HomeMy WebLinkAboutTelecommunications Board - Minutes - 01/05/2004TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
MEETING MINUTES
***January 5, 2004***
*** 6:00 PM ***
Council Liaison: Kurt Kastein I Staff Liaison: Liz Stroh
Chairperson: Lawrence Bontempo Phone: 484-3980 (W)
Members Present: Robert Reichenberger, Larry Bontempo, Tim Tillson, David
Heiberg, Herb Saperstone
Members Absent: Rob Koellner, Curt Cramer
City Staff Present: Gary Gordier, Eric Dahlgren, Liz Stroh
Minutes:
David Heiburg moved to approve the minutes of the December, 2003 meeting. The
motion was seconded by Herb Saperstone and passed unanimously
New member
Robert Reichenberger was welcomed to the Board. He gave a short summary of his
career in telecommunications
Citizen input:
Board Chair Larry Bontempo modified the agenda to accommodate a group of citizens
who wanted to address the Board regarding concerns about the lack of public access
opportunities in Fort Collins. After listening to the concerns, Larry told the group that a
written response would be prepared and sent. Larry asked that a discussion of public
access be added to the February agenda.
Annual report:
Board members reviewed a draft of the annual report. Tim commented that he thought
the year had been productive, and encouraged the continuation of visitors and provider
representatives. Herb made mention of the improved updates and communication from
Comcast. Tim moved to accept the annual report as written, seconded by David
Heiburg. The motion was passed unanimously.
01/30/04
Franchise Input
The Board brainstormed items to include in a memo to City Council regarding franchise
issues and community needs. Liz will draft a memo, with plans to discuss and approve
at the February meeting.
The items identified are:
O Lack of a basic cable service package at an affordable price
O Make public access a viable service. More support needed for PEG (Public
Educational, Governmental) channels, including support for local programming
from both citizens and educational and governmental entities. Local
programming is not available on the satellite dish systems, and should be
promoted because of the value it adds to the cable system.
O Continue to provide access for schools, and upgrade equipment and systems to
digital (provide digital tuners to schools) to keep pace with improvements to the
system.
O Maintain or expand the capacity for distance learning. One way would be to add
an additional educational channel to be used for this purpose. The use of video
on demand capabilities in conjunctions with
O Protect PEG channel bandwidth as the transition to high definition television
could create less room for local access programming.
O Subscribers are being pushed toward using the digital service, at higher costs.
Make sure the PEG channels are available on the digital tier as well as the
analog tier, and that choices are available to people regarding the option to go to
higher priced services.
O Limit the term of the franchise. Given the rate of change in the
telecommunications industry, 5 years seems a reasonable time frame.
O Offer an "a la carte" approach; let customers choose which programs they want
to watch and pay for.
O Protect the payment for use of rights of way (franchise fee) by costing cable
services the same in bundled services (telephony, cable, high speed internet) as
charges for cable service alone.
Adjourn
Robert moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Tim Tillson. Motion passed
unanimously _
Chair
Staff Liaison
Date
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