LACAC Meeting Minutes for April 19, 2012
This was a joint meeting with the Cable License Advisory Committee (CLAC).
Members present: Gary Bernklow, Chris Funkhouser, Len Golder, Bob Glorioso and Lisa Lavina
Also present: Anne Van Tine, Stow TV Coordinator and CLAC members Arny Buckman and Bob Mong
The Meeting was called to order at 7:35pm
The agenda for the meeting is to review the Comcast contract negotiation points to prepare Attorney Bill August for his next contract conversation with Comcast Rep. Tim Kelly.
Fee Percentages:
Discussion focused on the scenario we settled on in the last meeting, referred to as version 3a of the proposed scenarios, and the counter offer scenario suggested by Attorney August. All felt that an earlier ramp up in fees was necessary to provide resources for funding the work of the station, and that Attorney August’s proposal was weighted too heavily on the increase to 5% over the last four years of the contract.
Channels:
All agreed that the offer proposed by Rep Kelly was one we could agree to.
Equipment Funds:
After discussion that included Anne’s perspective on the payment of these larger amounts of funding, consensus was that it was ok to agree to funding over four years.
During this conversation, we were joined by phone by Attorney August. ( 8pm)
Fee percentages – revisited:
Our conversation began with the discussion of the fee percentages. We all agree that Comcast’s counter offer was too low. Attorney August’s perspective was that we make our counter proposal close to our original offer. After some discussion, we agreed on an adjusted scenario that is an adjustment to 3a. Golder moved and Lavina seconded to propose table 3b. Unanimously passed.
Channels:
They appear willing to write in Bolton, and we are agreeable to that.
Equipment Funds:
Conversation centered on agreeing to the longer term of payments, but with an increased total amount paid to the town of Stow. This was a new take on the topic from our other discussions and so was concluded that we should temporarily end the call with Attorney August, for a committee only conversation.
Call ends at 8:25 pm
Equipment Funds: – committees only
Continued discussion confirmed the understanding that payments over a longer period of time were better for Stow TV, but that we should increase the total income in exchange for allowing Comcast to pay over a longer period of time.
Call with Attorney August resumes at 8:40pm
We started the call by going through the list of items where Stow and Comcast are in agreement: New Installs and reduced density, Building moving costs allocation, Additional drops at renovated buildings, Better senior discount,
Then we moved on to the items needing more discussion/clarification:
Equipment Funds:
After a brief conversation, all concur that Attorney August should counter offer a total payment of $93,000 over 4 years, with an understanding that the number will likely be negotiated lower.
Liquidated Damages and Performance Bond:
All are in agreement that we want Attorney August to push back on the proposal to only include the performance bond in the contract. Both are mentioned in other recently signed contracts, and the committee believes that liquidated damages are an essential part to getting Comcast’s attention should there be a lack of follow-through on agreed-to items in the contract. This is to be used as a bargaining chip with the language related to the customer service office.
Technical Standards:
The committee explained their perspective to Attorney August, and confirmed that we want to retain our proposed language in the negotiated contract.
INET:
We will be sending a revised paragraph to Attorney August which summarizes the committee’s position. The gist of the paragraph states that we want Comcast to keep INET where it is now, and continue working in the same manner.
Call with Attorney August concluded at 9:15pm
Approval of Minutes
Bernklow moved to accept the minutes of March 20th, Funkhouser seconded. Approved unanimously (Bernklow abstained)
Lavina moved to accept the minutes of April 10th, Glorioso seconded. Approved unanimously (Bernklow, Golder abstained)
Bernklow moved and Golder seconded that the meeting adjourn at 9:30 pm.
The motion passed unanimously.
Prepared by: _________________________________
Lisa Lavina
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