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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAOC Minutes 2009-01-01Cable Access Oversight Committee minutes as approved March 17, 2009. The Cable Access Oversight Committee (AOC) met at the PEG Studio on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009, at 4:45 pm. Present: AOC members Will Burbank (chair), Wayles Browne, Wies van Leuken, Jennifer Dotson, Rich DePaolo; studio manager Lauren Stefanelli; producer Mike Brutvan. Introductions: Rich DePaolo (Town of Ithaca) has now been appointed a member per vote of Town Board Jan. 12 (to succeed outgoing member Will Burbank). Mike Brutvan (City of Ithaca) is interested in being appointed a member (to succeed Trish O'Rourke). 0. Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary. 1. The minutes of the Dec. 15, 2008 meeting were approved with slight changes. 2. Comments from the public. Mike Brutvan: we need to reverse the steady worsening of public access. Is local over-the-air broadcasting possible? 3. Election of officers. Jennifer Dotson: the City Council will presumably soon approve the Town Board's appointment of Rich DePaolo to the AOC. Mike Brutvan can get a form to fill out from the City Clerk; I can tell the Mayor that the AOC welcomes him. Officers needed: Secretary, Chair, Vice-chair. Nominations for Chair: Wies van Leuken declines, citing her job in City Hall. Nominates Dotson. Jennifer Dotson elected Chair by acclamation. Vice-chair: office still vacant, to be revisited at next meeting. Secretary: Wayles Browne re-elected unanimously. Elections of Chair and Secretary effective as of next meeting. 4. Schedule for meetings: 4:30 Tuesday, in general the 2nd Tuesday of every month, but skipping February 10. So the next meeting will be March 10. At each meeting we can decide to hold or skip the meeting date in the following month. 5. Business for this month: We need to call for proposals from schools that need equipment from our capital budget. L. Stefanelli, studio manager: The Town of Ithaca Board has expressed interest in cablecasting its meetings. DePaolo: The Town's Information Technology person is not interested in archiving videos of meetings. For cablecasting, static shots would cost less than what the County spends. Stefanelli: Let's invite Jim Blizzard, video operator for the County, to one of our meetings. DePaolo asks about size of budget. Stefanelli: an estimate of $20,000 per year over 10 years (the life of the franchise agreement, 2003-2012). Burbank: each year's budget needs to be approved by 3 entities (City Council, Town Board, Village of Cayuga Heights Board) by approx. June for expenditures beginning the next January. These are for equipment only (i.e. a capital budget). Stefanelli: will draft a letter calling for requests. (To Brutvan) Time Warner Cable (TWC) in general is not interested in webcasting, but might be interested in an "on- demand" cable channel for digital subscribers. Some discussion followed on the virtues of the web. TWC is certainly receptive to feedback from subscribers. Van Leuken: The bulletin-board service (rolling announcements on channel 13 when no program is on) is another way to create public interest in PEG service. (Re the call to schools and other entities:) it should be sent in February so as to get responses before our March 10 meeting. Requests should be for equipment to be used in making programs that will appear on PEG (public, educational, or government) channels. I propose putting the call on the TV bulletin board too. Stefanelli: will draft these notices. 6. Studio Manager's Report (given in appendix, with schedule of training sessions). She added: Take note of the PEG Awards: deadline for submitting shows to be considered = end of January. The awards ceremony will be in February. Judges are still needed. 7. Schedule of future business. Van Leuken: We need a report on usage fees through the end of December 2008. Can we get it for the March meeting? We also need a report from the City (and the Town, and Cayuga Heights) on receipts of the franchise fee. DePaolo will find out when the town gets these. Stefanelli will also ask for a report on the $0.15 subscriber fees. The Committee would like this in her report for the second month after the end of each quarter. 8. The AOC expressed its thanks to outgoing member (and chair) Will Burbank. 9. Next meeting March 10. Adjourned 6:05. Access Coordinator Report to AOC January 2009 • Volunteers: A PEGASYS Christmas party was held on 12/17. It was well attended, and producers were encouraged to create holiday messages which were cablecast on the channel for 2 weeks during the holidays. A group of 6 volunteers has met and signed up to record Light in Winter at the end of January. They are working closely with LIW staff. • Capital About half of the 2008 capital items have arrived. • Notable Educational Access News I met with Peter Johanns and 2 student managers of ICTV in late December. Joe Scaglione attended on behalf of the ICSD BOE. We resolved a long-running BOE schedule problem to everyone’s satisfaction. Among other things, I am now recording the BOE live direct to mpg, saving a lot of tape transportation, improving the program quality and relieving the county staff of any ed access playback work. I also encouraged IC to consider adding something more than the lakecam to the default signal now on the channel to add value to subscribers. They promised to look into it. • Repair The 2 replacement DVD players from the capital budget have arrived and are awaiting installation. The remaining old DVD player is hanging in there, but I have been taking the precaution of creating mpgs of all DVD submissions