright House continued partnership with WDNI provided the required hours of local programming as mandated by the City's franchise agreement.

Mr. Aldridge wraps up his report and opens for the Board's questions.

Mr. Blum asked why the numbers that the Cable Agency reports, as complaints, are different from the numbers that Bright House reports. Mr. Blum stated the numbers should be the same.

Mr. Nesbit stated the timing for Bright House is between the first of the month to the end of the month, stating he believe the Cable Agency numbers are from meeting to meeting.

Mr. Blum stated the City stopped reporting complaints from meeting to meeting. That he would like the numbers to match.

Mr. Maultra stated that is what Cristy added up from February 1st until the end of the month. He stated the Agency will match the customer's names to Bright House complaints.

Mr. Blum requested this to be done for next month board meeting.

The next item on the agenda was Comcast's Operator Report. Mike Delph and Cindy Cade presented on behalf of Comcast their report for the month of February.

Mr. Delph reported the number of customers requesting total basic service increased by 206.

Incoming coming calls were 83.10% of calls answered in 30 seconds or less with a busy rate of 0.80%

Mr. Delph stated that Comcast believe they are past the issues that drove down their service level last month. He stated 14 customer account executives completed training last week and Comcast anticipate additional 8-customer account executive will complete their training in April.

System reliability for the month was 99.70%. Comcast had seven planned service interruptions for system improvements.

Comcast reported 95.71% of total service calls were addressed within the next business day, unless otherwise directed by the customer. 99.55% of appointments were kept within the 4-hour service window during normal business hours, unless otherwise directed by a customer, as represented by Comcast.

Comcast reported 99.63% of installations were done within 7 days or by customer request.

There were 55 complaints sent to the Cable Agency and two sent directly to Comcast.

Comcast aired Public Service Announcements for the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership, Noble of Indiana and the Big Ten Conference.

Appearing on Indiana Newsmakers for the month of February were Steve Talley, City County Council, Randy Korn, Murat Shrine Circus, Dan Parker, Indiana Democratic Party, Michael Howland, Noble of Indiana and John Lyter, American.

Events and Sponsorships, Comcast is a sponsor of the 2005 Southport High School Winter Guard Program. This music and arts program fosters positive life experiences for students who participate by promoting education, creativity, and freedom of expression through the unification of pageantry and performing arts.

Comcast is also a proud sponsor of the "F.C. Singers," an award-winning Show Choir for Franklin Central High School. This traveling choir consists of 46 students and performs locally throughout the year for various business and community events.

Comcast helped sponsor the Ransburg YMCA Dinner Dance & Silent Auction on February 12. Part of the proceeds from the event will go towards the Invest in Youth Campaign, which provides support for youth and families that, without help, would not be able to participate in YMCA programs.

Mr. Delph stated in conclusion, Comcast has responded to Scott Lewis and his position regarding the franchise fee audit. Mr. Delph stated Comcast continues to remain their position regarding launch fees. He stated that Peter Feinburg, Comcast Corporation Counsel, have given the Board two in-depth explanations of Comcast's position. Mr. Delph stated last month Comcast provided the Board with further dialogue and discussion on the matter with Pete Kieltyka, Comcast Regional Vice President of Finance. Mr. Delph stated per the request of the Board he have provided the board with a financial report, which shows where the launch fees are recorded. He said furthermore, Comcast maintains, per their correspondence dated December 16, 2005 to the Cable Communications Agency, that as of the result of Scott Lewis audit, the City owes Comcast $78,128.00. Mr. Delph stated Comcast looks forward in working with the City to resolve this outstanding manner.

Mr. Winston asked if there was a current record of people who requested public programming and denied.

Mr. Delph stated Comcast have a set inventory of what can be aired regarding PSA's. He stated Comcast is judicious about the PSA's that is accepted. He said Comcast cannot accept all PSA's, even the ones with the most worthy of causes, however they would like to. Mr. Delph stated Comcast have a leased access channel which afford people that want to purchase time from Comcast the opportunity of programming.

Mr. Blum stated, as with Bright House, the number of complaints recorded from the City and Comcast should match stating there is no reason why they do not.

Mr. Delph agreed. He stated that Comcast will work with the City to reconcile the numbers.

Mr. Blum stated he commends Comcast in going in the right direction on the numbers. He stated that he has two observations, stating, last month Comcast did not think they will make it stating they are probably right unless Comcast has had a miraculously March thus far.

Ms. Cade stated the beginning of March was a struggle however last week and this was a good week, as represented by Comcast. Ms. Cade stated there are 14 new CAE's on the phones.

Mr. Blum asked with the added CAE's how many reps does that make Comcast have.

Ms. Cade started by stating she believes they have 170 CAE's she also stated that it is a virtual call center including Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. She stated Comcast is also outsourcing the calls as well to keep the service levels where it should be.

Mr. Blum stated what concerns him is that Comcast only had 6 days where they were over the 90% stating some of the worse days were at the last of the month.

Mr. Delph stating Comcast is addressing the issues and taking pro-active measures to correct the problem.

Ms. Cade stated that Comcast feel they will be back on track for April.

Mr. Blum asked what is it that Comcast is doing to get back on track.

Ms. Cade stated Comcast has the new class that just graduated. She also stated the Muncie ice storm, the rate increase, and the letters that went out regarding wiring went out stating Comcast feel these things were one time events. She stated between that and having the new class starting, progress is being made in the right direction for the month April.

Mr. Delph stated its Cindy Cade one-year anniversary as a Hoosier.

Under public, Ms. Andrea Price President of Public Access of Indianapolis stated the 2005 Alliance for Community Media regional conference will be held in Indianapolis stating Board members received invitations.

Ms. Price also referred to the letter in the Star/News that she wrote in response to an article on budget slashes. She stated the article mentioned cutting public access television, which the City does not have. She stated, she believe, the article was referring to the Channel 16 government and educational access television. WCTY (Channel 16) provides video services to city agencies that would otherwise pay outside commercial rates. A public access channel would stretch limited dollars even further with its volunteerism and do-it-yourself philosophy. Cutting such valuable services would be penny-wise and pound-foolish.

She also stated Cable TV franchise fees are a significant "non-tax" stream of revenue to the city; they exist to pay for cable regulation and sufficient public, educational and government access television channels for the community.

Indianapolis cable subscribers pay a 5 percent fee on their cable TV bill, but the city regulates only the price of a small, inexpensive package of basic channels. Even that package includes Indy's "EG" access channels, and if those local, non-commercial channels were to be cut, customers would have one less reason to choose cable television over less expensive satellite. In addition, that means less revenue to the city.

Mr. James Smashey complained of the cable operators not providing percentage penetration and the Cable Franchise Board needing a full Board. Mr. Smashy also commented on First Mile, INET and Launch fees, he said he does not understand why the City owes the Cable company $78,128. Mr. Smashey also stated the City County Council, Cable Franchise Board and the Cable Agency need to revise and rewrite the code 285 which govern the Cable Franchise Board. He also stated the city code 851 needs to underway as well.

Mr. Blum stated the Cable operators do report their percentage penetration. He stated Comcast reports their percentage penetration at 52% and Bright House reports their penetration at 39%. He also agreed with Mr. Smashey assessment, of needing the codes revised and having a full Cable Franchise Board.

Mr. Blum adjourned the meeting.