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HomeMy Public PortalAboutCable Television Advisory -- 2007-12-04 MinutesMinutes of the meeting of the Brewster Cable TV Advisory Committee scheduled for 7:00 pm on Tuesday 4 December 2007. The meeting is called to order at 7:00 pm on Tuesday 4 December 2007 by Larry Greeley. Members present at this time are: Larry Greeley Norman Adams Larry Bugden Walter Powers Jim Tvrdik Larry Greeley introduces Larry Bugden, our new member. This is his first attendance at a BrCTVAC meeting. Norman Adams distributes copies of the draft minutes of the meeting of Tuesday 6 November 2007. A motion is made by Walter Powers and seconded by Larry Greeley to accept the minutes of the meeting of Tuesday 6 November 2007 as presented. The vote to accept is unanimous. There is a question raised as to whether Ellie Smith is expected to attend tonight's meeting. Walter says that she was duly reminded of the fact of the meeting and that she hoped to attend. However in view of frequent commitments which require her presence out of town late in the day it has been difficult for her to attend the BrCTVAC meetings and Walter suspects this situation may persist. Perhaps she will find it necessary to resign from the BrCTVAC. Larry Greeley remarks that since we are now at the opening of the window for the activities leading up to a renewal of the CTV contract, he recently talked with Charlie Sumner to make sure that we may use Bill Solomon as our lawyer in this process. We may. Larry telephoned the Massachusetts DTE which is the element of the state government concerned with Cable TV. He arranged that a representative from the DTE would come to our meeting in January or February to talk about the Cable TV renewal process and to offer suggestions for us in that activity. As we already have discussed, ascertainment is an important element in the renewal process and there are some relevant areas in which we are clearly lacking in current information. In particular there has been and continues to be growth in PEG needs due to factors such as general population growth and increased year-round residency. We need to learn what the subscribers are spending on Cable TV, what services they are getting, and what additional services (if any) they would like to have. Some useful information may be obtainable by close and informed examination of numbers reported by Comcast to the state and to the federal government. A complicating factor is that there are some potential Cable TV subscribers who are using satellite TV rather than Cable TV. Larry will get in touch with Bill Solomon with the intention of arranging that he come and talk with us, preferably soon after we hear from the person from the DTE. Larry reports that the list of equipment needed to implement activation of the Brewster "G" (governmental) channel has been finalized and is now out to bid. Lang completes his remarks and the conversation becomes general concerning the renewal process. Larry Bugden contributes a number of useful insights into the cable 1'V business. There is mention of the fact that moving the Cable TV signals around the town is expensive, a fact which has repeatedly surfaced in discussions about sending TV signals originating in the town to the head end (in Orleans). This activity is referred to as "transport" and is closely inter-related with the bandwidth available in the physical equipment and to restrictions in use of that equipment. For example a fiber is physically usable in either direction but ancillary equipment may be provided for only one direction of transmission. Additional restrictions may arise by legal or contractual limitations. Inasmuch as the underlying reason for the town being involved in Cable TV negotiations is that the physical cables used in Cable TV make extensive use of the public right of way (a town resource), it is important for the town to have complete and accurate information on the location of the cables and of what "transport" (including direction) the cables are being used to provide. Each single fiber is physically very small but can handle a very large bandwidth. Since there can be and generally are many fibers in a single cable it is essential to identify every fiber and its exact use, including fibers which may not yet be in use. While the cash flow in a Cable TV business is usually large it is a frequent practice to reinvest much of the cash in improvements and enlargements of the cable TV systems. This has the incidental effect of reducing any reportable (and therefore potentially taxable) profits. As the discussion draws to a close Larry Greeley suggests that the next meeting of the Brewster CTVAC should be scheduled not for what would be the regular date inasmuch as that would be Tuesday January 1 which is the final day of the holiday period, but rather should be scheduled for the following Tuesday, ie January 8, 2008, at the regular time of 7:00 pm. This would be tentative based on the availability of the representative from DTE January 8 meets with general agreement inasmuch as some members have already made specific commitments for January 1. The meeting seems to be out of other business to be taken up tonight. A motion to adjourn is made by Walter Powers and seconded by acclamation. The motion is passed unanimously. The meeting is adjourned at 8:20 pm. ,~ ~ ~~~ S -----~ _ Submitted by Norman Adams, Clerk, Brewster CTVAC 9t~: Ed 6Z 93j 80.