before the first cablecast, to avoid DVD playback errors. • Outreach Information about our upcoming training is running regularly on the channel and has been sent to all the papers. I have replied to quite a few inquiries as well. Staff produced a PSA for Light in Winter, which is running on channel 13 and has been approved for cross-channel promotion as well. Cris McConkey is organizing an informational meeting for producers who want to webcast their programs. I have been facilitating contacts and outreach to those who have expressed interest. The meeting is scheduled for Feb. 11. Mike Brutvan expressed interest in applying to the AOC for membership. He is a City resident. PEGASYS Training Schedule January – April 2009 Training Classes: No pre-requisites, but enrollment requires students to have a serious intent to produce programming for channel 13. All classes are held at the 612 W. Green St. studio. There is no charge for residents of the City or Town of Ithaca or Cayuga Heights. There is a small fee for residents of other areas of Tompkins County. Orientation / Course sign-up [no registration required] Wednesday, January 14 7:30 – 8:30 pm Wednesday, February 18 7:30 – 8:30 pm Wednesday, March 18 7:30 – 8:30 pm Wednesday, April 15 7:30 – 8:30 pm Basic Studio Video Production [register at the orientation] Learn how to operate the PEGASYS studio and crew on 1 or more programs. Completion of this course requires attendance at 1 4-hour class plus working on 2 volunteer productions. Course dates: January Course: Wednesday, January 21 5:30-9:30pm March Course: Wednesday, March 25 5:30-9:30pm April Course: Wednesday, April 22 5:30-9:30pm Web Applications Meeting: Wednesday, February 11 6:00pm Basic Portable Production [register at the orientation] Learn to use our digital camcorders and linear or non-linear editors. Completion of this course requires attendance at 4 2-hour classes plus 2 homework assignments. January Class: Thursday, January 15 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 1 Thursday, January 22 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 2 Tuesday, January 27 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 3 Thursday, January 29 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 4 February Class: Thursday, February 5 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 1 Thursday, February 12 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 2 Thursday, February 19 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 3 Thursday, February 26 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 4 March Class: Thursday, March 5 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 1 Thursday, March 12 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 2 Thursday, March 19 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 3 Thursday, March 26 5:30-7:30pm Portable Video Production, Session 4 ===== Contact information for AOC members: Jennifer Dotson, chair, Common Council liaison <jdotson@cityofithaca.org> Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu> "Rich DePaolo" <rd@richdepaolo.com> Wies van Leuken <pmv4@cornell.edu> and <WIESVL@cityofithaca.org> Web site for the PEGASYS studio, with program schedules: http://www.pegasysaccess.org/ studio location: 612 West Green Street Ithaca, New York mailing address: 519 West State Street Ithaca, NY 14850 phone (607) 272-7272 fax (607) 277-5404 PEGASYS staff: Lauren Stefanelli lauren.stefanelli@twcable.com Cable Access Oversight Committee minutes (as approved Apr. 14, 2009) The Cable Access Oversight Committee (AOC) met at the PEG Studio on Tuesday, Mar. 17, 2009 (postponed from Mar. 10), at 4:50 pm. Present: AOC members Wayles Browne, Wies van Leuken, Jennifer Dotson, Rich DePaolo; studio manager Lauren Stefanelli; producer Mike Brutvan. Wies van Leuken called the meeting to order. 0. Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary. 1. The minutes of the Jan. 13, 2009 meeting were approved without change. 2. Comments from the public. Mike Brutvan has submitted to the City of Ithaca his application to be an AOC member; still waiting to be confirmed. 3. Member reports. R. DePaolo has gotten from the Town of Ithaca a 7-year summary of franchise-fee receipts; payments arrive in February, April, July, and October. He has given a paper copy to W. van Leuken, and can e-mail a spreadsheet to her too. Van Leuken will compile the information from the 3 municipalities (City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, Village of Cayuga Heights) and report to AOC. M. Brutvan: it would be useful for program production if producers could access the internet while at the studio. DePaolo, a member of the Town Board, finds wireless net access very useful during Town Board meetings. 4. Studio Manager's report: presented in writing (see Appendix). Manager L. Stefanelli adds: she has started to train a person to cover during her vacations (Al Abrahams). He has previous experience in scheduling radio programs. She will take April 20 off as a try-out for him. He is also the backup person for broadcasting City of Ithaca council meetings. The listing of fees paid by producers [presented in summary form in the appendix] shows income of $660 in the year 2008. The total has risen to about $2000 since fees began in 2006; they are only now beginning to be spent for the person to cover during vacations. A table in the Report shows needed items that couldn't be capitalized (= treated as capital expenditures). Time Warner Cable manager T. Doheny is working with an accountant to set up a fund to buy these. Stefanelli presented a draft of a letter to be sent to representatives of schools. If they are interested in providing educational programming