HomeMy Public PortalAboutCable Television Advisory -- 2008-05-07 MinutesMinutes of the meeting of the Brewster Cable TV Advisory Committee scheduled for 7:00 pm on
Wednesday 8 May 2008.
The meeting is called to order at 7:02 pm on Wednesday 8 May 2008 by Larry Greeley.
Members present at this time are:
Lang Greeley
Norman Adams
Larry Bugden
Janet Husband
Walter Powers
James Tvrdik
Tonight as the meeting opens there is a person in the audience area -Jane Friedman of Brewster.
Norman Adams distributes copies of the draft minutes of the meeting of Tuesday 1 Apri12008, as well as
copies of the approved and subsequently filed minutes of the meeting of Wednesday 5 March 2008.
A motion is made by Walter Powers and seconded by Jim Tvrdik to accept the minutes of the meeting of
Tuesday 1 Apri12008 as presented. The vote to accept is unanimous.
Lazry Greeley calls on Lazry Bugden for a report on his search for a lawyer to be considered for the
eventual negotiations with Comcast. Larry presents his seazch approach and its results. It is an interesting
and informative presentation.
After considerable discussion by the committee members of various aspects of the presentation, Norman
Adams moves that: this committee authorizes Larry Greeley to take Lang Bugden to present to the Town
Administrator the information concerning the search for a lawyer to be considered for the eventual
negotiations with Comcast.
The motion is seconded by Larry Bugden. The motion is approved unanimously.
Larry reports that he has discussed the issue of the perhaps unnecessarily high cost of the "basic tier" cable
service with Chazlie Sumner. There aze some state regulations concerning the cost of the "basic tier" cable
service. In the BrCTVAC meeting of January 8, 2008 Michael Mael of the Massachusetts Department of
Telecommunications and Cable provided what he described as a useful contact in regard to the state
regulation of the "basic tier": John.Molloy@state.ma.us. The comments of this person will be sought.
Lary Greeley reports that the Brewster government channel started operation on Apri128, but that its operation
was later suspended by momentary power fluctuations, and that the operation of the channel is currently
suspended. Why there was a susceptibility to interruption of the channel by momentary power fluctuations is not
cleaz inasmuch as there is an uninterruptible power supply ("UPS") in place.
Larry says that he will be using the Orleans staff member attached to the operation of the Orleans govemment
channel (Sara Freeman) as an informal consultant on the purchase list for additional equipment for the Brewster
govemment channel.
Lary reports on the Nauset Regional High School (NRHS) as a possible location for the studio and related
facilities for the public access channels to replace the Orleans studio which Comcast wishes to close. The spaces
which are deemed available do indeed appeaz suitable, and various interested parties -members of several of the
towns who are potential future users, the principal of the NRHS, the superintendent of the Nauset Regional
School District, and members of the Nauset Regional School Board -are so far expressing positive opinions about
the possibility. Further more detailed investigations are under way.
Larry comments that he would like to see this committee's website (which is part of the Brewster Town
Government website) to be current, in effect live, including posting the minutes of this committee.
The committee visits the equipment area where the Brewster government channel equipment is located. It is
behind a panel across the width of the north end of the large room at the bottom level of the town office building.
The space available is perhaps 6 feet deep which is adequate for equipment racks but not large enough for much
else except storage. The question is: why did the government channel fail to survive momentary power glitches?
After detailed examination by Jim Tvrdik and others the answer is obvious: not everything needed for the
operation of the government channel is plugged into the existing UPS.
The committee returns to our meeting room and there is some discussion of the equipment that has been delivered
for operation of the Brewster government channel.
Some revisions of the power arrangements for the individual equipment elements which are used to operate the
government channel are clearly required. It may be that an additional UPS or a larger UPS is required.
In regard to our next meeting, the regular meeting time and date (to wit at 7:00 pm on the first Tuesday of
the next month) meets with general acceptance.
The meeting seems to be out of other business to be taken up tonight. A motion to adjourn is made by
Larry Bugden and seconded by Walter Powers. The motion is passed unanimously. The meeting is
adjourned at 8:11 pm.
Submitted by Norman Adams, Clerk, Brewster CTVAC
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