6
Jun
2023

May 7, 2023 Minutes

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 Cable Television Advisory Council

Minutes for Wednesday,
May 7th, 2023 6:00 pm
Monthly Meeting– ZOOM

Attendance:     Johnes Ruta, Chair (New Haven)
George Alexander, Treasurer, (Hamden)
Peaches Quinn, Advisor, (New Haven)
Tom Costa,  Advisor  (New Haven Library System)
Melissa Canham-Clyne, Advisor  (Hamden)

  1. Call to order 6:07 pm
  2. Welcome and Minutes –
    a.  Johnes will write Minutes for May 7 meeting.
    b.  There were no April Minutes because only Johnes and Tom were in attendance, and no quorum
    was achieved.
    c.  March Minutes by Tom. No changes have been requested. Tom Costa makes Motion to approve the
    March Minutes as submitted. Johnes seconded. Unanimous approval.III.
  3. Treasurer’s Report (George Alexander)
    a.      Present Funds Balance:  $6,655.42.
    b.  Year-to-date expenditures:  $0.00.
    c.  Johnes moved to accept the Treasurer’s Financial report. Mr. Costa seconded. Unanimous approval.IV.       CTV – Executive Director Joseph Schofield, not in attendance
  4. Joseph Schofield’s email is non-operational.
    b. The CTV offices on state Street are still closed to the public since onset of Covid-19. The video studios
    are not available to producers.
  5. Comcast –– Comcast Representative Amy Horan, not in attendance. No email messages received in February.


However, George reads letter from a Comcast subscriber named Luay Szigeti at 2420 Whitney Avenue,
Apt A7, Hamden 06518, about an incident in March 2020 during a service call, stating that a Comcast serviceperson working on wiring on the street verbally assaulted the subscriber. George describes that this
notice came as a greeting card  to the CTAC P.O. Box at Brewery Street Station, dated September 2022.
In her letter to CTAC, Ms. Szigeti states her age as 60 years, and that she had previously complained of this
incident and discussed this with Comcast Customer Service, but as of Sept 2022, there had yet been no sub-
sequent follow-up to her from Comcast. We as a council discuss the seriousness of this complaint, and
determine to contact the subscriber, and our Comcast rep Amy Horan.  Melissa agrees to contact the subscriber and to follow-up with our Comcast rep.

  1. Old Business

a    CTAC Public Service Announcement, recorded in early 2020, with the CTAC members at that time,
has not yet been released to run on the air at CTV. PSA.
b.  Since the Dec. 2022 resignation of Yvonne Manning-Jones CTAC Facebook page, will now be attended
by George Alexander, along with his work on the cableadvisory.org website, which is presently up-to-date.

c.   Johnes asks about any outstanding CT Legislative Bills and/or Amendments. Peaches says she has been
continuing research on Legislative activities, and has read through 30 Bills for any amendments having
to do with cable TV, CTV, or the Cable advisories of CT. Johnes inquires the names of legislators now
on the Energy & Technology Committee; Peaches recommends review of website  cga.ct.gov for updated
list of committee members – see Committees link to Energy & Technology, then Membership.
But that the Legislature is now out-of-session until the September-October 2023 time-frame. West Haven
(in our district) has a Committee  member named Charles Ferraro (R).

However, the department that CTACs report to, namely the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority
(PURA) is under the authority of the Executive Branch of the State of CT, not the Legislative.

The legislative Bill SB-16 regarding PURA’s authority, had been amended after the end of the previous
       Legislative Session by certain legislators seeking to terminate cable franchises required funding of
Community Access channels and Cable Advisory Councils in Connecticut, but these amendments
were detected by editing Overseers, so that the entire Bill had been canceled in this session pending
a rewrite.

VII.      New Business
a. Note from previous Minutes: The membership of CTAC for Hamden, New Haven, West Haven is still
presently incomplete. This is discussed, and we agree that we need to develop new strategies for recruitment
to our Council especially for West Haven which presently has no representation with us. We need further
outreach for membership for to Boards of Education for school systems, one for each city in our district.
VIII.    Subscriber Issues

  1. Note from previous Minutes: Subscriber Correspondence: Difficulties with the GoDaddy website make
    it hard to access  complaints. The site suffers a large amount of spam. A filter is needed.

  2. Next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, June 6, 2023 6:00 pm, possibly for an outdoor dining meeting, at
    Wood n Tap, Hamden restaurant location.  (Reservations made for six members.)
  3. Meeting Adjourns at 6:44. Melissa Canham-Clyne makes Motion to Adjourn. Peaches Quinn seconded.
    Unanimous approval.

Minutes for May 7th, 2023 meeting respectfully submitted by Johnes Ruta,  05/30/2023.