for showing on Educational Channel 16, they can request TV equipment (by the end of April) and technical assistance (at any time). The AOC was pleased with the draft and suggested only minor changes. Van Leuken: requests from city agencies, if any, might be funded from the remaining money from the old (pre-2003) franchise, rather from the current budget. These could be handed on to City IT person Duane Twardokus and the City Clerk. But Southside Community Center is only in part City-funded, so this suggestion might not apply to Southside. M. Brutvan suggests adding New Roots, the charter school about to open, to the list of recipients of the letter. He can furnish an address for it. Discussion of Draft 2010 Capital Budget, as compiled by L. Stefanelli. The figure for replacing the 3 Inscriber titling computers is estimated at $8000. Stefanelli still needs to ask what to replace them with. The upgraded versions of the Premiere workstations will still be compatible with TC3 (Tompkins-Cortland Community College). Brutvan: The proposed Internet workstation could well be wireless. AOC members stressed the importance of producers being able to use TV material that was recorded in older ("legacy") formats. Van Leuken asks about expanding the available music library for background music and theme songs. We have some freely-usable, non-copyrighted music. Stefanelli: will look into ways to pay fees and use copyrighted music. Van Leuken: Could the studio have a library of visuals? E.g. maps, clips, pictures of heads of state of various countries, of cities, etc. Stefanelli: Some are purchasable over the internet from iStock.com for one-time use or on a monthly plan. This could come out of the newly-established operating budget, as could many other useful items. This budget will be termed "equipment budget" and will still be subject to approval by AOC. Van Leuken suggests better tripods. Brutvan: we could use cameras with more features, such as night vision. Also we need the ability to record stereo in the studio. Stefanelli: Nexus can be upgraded to do webcasts, but the information has to be held on a web server somewhere (at the Nexus company, or even TWC). Will ask other access centers that do web streaming what their issues are, e.g. possible liability. DePaolo: Streaming is not the same as archiving. Which would we want? Brutvan: Archiving is cheaper (?) and more useful. 5. Old business. Dotson: what are the studio hours now? Stefanelli: they haven't changed in the past year. The studio usage is still about 80%. Dotson: I need to resign as chair, or if I stay someone else will need to call meetings. Chairing of meetings will rotate. Minutes ought to be sent out a week before each meeting as a reminder. W. van Leuken will then send out an agenda for the meeting. 6. Next meeting Apr. 14 (the second Tuesday as usual). 7. Adjourned 6:05. Access Coordinator Report to AOC March 2009 • Volunteers: The PEGASYS Awards was conducted in January-February, with the Awards ceremony held on March 6, 2009. It was a well-attended event, with awards given out in 9 categories plus grand prize winners being sent on to the national Hometown Awards. We inaugurated our new video projector at this event. 6 volunteers recorded Light in Winter’s PUSH Physical Theatre in January. They worked closely with LIW staff. The group is now doing post-production. It has served as an ideal project for us all to learn to use Adobe Premiere’s multi-camera editing mode. 3 new public access series have started up: Grindmode TV [music]; Quiet Asylum [art entertainment]; Cuba Siempre [Cuba information] • Reports 2008 Usage Fees report attached. 2008 Capital Report attached. 2010 preliminary draft Capital Plan attached. • Notable Educational Access News Peter Johann of ICTV says he is trying to find a way to have IC pick up Democracy Now directly from satellite. The ICSD BOE is doing twice the regular number of meetings recently [weekly instead of bi-weekly], due to the extraordinary public interest in the New Roots school and budget issues. We are cooperating by loaning extra equipment and doing titling overlays. The district is also now putting selected video from the meetings on its website. • Installation The 2 new DVD players have been installed in the playback rack, relieving the problems with reliability in DVD playback. • Outreach Information about our upcoming training is running regularly on the channel and has been sent to all the papers. 2008 PEGASYS Capital Budget Semi-Final [need invoices to close] Report Date March 2009 The following items were purchased and received: Playback 2 Tascam DV-D01U DVD Players @$545.99. $1,091.98 3 Hotronic Time Base Correctors [for ch 13, 15, 16] @$929.49 $2,788.47 Misc Mic clips/wind screens $32.98 1 Computer with Windows Office, DVD recorder, USB Flat-screen Monitor, keyboard/mouse $1,500.00 Engineering installation of Playback Upgrade 32 hrs x $60/hour [includes wiring of Studio II] $1,920.00 Studio 1 Sony VPL-EX50 Video Projector $852.50 1 Replacement Lamp SP-LAMP-034 $409.00 Portable 2 Sony UWP-V6-U3032 Wireless Lav Mic Kits @$679.95 $1,359.90 2 Sony UWP-V6-U4244 Wireless Lav Mic Kits @$679.95 $1,359.90 Educational Access: LACS 3 Panasonic PV-GS90 Mini-DV camcorders @$279.95 $839.85 3 SDSDHV 4GB Secure HD Memory Cards @$30.70 $92.10 3 Panasonic CGA-DU21A Lithium-Ion Batteries @$81.99 $245.97 Subtotal $12,492.65 10% Tax / Freight $907.00 Total $13,399.65 There were approximately $5-6,000 worth of items that were unable to be capitalized and could not be purchased under our accounting system. We are working to set up an operating budget account to enable us to purchase these items, as well as items in future budgets that do not meet capital spending requirements. List of items from 2008 budget which will be spent with operating funds as soon as the account is available is attached. 