Johnes

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: October 2, 2013

Call to order: A regular monthly meeting of the CTAC was held at CTV, Hamden,
Connecticut on October 2, 2013. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy acting secretary.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH)

George Alexander, Treasurer (H)

Don Levy, (H)

Johnes Ruta, (NH)

Peaches Quinn, (NH)

Joseph Schofield (CTV)

Sharon Codeanne(Comcast)

Chairman Weinstein called the meeting to order at 6:05. A motion was made by Johnes Ruta to accept the minutes of the September 11 meeting. Joe Schofield of CTV pointed out that the minutes as presented failed to accurately reflect the current status of the PROPETIA funds for FY 2013-2014 and FY 2014-2015. Mr. Schofield noted that all of the PROPETIA funds for FY 2013-2014 had been exhausted and that all of the PROPETIA funds for FY 2014-2015 had been repurposed by state lawmakers to help close a projected budget shortfall. Mr. Schofield suggested that the minutes be corrected to reflect the current status of the FY 2014-2015 funds. Mr. Schofield also pointed out that before the 2014-2015 funds had been reappropriated to the General Fund he had been planning to submit a grant proposal on behalf of CTV. Acting Secretary Don Levy indicated that he would correct the minutes of the September 11 meeting to incorporate Mr. Schofield’s corrections. The motion to accept the minutes as amended was made by Mr. Ruta, seconded by Ms. Quinn and passed.

Sharon Coneanne presented the Comcast report. The report reflected two Community Relations initiatives and three marketing changes. The Comcast report indicated that as of November 1, 2013 the reactivation fee for XFINITY TV will increase from $5.00 to $6.00.

George Alexander remarked that he had received a letter from a local Comcast subscriber complaining of being assessed a fee to fix an equipment problem which interrupted his/her service. Ms. Codeanne indicated that Comcast only charges fee to re-establish service if and when the problem was caused by a failure in the customer’s equipment. She indicated she would investigate the specifics which led to this customer’s complaint.

Joe Schofield noted that the CTV staff had produced a live broadcast reporting on the outcome of the recent primary elections in the CTV viewing area. He said the CTV cablecast had been professional and well received and that CTV will also cover the general election on Nov. 5, 2013. The CTAC members informally thanked CTV for
providing an important pubic service by covering these elections. Joe also updated the CTAC members on CTV’s efforts to provide ATT U-Verse customers with CTV-originated programs. Joe pointed out that he hopes that cables are already available to allow ATT customers to receive CTV programming when CTV moves into its new home in January of 2014
The board revisited the discussion regarding the contest CTAC is planning which would provide cash awards to outstanding student-produced video projects. The board will meet at 5:30 on November 6 to discuss each topic.

Chairman Weinstein provided copies of the proposed agenda for the discussion of the proposed CTAC video contest. Treasurer Alexander gave his report indicting that CTAC maintained a balance of $11,712 in its account. He also said that he anticipated the addition of a new Hamden member to the CTAC board to fill a current vacancy.

The October regular meeting of CTAC was adjourned at 7:03.

Respectfully submitted by D. Levy, acting CTAC secretary

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: September 11, 2013

Call to order: A Regular meeting of the CTAC was held at CTV, Hamden, Connecticut
on September 11, 2013. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy acting secretary.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH)

George Alexander, Treasurer (H)

Don Levy, (H)

Johnes Ruta, (NH)

Peaches Quinn, (NH)

Joseph Schofield (CTV)

Chairman Weinstein called the meeting to order at 6:05.

Approval of Minutes of August 6, 2013. Motion was made by J. Ruta and seconded by P. Quinn. Motion carried.

Joe Schofield reported that CTV has closed on its new building on Lower State Street in New Haven, adjacent to its old studio. CTV will be hiring a contractor to move equipment and should be ready to begin limited production in January. CTV has accepted the services of a New Haven architectural firm on a pro bono basis. The decision has
been made not to undertake any substantial renovations to the building until after the move is complete in order to better determine what changes to the building will need to be made. The most important decision will be to determine if the studio will be constructed on the first or on the second floor.

J. Schofield indicated that there will be a space in the new building suitable for CTAC to hold its monthly meeting, and he said CTAC is welcome to use the space for its monthly meetings. He also said that he is looking forward to overcoming the technical issues which heretofore have blocked AT&T from carrying all three channels of CTV local
programming on its cable system in the three communities.

D. Levy asked J. Schofield if he had learned whether or not any of the funds set aside from subscriber fees intended to provide grant money for equipment purchases throughout Connecticut to encourage the production of local programming (the PEGPETIA Grant Program) were still available. Schofield said that all of the 2013 funds had been reallocated to cover a projected deficit in the Connecticut General Fund. Schofield indicated that he was working through local elected officials to determine if there would be funds available in the 2014 fiscal year to support a grant request he was planning to submit on behalf of CTV. The fact that there is currently no money for 2013
PEGPETIA grants makes moot the CTAC plan to encourage local applications.

T. Weinstein reminded the members that the CTAC Secretary Jennifer Sacco was absent due to the birth of her healthy baby earlier in the week. D. Levy made a motion to send J.Sacco a token of CTAC’s appreciation of her work over the years by sending a baby gift. A discussion followed as to the administrative appropriateness of such a gift. It was
decided that precedent had been set with CTACs small gifts to acknowledge the passing of former board members. A motion to allocate funds for a gift certificate from Baby Gap was made by D. Levy, seconded by P. Quinn and passed unanimously. P. Quinn indicated that she would purchase the gift card and would send the receipt for Treasurer
George Alexander for reimbursement.

The board revisited the discussion regarding the contest CTAC is planning which would provide cash awards to outstanding student-produced video projects. It was decided that T. Weinstein and P. Quinn would brainstorm to establish a series of issues which need to be addressed prior to making public the news of the CTAC Video Contest. The board will discuss each topic and then vote on whether not to adopt the proposed rule. They will report their progress at the October meeting.

The September CTAC meeting was adourned at 7:04.

Respectfully submitted by D. Levy, acting CTAC secretary