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Cable
Advisory Council
P. O. Box 87
Newtown, Connecticut
Notes
Public
Regular Meeting - Tuesday, November 13, 2001
Charter Communications, Newtown
There was a regular meeting of the Cable Advisory Council called to order
at 7:50 p.m. November 13, 2001 by Chairperson, Carl DeVoe at the Charter
Communications facility, Newtown, Connecticut. As there was not a quorum
of council members, this was an unofficial meeting.
ATTENDEES:
Fred Standt, Jeff Jorgenson, Rick Levy, Paula Hopper, Joe Mustich, Ken
Cornet, Carl DeVoe, Chairperson. For Charter: Janice Vance, John Dee,
Dick Elwell and Greg Van Antwerp.
PUBLIC
INPUT:
Nick Sedelnik, a Newtown resident, stated that he is dissatisfied with
the price of cable service, indicating he only wants 5 channels but is
required to take the extended basic package in order to get the channels
he wants. J. Dee addressed the issue of pricing and bundling.
APPROVAL
OF MINUTES:
No comments or changes to minutes of 10/9/01. No approval of minutes due
to lack of quorum.
TREASURER'S
REPORT:
F. Standt presented the Treasurer’s Report for the November 13,
2001 meeting.
Opening
balance of the checking Account (9/10/01). . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . $ 337.83
NO CHECKS WRITTEN
Closing balance 11/13/01. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337.83
Opening Balance on the Money Market Account (9/10/01). . . . . . . . .
. . . . 10,945.73
Interest (to 8/30/01) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.23
Interest (to 9/29/01) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.85
Closing Balance (11/13/01). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10,982.99
1 yr. plus CD @ $10,598.91+ int. cred. = $10,688.08
TOTAL
FUNDS = $22,008.90
No
comments or changes noted. No approval of treasurer’s report due
to lack of quorum.
COMMUNICATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE:
C. DeVoe reviewed correspondence received, including a thank you note
from Kent First Selectman for the mobile shoot of the October 1, 2001
Town Forum; letter from T. Simpson of Washington, regarding double billing
for modem and requesting a refund (letter given to J. Vance); copy of
a letter to DPUC from Eugene Schragel of Heritage Village regarding inability
to speak with someone at Charter on a billing issue (Letter given to J.
Dee, who indicated the issue has been resolved.); letter from New Milford
regarding notice of meetings.
CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS REPORT:
J. Vance discussed the Heritage Village project and noted that approximately
65% (2,000 people) have subscribed to Charter for service. J. Vance noted
that Heritage Village provides its own basic service, which does not carry
the same channels as Charter’s basic service and, because they operate
from an antenna, they have lost some channels due to loss of NY signals.
They have requested Charter provide them with a proposal on basic service,
which will be done next week. J. Dee indicated 7 new customer service
people have been added and this should allow customer’s calls to
be answered within a shorter time period. They are currently at 2 minutes
(90%), and once the call center is complete it should be much improved.
J. Dee indicated the new building will provide 90 seats for customer service
representatives; they currently have 50. He indicated they currently have
approval for an 18,000 square foot building, but is hoping to gain approval
for an additional 10,000 square feet to make the new building the same
size as the existing building. J. Dee stated that Charter should begin
moving into the new building by February, with Customer Service moving
in by April 1. J. Vance discussed video-on-demand, which is be beta tested
in various areas. This is only available on digital service. J. Vance
also indicated Charter will be discontinuing its paging department. J.
Dee asked if C. DeVoe was going to discuss Interrogatories, and C. DeVoe
informed him that information was not yet received. J. Dee indicated they
had gone out the previous Friday; C. DeVoe has not yet received. P. Hopper
suggested that since this was an unofficial meeting, it be adjourned early,
and that any members deficient in attending 3 or more meetings be notified
that their service is terminated, stating that the Council needs to either
get additional members or ensure the current members attend meetings.
K. Cornet added that he felt something needed to be done to get people
who serve on the council to take this job seriously. R. Levy pointed out
that, based on the recent survey, only 27% of people actually knew there
was a cable council. He suggested indicating on minutes those who did
not attend, along with number of meetings missed. Discussion returned
to the subject of the DPUC hearings relative to the refranchising, and
J. Vance indicated there were hearings scheduled for January 7 in Newtown
and January 9 in New Britain. J. Dee indicated that responses to Interrogatories
needed to be submitted by November 26. It was agreed that a letter would
be sent to council members with copies of the questions. J. Dee indicated
an extension could be requested. J. Vance made copies of the questions
for attending members. D. Elwell noted that for the advisory council in
Willimantic they had done some commercial spot advertising to draw new
members, in addition to having a dinner at a nice restaurant. R. Levy
noted that one problem is that people stop coming to meetings after having
attended a few and feeling that they are not able to do anything. C. DeVoe
distributed summary of results from the needs assessment survey, and briefly
reviewed areas for future discussion. He pointed out that the council
had made great strides with Charter in the areas of programming, access
and support to schools, noting that the previous company was not receptive
to suggestions or requests for changes and/or improvements. C. DeVoe recommended
that all members forward their responses to the Interrogatories to him,
and he would summarize them and present them. He indicated that if people
wanted to send their responses directly to the DPUC, they needed to be
present at the hearings to provide testimony.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting adjourned at 9:02 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted by: Lorna J. Szalay, Recording Secretary
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