2010 PEGASYS Capital Budget First Draft Replace 3 Inscriber Titling Computers $8,000.00 Inscriber computers provide video titling in our main studio, our prospective studio II, our linear editor and City Hall studio. These computers are 12 years old and are not upgradeable. Although currently still in service, they have all been showing intermittent failures for the past 2 years. They run only on Windows NT platforms, and can not be made to work with current Windows computers. They are incompatible with current USB ports, Firewire and DVD player/recorders. They are not compatible with the current version of Adobe Premiere. In short, they are ready for replacement. I propose replacing the studio I and II units and the City Hall unit, and allowing a working unit to continue to operate as legacy equipment in our linear editor for the time being, with the other 2 as back-ups or made available to E/G institutions. Upgrade Premiere workstations $1,000.00 Premiere came out with version CS4 a year ago. We are currently running CS3. Replace Flats and Props $1,000.00 Main Office Internet workstation $1,500.00 With DVD burner, Firewire and USB connections, Windows Office. Contingency Fund $2,000.00 Description: We have a great deal of equipment that is 8-15 years old, and will need replacement as it fails. In addition, many lower-priced items like cables or headphones receive hard use and need replacement much more frequently. Which items will fail is impossible to predict a year in advance. Governmental/Educational Access: TBD $4,500.00 Description: As per potential requests Subtotal $18,000.00 10% Tax / Freight $1,800.00 Total $19,800.00 PEGASYS Fees 2008 [summary, without names of producers] Period 1, 2008 2 producers listed as "moved to City" 2 listed as "now uses own equipment" 1 listed as "not active" 7 paid $20 = 140 5 paid $30 = 150 1 organization paid $50 Total $340 Period 2, 2008 9 producers listed as "not active" 3 listed as "now uses own equipment" 6 paid $20 = 120 5 paid $30 = 150 1 organization paid $50 Total $320 Total fees for year $660 ===== Contact information for AOC members: Jennifer Dotson, chair, Common Council liaison <jdotson@cityofithaca.org> Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu> "Rich DePaolo" <rd@richdepaolo.com> Wies van Leuken <pmv4@cornell.edu> and <WIESVL@cityofithaca.org> Web site for the PEGASYS studio, with program schedules: http://www.pegasysaccess.org/ studio location: 612 West Green Street Ithaca, New York mailing address: 519 West State Street Ithaca, NY 14850 phone (607) 272-7272 fax (607) 277-5404 PEGASYS staff: Lauren Stefanelli lauren.stefanelli@twcable.com Cable Access Oversight Committee minutes (as approved May 12, 2009) The Cable Access Oversight Committee (AOC) met at the PEG Studio on Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2009, at 4:40 pm. Present: AOC members Wayles Browne, Wies van Leuken, Rich DePaolo; studio manager Lauren Stefanelli. 0. Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary. 1. Rich DePaolo called the meeting to order. 2. The minutes of the Mar. 17, 2009 meeting were approved without change. 3. No comments from the public. 4. Member reports. R. DePaolo spoke with the Town of Ithaca budget manager, and will get updated report on franchise fee receipts in the Town. 5. Reports from Time Warner Cable (TWC). Studio manager L. Stefanelli suggests that reports on usage fees (paid by producers who are not from the City of Ithaca, the Town, or the Village of Cayuga Heights) be made twice a year rather than quarterly, because the fees are paid twice a year, namely in January and July. This was agreed to. Stefanelli gave a verbal report. She has sent a letter to schools and other institutions seeking their requests for TV equipment to come out of the coming year's budget. Responses so far from: - New Roots, with whom she conversed at some length; - Cooperative Extension; but no actual requests yet. These are needed by the end of April. Progress on the present year's capital budget: - The 1-person studio is wired but not yet set up. A helpful vendor has looked at it and will help make it as desirable in appearance as the existing big studio is. Stefanelli has already picked out cameras. Money for the studio is already in the 2009 capital budget. Meanwhile the Lansing School Board wishes to install a mini-studio in its elementary school, so the same audio-video corporation will look at the location (Lansing has its own $20,000 to pay for this). Stefanelli has offered some old equipment to Lansing (2 "Winstead rack" bays to hold electronic devices). The operating fund for items that can't be paid for out of the capital budget is still on the path to being created. Some of the loan-out cameras have both Fire-Wire and USB connectors; if the Fire-Wire fails, use the USB. There are now new expensive cameras available, as well as cheap ones, that record on cards; we hope to get medium-price card camers in a year or so. Judging for the Home-Town competition award for access programs is now under away (split among access centers); volunteer judges are wanted to help with Ithaca's part of it. 6. Old business and new business: at the May meeting AOC needs to approve the draft 2010 capital budget and then forward it to the 3 municipalities (City of Ithaca, the Town, the Village of Cayuga Heights) for approval. As always we need to remind them that they're not appropriating "their own" money but approving the spending of money that TWC has received. 