Cable Advisory Council
of Charter Communications

CABLE ADVISORY COUNCIL
P. O. Box 87
Newtown, Connecticut
 

~ Minutes ~

Minutes of Public Regular Meeting – Tuesday, May 9, 2006

Newtown, CT

There was a regular meeting of the Cable Advisory Council called to order at 7:07 p.m., Tuesday, May 9,2006 by Chair, Carmella Amodeo at the Charter Communications facility, Newtown, Connecticut.

ATTENDEES:

John Gallichotle (Newtown), Carmella Amodeo (Newtown), Steve Donahue (New Milford), John Danscuk (Monroe), Carl DeVoe (New Milford), George Linkletter (Sherman), George Fletcher (New Milford), Carl Braun (Woodbury), Dottie Wenbald (Woodbury)

From Charter: Len Romano (marketing), Brian Downes (local technician’s manager), Bob Spain (government relation), John Palinkas

PUBLIC INPUT:

No Public present.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Minutes approved (Motion by Linkletter, second by Donahue; 7 in favor, 2 abstained) .

TREASURER’S REPORT:

Jill Zaloski was unable to attend.  The treasurer’s report was not available at the time of the meeting.  It will be included in next month’s meeting.

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS REPORT:

• There were four representatives of Charter present at the meeting.  Bob Spain indicated that is the intent of Charter to have at least three of the representatives present at each meeting going forward.  Romano will be attending in place of Saulnier.
• Spain continued to explain that Charter had made a decision to close 6 of its call centers, Newtown being one of them by March 2007.  This will affect 1400 positions
• They are realigning their divisions, going from Northeast, Southeast, West and Great Lake to now only having three: Western, Central and Eastern.
• They believe that the bottom line of the number of calls answered in the two minute window, will not be negatively affected and may even be increased.
• They are using ACSR software to monitor circuits and calls so that issues are flagged in a more timely and call centers will be made aware as soon as it is known.
• They are now using a “workforce management” device that is carried by each technician (similar to what UPS uses). The Technicians will be dispatched through this device.  They will be able to complete work orders, get signatures, and print receipts.  They believe this will allow for more efficiency in the dispatching process due to the the ability to substitute calls immediately upon notification of a cancellation.
• Romano responded to a request for comment on the Hallmark channel move issue.  He reiterated the need to move to gain bandwidth to provide additional HD channels. He noted the fee structures between the analog and digital offerings as being in line  and that there had been a notification on the previous month’s bill.  He had interacted with the Lynches to help them understand their option to move and read a letter of thanks from the Lynches that he had received.

Wenbald stated that Hallmark appeals to he older viewer who may not have digital and that the pricing had not been made known to them at the time of the notice.

Romano indicated that Charter will be sending out a letter to clarify all of this and describe the offerings of the digital package.

It was emphasized by Amodeo and Devoe that this is the type of thing where it may be to Charter’s advantage to take advantage of the council as a sounding board.

• Romano also presented the council with a spreadsheet listing changes to date.( see attached)

Amodeo asked Charter if they would email changes that need to be acted on before the next meeting of the Council to its members for comment.

Various questions were asked on the ability of Charter to provide the Red Sox’s channel, The rate changes that are taking place, telemarketing calls, and support services available for Libraries that are considering going wireless

• Palinkas gave the Charter Access report in Van Antwerp’s absence.  The council was provided the Take1 newsletter.
• Palinkas noted that they are in the process of reviewing their Community Access Rules.  A copy was supplied to each member of the Council present with a request that they review them and get back to either Palinkas or Van Antwerp with any corrections or comments.  It is their intent to release them next month.

Devoe asked that they consider making it mandatory that all tapes contain credits at the end as a result of an issue he had encountered with a tape. 

It was noted by Gallichotle that is not always easy to do and may be considered as dictating content.

Palinkas noted that they do require paperwork at this time.

This will be taken as advisement and considered per Spain.

• Romano and Palinkas are working with Bob Rice of the Rotary Club to coordinate the Charter Child ID program with the Amber Alert System. Romano is working on changes to Charter’s program so that they will be able to provide each child with an ID card.

Devoe noted that Charter doesn’t do a good job in making the public aware of their effort in programs like this that give back to the community.  Spain agreed and recognized that the community always hears the bad and not the good and this is a communication area they need to work on.

Wenbald asked if the Council will be getting more involved with the Internet and Telecommunications services that Charter provides.  Spain answered no.  These areas are dictated by laws which Charter is required to follow.

COMMUNICATIONS & CORRESPONDENCE:

Lang was not present so there was no presentation of the “mail bag”.  No other correspondence was brought to the table.

OLD BUSINESS:

Video Festival:  Zaloski not present. No report.

Grant Process: Devoe provided a copy of the previous Grant letter and application.  It has been scanned and is attached for he Council’s review.  Discussion will take place at the July meeting.

Officer election:  A request for nominations was made by Amodeo to be accepted at the next meeting

NEW BUSINESS:

No new business was brought to the attention of the Council.

ADJOURNMENT:

The meeting was unanimously adjourned at: 8:45 PM.

Respectfully submitted by:  Carmella Amodeo, Chair.

©2006 Cable Advisory Council
Designed by Ben Haase
PC Wizard