Old Lyme Area Cable Advisory Council
13 January 2011, 7:30pm
Old Lyme Town Hall, Meeting Hall
Minutes
Attending: Peter Sielman, Pam Munro, Robin Purcell, Russ Gomes, Cathy Frank;
John Bairos and Lynn Perry from Comcast; Tim Devlin
Absent: Sue McKinlay
Chair Peter Sielman called the meeting to order at 7:45pm.
~
A motion was made by Russ Gomes, seconded by Robin Purcell to approve the minutes of the meeting of October 19, 2010. Motion passed.
~
John Bairos presented a Comcast Report, announcing that new channels have been added (CP4u) and some names have changed (Discovery Kids is now The Hub and Discovery Health is OWN – the Oprah Winfrey Network). He distributed a new price information sheet. In response to a question, John indicated that suggestions may be made to Comcast at any time – no special mechanism is in place nor is one needed.
Lynn Perry reported on public access use. There are 11 trained and certified new access users at the Old Lyme Studio and studio usage (based on public access programming) is at 60%. In 2010, camera equipment was checked out by users 41 times – an average of nearly once per week.
Tim Devlin, who tapes student athletic activities for public access, raised the issue of attracting additional volunteers to tape student events. Because an audio visual class is not part of the LOLHS curriculum, students themselves do not have an academic incentive to volunteer. He would like to see parents encouraged to sign up for training and to volunteer to tape additional activities.
Members discussed ways the Council can provide information to prospective volunteers. One way may be to publicize the names of people currently taping public access programs. Lynn Perry will request permission from current users to publish their names.
Pam Munro raised the topic of program conflicts on Channel 12, the access channel for education that is also the government channel for Salem.
~
Robin Purcell presented a Treasurer’s Report. Balance in all accounts is $18,545.12.
Cathy Frank reported that the 2010 Annual Report for the Old Lyme Council has been filed with the DPUC. Minutes of meetings and an annual financial report are required. Reports are due January 31, 2011.
~
In Peter’s Report on Statewide Video Council activities, he indicated that the current Chair is stepping down and has asked Peter to be chair. Peter is willing to chair the Statewide Council only if the Council has a plan of action and its members are willing to work toward accomplishing goals. Peter has previously stated that he believes the adoption of quality standards should be a priority.
Pam asked if every state has a statewide council, suggesting that the New England councils may be able to work together to leverage a regional standard.
Scholarship application information has been submitted by Pam and Cathy to the public high schools serving our member towns. In addition, a news release was published alerting private high school students to the scholarship. Decisions regarding scholarship awards will be made at the April meeting. The scholarship program will be evaluated after this second year.
Dates on 2009 forms have been changed for the Municipal Grant Program for 2010-2011. After discussion, it was agreed that Cathy will send information about the program to all member towns. In its deliberations, the Council may give initial consideration to those towns not previously awarded grants. Salem & Old Lyme received grants last year.
Members continued a discussion of possible Public Access Promotion. Lynn said that some other Councils have planned Open Houses as user appreciation events and a way to attract new users. Members agreed that press releases should be sent to town newsletters listing current programs and users. Lynn will provide language from Comcast press releases as a guide.
Tim Devlin will look into taping a commercial that would air on public access channels to attract new users.
~
Sue McKinlay has not yet confirmed that the April meeting can take place at the Public Access Studio in Hale Ray High School. Cathy will follow up.
~
A motion was made by Pam to adjourn at 8:57pm.
~
~
Cathy Frank
1/21/11
~
2011 Meeting Schedule
Meetings take place at 7:30pm unless otherwise indicated.
January 13, Old Lyme Town Hall
April 14, East Haddam (Hale-Ray) Public Access Studio to be confirmed
July 14, Lyme Town Hall
October 13, Salem Town Offices
~
| 