7. Next meeting: Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 4:30 at the PEG access studio. 8. Adjourned 5:33. ===== Contact information for AOC members: Jennifer Dotson, chair, Common Council liaison <jdotson@cityofithaca.org> Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu> "Rich DePaolo" <rd@richdepaolo.com> Wies van Leuken <pmv4@cornell.edu> and <WIESVL@cityofithaca.org> Michael Brutvan <noidea@lightlink.com> (appointment in process) Web site for the PEGASYS studio, with program schedules: http://www.pegasysaccess.org/ studio location: 612 West Green Street Ithaca, New York mailing address: 519 West State Street Ithaca, NY 14850 phone (607) 272-7272 fax (607) 277-5404 PEGASYS staff: Lauren Stefanelli lauren.stefanelli@twcable.com Cable Access Oversight Committee minutes (as approved June 9, 2009) The Cable Access Oversight Committee (AOC) met at the PEG Studio on Tuesday, May 12, 2009, at 4:45 pm. Present: AOC members Wayles Browne, Jennifer Dotson, Mike Brutvan, Wies van Leuken, Rich DePaolo; studio manager Lauren Stefanelli. 0. Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary. 1. Jennifer Dotson called the meeting to order. 2. The minutes of the Apr. 14, 2009 meeting were approved with minor changes. 3. No comments from the public. 4. Member reports. Mike Brutvan has been appointed as a member from the City of Ithaca; he has been sworn in. Rich DePaolo will present a workshop for producers on audio recording and processing, Tuesday, June 16, 5:30 to 7. [It was subsequently announced that the workshop will be postponed till later in the summer.] 5. Reports from Time Warner Cable (TWC). Studio manager L. Stefanelli is waiting for equipment to be installed in the studio including time-base correctors. Stefanelli gave a written report (see Appendix). She showed copies of the April 20 Tompkins Weekly. On p. 5 is Pamela Goddard's story "Public Gets Access to Artist's 'Asylum'" introducing Ann Krajewski's public-access program "Quiet Asylum" that features Krajewski's own art studio and guest artists. The same issue carries an ad informing readers about "Quiet Asylum" on p. 19. The Weekly is willing to carry other stories and ads about programs. [See http://www.tompkinsweekly.com/; under Past Issues go to 04/20/09.] Al Abrams was unable to try out substituting for L. Stefanelli on April 20 as planned, because he broke his knee. But she still feels he's the right person to be a replacement. He's now back at his job videotaping city meetings and school board meetings. The Ithaca City School District Board of Education meeting will be broadcast live this evening at 7, with the signal coming to the studio via i-Net; it will also be recorded as an mpeg file for later broadcast. When playing back an mpeg (for reruns), text information can be superimposed on the screen (overlay). 6. Budget. Stefanelli's letter asking for requests got 3 responses but no specific requests except for Cooperative Extension. We gave Coop. Ext. 2 new mini-DV cameras last year, and they are now being used mainly for the State Attorney General's TV program. So she doesn't recommend new equipment for Coop. Ext. now. The New Roots school is not really ready to make requests. None of the requests meet the criterion of actually producing programming. Accordingly, she recommends AOC adopt the draft budget from March, only with more money going into a computer for adding titles to programs. (See Appendix 2.) AOC approved the Resolution adopting the budget draft unanimously; W. van Leuken will e-mail an updated version and get it submitted to the Common Council of the City of Ithaca for passage. Concerning the Quarterly Report of Time Warner Cable's receipts of the 15-cent per customer fee: Van Leuken will e-mail Stefanelli to ask TWC manager Thomas Doheny to get this report for the AOC. 7. Next meeting: Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 4:30 at the PEG access studio [?]. [Subsequently moved to City Hall.] 8. Adjourned 6:00. Appendix 1: Access Coordinator Report to AOC May 2009 • Volunteers: 3 PEGASYS producers served as a judging team for the Hometown Awards. Mark Finkelstein, producer of “Right Angle,” is planning a trip to Afghanistan in June. He will document his travels for his show. Mike Angley has started a new series, “Discovery Paranormal,” in which he visits historically significant buildings in the area searching for ghosts. It runs Fridays at 8pm. • Repair and Maintenance Problem: no titles at city hall studio. Resolution: A part on the Motherboard on the titling computer at City Hall died. The part is scheduled to be replaced before the next meeting. Problem: Bad NEXUS audio recording from INET [ICSD BOE]. Resolution: System was sound-checked and levels reset. New recordings had good audio. Problem: Intermittent buzz on channel 16 NEXUS playback. Resolution: turned out that an audio cable was touching an AC cable, causing a buzz when I touched the playback intercom. This was corrected. Problem: No audio from studio mic input #6. Resolution: Input #6 had been unplugged, and was plugged back in. Problem: Audio failure on dubbing system. Resolution: Bad connection on audio out of SVHS VCR. That VCR will be removed and replaced with one of our spares, and has been bypassed until that can be done, to enable DVD to DVD dubbing. Problem: Record button jammed on camcorder #47. Resolution: This camera has been sent out for repair. The button is an easily replaceable part. • Notable Educational Access News Both IC and Cornell are telecasting their commencements live this month. Cornell will also cablecast its convocation live. The ICSD has been doing extra meetings throughout the month of April and early May due to the impending budget vote. Most of these meetings have been cablecast. New Roots has 2 volunteers, Jim Bosjolie and Luke Gustafson, videotaping the New Roots BOE meetings, which are being shown on channel 13. • Outreach Ann Krajewski, new producer of “Quiet Asylum,” has Tompkins Weekly as a sponsor. It provides a weekly ad with color photo promoting her series. Tompkins Weekly also ran a feature about the show in April. • Capital We received requests from 3 institutions: Cooperative Extension, Tompkins County, and New Roots. Attached. 