NEWMARKET CABLE ACCESS OPERATIONS COMMITTEE

MEETING MINUTES

February 4, 2008 7:00PM

Town Hall Auditorium

The meeting was called to order at 7:01 PM. Absent were Kevin Burke, Matt Seaton and Anders Essley.

Chairman Doug Poulin opened the meeting by looking for public input, seeing none he closed the public input.

There were no non-agenda items.

There were no previous minutes that needed approval.

Doug pointed out that he has set up a web page on the Town's website to let citizen's submit their own slides for Channel 13. Several members felt that the page needed more instructions and Doug agreed.

Councilor Ploski said that sound quality and volume in Chambers was a concern. Doug pointed out that the company that maintains the equipment for the Town was due in to fix the speakers in the auditorium. Doug indicated that he would have them take a look at Chambers while they were at Town Hall.

Councilor Ploski stated that a citizen had called him to complain that during the broadcast on Internet Safety, an inappropriate slang term may have been used and broadcast. Mike suggested forming a subcommittee of this committee that would review shows before they were broadcast. There was a brief discussion on this. The committee will discuss this further at their next meeting.

Doug gave an overview of last year's budget along with a review of next year's budget, being cognizant of the fact that the Town is in the midst of the budget process, leaving any numbers in a state of flux. Doug pointed out that he had proposed an operational budget, as well as a Capital Improvement budget for the station noting that almost all the equipment is at least 5 years old and some will soon need replacement. Mike Ploski stated that he believed that the Council had approved a motion to take all Comcast franchise fees and assign them to the Channel 13 budgetary line items.

Doug gave an overview of the Comcast Franchise negotiations. He noted that a public hearing has been scheduled for February 19^th at Town Hall to gather more citizen input. Doug also said that the committee felt it would be wise to ask for an extension in time of the current agreement, since some items were taking longer than anticipated to resolve. Doug said the current contract expires in May of 2008, and he felt a 2 or 3 month extension would be adequate. Linda asked if were pushing certain issues with the negotiations, and Doug said that the committee was trying to focus on 5 or 6 large issues in an effort to stay focused to where we felt we had the most potential for impact. Doug realized this would disappoint some people, but there was simply no way to take up every issue and provide the necessary time and effort to fully resolve it.

In other business, Rich Alperin asked when we would stop playing “The Bay” during our slideshows. Doug indicated that Chris Williams was looking at other solutions and we would be trying some out soon. Doug said that citizen feedback to the other programming Channel 13 has been showing has been very positive.

The committee adjourned at 7:40 PM.