CABLE ADVISORY COUNCIL

P. O. Box 87

Newtown, Connecticut

~ Minutes ~

Minutes of Public Regular Meeting –

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Newtown, CT

There was a regular meeting of the Cable Advisory Council called to order at 7:03 p.m., Tuesday, July 14, 2009 by Chairperson Carmella Amodeo at the Charter Communications facility, Newtown, Connecticut.

ATTENDEES: Carmella Amodeo (Newtown), Joe Hurley (New Milford), Kate Donahue (Trumbull), Eugene Rosen (Newtown), George Fletcher (New Milford), John Bell (Kent), Carl Braun (Woodbury), Tom Joyner (Sherman), George Linkletter (Sherman), Jonathan Gibney (Brookfield).

From Charter: Greg Van Antwerp (Community Access), Paula Cecchetelli (Marketing),

Public: All of New Fairfield: Jody Gemmell, John Hodge (1^st Selectman), Ray Juskiewicz (Channel 17 Coordinator), Dana Welles (NFCF), Alicia Roy (Assistant Superintendant of Schools) and Joseph Castagnila (Superintendent of Schools)

PUBLIC INPUT: Motion to move to later in the meeting – Linkletter, 2^nd Hurley, 9-0-0.

NEW MEMBER:

Jonathan Gibney has been appointed to the Council by the First Selectman of Brookfield.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Minutes from May 2009 approved with one change. (Hurley motion, Rosen 2^nd, 9-0-1). New Milford Town Clerk sent letter regarding having the secretary sign the minutes. Donahue will comply and send signed old minutes as well.

TREASURER’S REPORT:

Carl Braun gave report. Motion to accept Joyner, 2^nd Linkletter, 10-0-0.

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS REPORT.

Paula Cecchetelli:

· Channel realignment of digital channels done, will be doing HDTV August 13

· PBS network switch from WEDW to WEDH – same programming, just 24 hours

· QVC will be duplicated in the HDTV lineup (digital channel)

· Will have additional HDTV channel to report at next meeting – expect to end up at around 50 channels

Greg Van Antwerp

o Internship –

§ newly expanded program has started

§ Demographics of interns are varied: retired, stay-at-home moms, students

§ Have a blog for interns but not My Space or Facebook

o System won some awards at New England Cable Association meeting

o The quote for Sherman’s Channel 17 is ready for presentation. Tom Horan had a baby so he will bring to the Council at the next meeting.

CORRESPONDENCE:

• Newton notified that they had $$ left over from last year’s grant $89.69. They are sending it back and also sent a report on how they spent this year’s grant money.
• Still experiencing sync issues between the audio and video on low level broadcast channels
• Blanking out on Channels 30 and 31
• There are still freezing issues on the higher On Demand channels – is this an issue of signal strength?
• Frozen picture on Channel 6 Sunday evening for about 4 hours
• Tom Joyner questions
• Clarification of how Charter does it’s audio and video compression
• Clarification of why Charter moves channels around – between tiers
• Clarification of how Charter delivers HD channels (1080i 16:9 vs 720p 4:3)
• Paula responded that no network broadcasts all their programming HD (even on their HD channels)
• Charter sends the signals to customers exactly as it receives them from the programmer
• Analog channels look worse on a HD television
• Paula will get more info for the next meeting.
• Rosen shared that he has recently switched to AT&T

PUBLIC INPUT:

John Hodge, 1^st Selectman of New Fairfield addressed the Council requesting that they allow the town to either switch their current live feed from the high school to their new studio adjacent to the senior center or ADD an additional live feed from the new studio. The town is prepared to pay for the equipment required for either option. Dr. Castignoli, Superintendent concurred with Mr. Hodges request and shared a letter from the Chairman of the Board of Education although the BOE has NOT voted on the issue.

Ms. Jody Gemmell opposed moving the live feed line from the high school to the new studio (see her letter).

Dana Wells of the New Fairfield Community Foundation would support dual live feeds.

The Council discussed the definition of an educational channel and who determines the definition. Charter has the final word on this issue, with the input of the Council.

In the interim, the Council will:

• Circulate the 3 letters: BOE Chair, Ms. Gemmell, original request to Charter
• Charter check on feasibility of two feeds and technically how they will be able to switch back and forth
• Request that the New Fairfield BOE and BOS vote regarding what to do if two live feeds is not technically feasible.
• Check to determine if the DPUC has any requirements that live feeds must originate from school buildings.
• The Council also asked that New Fairfield send representatives to join the Council.
  
  

OLD BUSINESS:

NEW BUSINESS: None. Chairman Amodeo requested that a review of the Council’s bylaws be conducted at the next meeting

ADJOURNMENT:

The meeting was unanimously adjourned at: 9:00 PM. Respectfully submitted by: Kate
Donahue, Secretary