1. Cooperative Extension Request: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 Lauren Stefanelli PEGASYS Time Warner Cable Dear Lauren: I would like to request the following equipment for the video production department of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County. In return we will provide more and new programming for channels 13 and 15. 2 HD Cameras Canon HF 200 http://www.allprosound.com/catalog/productdetails.asp?fprodid=10189&item=Canon- %20HF%20200 2 Sony VCT-D580RM Tripod http://www99.epinions.com/prices/Sony_VCTD580RM_627889 2- Wireless lavaliere microphones Thank you beforehand for your kind cooperation. Best regards; Enrique Caicedo Community Educator Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County 615 Willow Avenue Ithaca, NY 14850 Tel 607-272-2292 Cell 607-229-6975 2. New Roots Request [email from Jim Bosjolie dated 4/29/09]: Lauren - As you requested I am following up with an email about New Roots School requesting $2,500 - $3,000 worth of video equipment from Time Warner so that we can provide content to PEGASYS for the 2009 - 2010 school year. We won't really be able to tell you how this equipment will be used and whether we can guarantee regular programming to PEGASYS until the faculty is hired and curriculum set. That may not be until the end of May and even into June, 2009. We hope you will keep us in mind and not allocate all your funds until that time. Regards, Jim 3. Tompkins County Request: Jim Blizzard got back to me about the capital letter, and expressed interest, although he had no specific request. I offered him our 2 remaining SVHS camcorders to supplement his county video coverage, which uses this model camera. This may meet his needs. Appendix 2: 2010 PEGASYS Capital Budget Approved by AOC May 2009 Replace Studio Inscriber Titling Computer $5,000.00 Replace studio Inscriber Titling computer with Compix LCG5000 Upgrade Premiere workstations $1,000.00 Premiere came out with version CS4 a year ago. We are currently running CS3. Replace Flats and Props $1,000.00 Main Office Internet workstation $1,500.00 With DVD burner, Firewire and USB connections, Windows Office. Contingency Fund $3,500.00 Description: We have a great deal of equipment that is 8-15 years old, and will need replacement as it fails. In addition, many lower-priced items like cables or headphones receive hard use and need replacement much more frequently. Which items will fail is impossible to predict a year in advance. Governmental/Educational Access: $5,000.00 Replace City Hall Inscriber Titling computer with Compix LCG5000 Cooperative Extension camcorder with mic input for field productions $1,000.00 Canon HF200 or equivalent plus tripod Subtotal $18,000.00 10% Tax / Freight $1,800.00 Total $19,800.00 ===== Contact information for AOC members: Jennifer Dotson, chair, Common Council liaison <jdotson@cityofithaca.org> Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu> "Rich DePaolo" <rd@richdepaolo.com> Wies van Leuken <pmv4@cornell.edu> and <WIESVL@cityofithaca.org> Michael Brutvan <noidea@lightlink.com> Web site for the PEGASYS studio, with program schedules: http://www.pegasysaccess.org/ studio location: 612 West Green Street, Ithaca, New York mailing address: 519 West State Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 phone (607) 272-7272 fax (607) 277-5404 PEGASYS staff: Lauren Stefanelli lauren.stefanelli@twcable.com 1 Cable Access Oversight Committee minutes July 8, 2009 (as approved August 4, 2009) The Cable Access Oversight Committee (AOC) met at 4:40 pm on Wednesday, July 8, 2009, in the Aurora Conference Room at Ithaca Town Hall. Present: AOC members Wayles Browne, Mike Brutvan, Rich DePaolo, Wies van Leuken; studio manager Lauren Stefanelli. 0. Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary. 1. M. Brutvan called the meeting to order. 2. The minutes of the June 9, 2009 meeting were approved without change. 3. Comments from members of the public: none. 4. Member reports and discussion. - W. van Leuken asks about the phrase "16 hours per week opening time" referring to the studio hours. L. Stefanelli: this is within a total of 23 to 25 hours/week work time; the total varies up and down due to franchise fee fluctuations. Van Leuken: How many weeks was the studio closed? Stefanelli: 3 weeks. Van L.: So we can ask for 3x16 = 48 make-up hours? Stefanelli: Yes; see my report. - M. Brutvan has gone through the wording of the franchise agreement and sees possible problems: what happens if the facility is suddenly unusable? No contingency plan is specified; there should be one. AOC could pass a resolution calling on TWC to create one in cooperation with AOC. Brutvan will draft and distribute such a resolution to be discussed at next AOC meeting. Van Leuken suggests checking with the City Attorney. - Brutvan: producers would like to have Internet access, preferably wireless, in the studio for the purpose of downloading maps, news etc. for use in programs. Stefanelli: so far TWC has declined to provide Internet (wired or wireless) for producers. DePaolo suggests producers could absolve TWC in writing of any liability for their use of Internet materials. Brutvan: will draft and distribute a resolution to this effect, to be discussed at next AOC meeting. Stefanelli: the only Internet connection we have now is part of TWC's internal network, therefore not available to the public. The AOC saw the justice of this and decided to ask for a regular commercial Internet connection. 5. Report on 2010 Budget approvals by City, Town and Village boards, continued. The City and Town boards have approved the budget, as stated at the June meeting. W. van Leuken has not yet heard definitely from the Village of Cayuga Heights; will follow up. [From e-mail Village Clerk Mary Jane Neff to Van L., July 9: "It was passed at the June 15th Board meeting. ... will do a resolution certification today and send to TWC."] 6. Studio Manager's report: presented in writing. (See Appendix.) Discussion: Via Stefanelli, TWC manager T. Doheny handed AOC a copy of the 2 reports from Postler & Jaeckle Corp. (Rochester), which had tested the air in the PEGASYS studio building using the Aircuity IAQ (indoor air quality) Evaluation System beginning 8 June and the Aircuity Optima™ Building Optimization System beginning 9 2 June. From the first: "Pollen counts 0 ... mold spores were within recommended guidelines and does [sic] not require attention...No high-risk mold types were found." From the second: "Comfort and Ventilation: Improvement possible" (seems to refer only to temperature measurements; carbon dioxide and humidity needed no improvement). "Air Cleanliness: No action suggested. Building Pollutants: No action suggested." - Discussion of making up the 48 hours: sentiment was for making them up during the fall season at the rate of 3 or 4 hours per week, perhaps on Saturday afternoons. M. Brutvan will write and distribute a resolution calling for this. Producers Brutvan and Alison Rawlins may be able to get training so that they can run the studio as replacements during Stefanelli's absences. - There was some discussion of Stefanelli's June document with proposed rules for access producers; this will have to be continued at the next meeting. 7. Next meeting: Tuesday Aug. 4, 4:30. Place to be announced. 8. Meeting adjourned 5:50. ===== Contact information for AOC members: Jennifer Dotson, Common Council liaison <jdotson@cityofithaca.org> Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu> Rich DePaolo <rd@richdepaolo.com> Wies van Leuken <pmv4@cornell.edu> and <WIESVL@cityofithaca.org> Michael Brutvan <noidea@lightlink.com>, <mbrutvan@mac.com> Web site for the PEGASYS studio, with program schedules: http://www.pegasysaccess.org/ studio location: 612 West Green Street, Ithaca, New York mailing address: 519 West State Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 phone (607) 272-7272 fax (607) 277-5404 PEGASYS staff: Lauren Stefanelli lauren.stefanelli@twcable.com Appendix: Access Coordinator Report to A.O.C. 8 July 2009 • Repair and Maintenance From June 1 through June 18, the PEGASUS facility was closed while environmental testing was done to address concerns about air quality. During this period, cablecasting playback and field equipment sign -out continued. The cable store front counter accepted media submissions. The laptop computer was signed out for editing and Lauren was available for production consultations in an alternative office space. On Monday, June 22, after test results showed no cause for concern, the facility was re - opened to the public. Time Warner has stated that it is prepared to make up the 48 hours of operation that were missed during this 3-week period. Tom Doheny requested that the AOC make suggestions about preferred make-up hours. The studio air conditioner has begun having problems. A service technician is expected tomorrow. 1 Cable Access Oversight Committee minutes August 4, 2009 (as approved Sept. 8, 2009) The Cable Access Oversight Committee (AOC) met at 4:35 pm on Tuesday, August 4, 2009, in the Aurora Conference Room at Ithaca Town Hall. Present: AOC members Wayles Browne, Mike Brutvan, Rich DePaolo, Wies van Leuken, Jennifer Dotson; studio manager Lauren Stefanelli. 0. Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary. 1. R. DePaolo called the meeting to order. 2. The minutes of the July 8, 2009 meeting were approved with minor changes. 3. Comments from members of the public: none. 4. Studio Manager's report: presented in writing. (See Appendix.) Discussion: - AOC welcomed the news of progress on the mini-studio. Stefanelli: a consultant has drawn up a list of needed equipment and a quote; a purchase order has been issued and the first few items are here. TWC in Syracuse will send an installer. A playback connection is already in place. (To Brutvan) The mini-studio will have multiband equalization. - Brutvan: A multi-band equalizer is also needed for the main studio. - Stefanelli (to van Leuken): I asked TWC manager Doheny about repairing power outages that happen on weekends. His reaction was that AOC's budget should pay for it; it's not TWC's responsibility, just as if some outside channel's signal were failing to be supplied to TWC. - To this, AOC reacted that it seemed to be discriminatory and counter to the franchise; assuming TWC got a subscriber complaint on a weekend, would it not restart the broadcast of a PEG channel, though it would restart the broadcast of one of its commercial channels? - Discussion of Stefanelli's June document with proposed rules for access producers will have to be continued at the next meeting, along with her proposed updates in the production facility rules. Stefanelli can send us the facility rules (from 2000) as well as the proposed new text. 5. Resolutions. (1) Recommendation to Time Warner Cable to Draft Contingency Plans for PEGASYS Facility Closures WHEREAS, in the current “FRANCHISE AGREEMENT BETWEEN CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK AND TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT – ADVANCE/NEWHOUSE PARTNERSHIP,” there is no contingency plan for cases of lengthy or permanent closure of the PEGASYS production facility at 519 W. Green Street, Ithaca (see section 15.3. Access Facilities and Equipment, part 1, Studios of the aforementioned agreement), and WHEREAS, PEGASYS recently experienced an unexpected closure that resulted in an 2 indefinite suspension of all cable production activities – activities that Time Warner Cable has agreed to provide only at the existing building, per section 15.3.1, above, and WHEREAS, it would be prudent to plan for the possibility that such a closure will again arise; therefore, BE IT SO RESOLVED, that the Access Oversight Committee (AOC) hereby recommends that Time Warner Cable prepare a draft contingency plan to be submitted for review and approval by the AOC, to address how future closures of the existing PEGASYS facility will be managed, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the AOC recommends that Time Warner Cable designate an alternate production facility, to be used during any future closure of the primary PEGASYS facilities, for the duration of any such closure. MOVED: Wies van Leuken SECONDED: Wayles Browne VOTE: Passed, 5-0 (2) Resolution Requesting Replacement and Scheduling of Hours Lost Due to PEGASYS Closure WHEREAS, PEGASYS studio facilities were unexpectedly closed from June 1, 2009 to June 18, 2009, in order to perform air quality testing, and WHEREAS, during this closure, Time Warner was unable to provide the public access producers of PEGASYS with the agreed-upon hours of access to cable production facilities, and WHEREAS, the aggregate amount of lost production time is agreed to be 48 hours, and WHEREAS, Time Warner has proposed keeping the PEGASYS facilities open for an additional 48 hours, above and beyond the regularly scheduled hours of operation (Monday-Thursday, 5:30pm-9:30pm), in order to compensate for the lost hours, and WHEREAS, such additional open hours could be used to explore the renewed viability of weekend hours of access to PEGASYS facilities (as many producers have expressed an interest in being able to use facilities during weekends), therefore, BE IT SO RESOLVED, that the Access Oversight Committee (AOC) hereby recommends that PEGASYS provide the 48 hours of make-up access to facilities in 3-4 hour blocks, announced in advance, during the Fall Access Season, specific hours to be worked out in conjunction with the Access Coordinator, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the AOC recommends that hours be made available on Saturday afternoons. MOVED: Jennifer Dotson SECONDED: Wayles Browne VOTE: Passed, 5-0 J. Dotson as Chair will communicate these resolutions to TWC. A further resolution on the importance of having an Internet connection for producers' use was discussed but tabled until the next meeting. 3 6. Member reports and discussion. M. Brutvan stresses the need for up-to-date maintenance of PEG equipment. Van Leuken: Equipment failures are discouraging to beginning producers. We need a way for producers to communicate among themselves and share experiences. Brutvan: A Facebook group has now been started. 7. Report on 2010 Budget approvals by City, Town and Village boards, continued. W. van Leuken: The Village of Cayuga Heights, the third of the three municipalities that need to pass the budget, did pass it June 15 but didn't immediately forward it to TWC. We'll do better next year. 8. Next meeting: Tuesday Sept. 8, 4:30. Place: PEGASYS studio. Secretary W. Browne will be unavoidably absent, so another minute-taker will be needed. 9. Meeting adjourned 5:40. ===== Contact information for AOC members: Jennifer Dotson, Common Council liaison <jdotson@cityofithaca.org> Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu> Rich DePaolo <rd@richdepaolo.com> Wies van Leuken <pmv4@cornell.edu> and <WIESVL@cityofithaca.org> Michael Brutvan <noidea@lightlink.com>, <mbrutvan@mac.com> Web site for the PEGASYS studio, with program schedules: http://www.pegasysaccess.org/ studio location: 612 West Green Street, Ithaca, New York mailing address: 519 West State Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 phone (607) 272-7272 fax (607) 277-5404 PEGASYS staff: Lauren Stefanelli lauren.stefanelli@twcable.com Appendix: Access Coordinator Report to A.O.C. August 2009 • Repair and Maintenance On Saturday night, July 11, an electrical storm cut power to the PEGASYS playback system. The outage lasted beyond the 20 minute protection of our UPS [Uninterruptible Power Supply] unit, shutting down the NEXUS controller. When our engineer checked the UPS on Monday, he found the batteries were dead. He replaced the batteries to provide better protection against future power interruptions. We had another electrical outage on August 3. Although the UPS was functional, this power outage lasted over an hour in the morning, exceeding the UPS capacity, and was followed by a second long outage in the afternoon, so playback was down for several hours that day. • AOC Input We are looking forward to the A.O.C.'s input on: 1. approving our updated PEG cablecast rules [submitted June 2009]; 2. advising us on make-up hours for the 48 hours that our production facility was 4 closed in June; please note that all PEG make-up hours must be between 10 am and 10 pm, Monday - Friday. 3. helping to revise our production facility rules [which date from 2000]. • Capital The 2009 budget, for a second mini-studio in the PEGASYS center, has been approved and the first items have started to arrive.