November 3, 2021 Minutes

Minutes from the Cable Television Advisory Council

Zoom Monthly Meeting for November 3, 2021

Advisors Present:                                                   

Peaches Quinn       (New Haven) – Chair

George Alexander (Hamden) – Treasurer

Tom Costa           (New Haven Library System Representative)

Laurel Colman       (Hamden) – Vice-Chair

Johnes Ruta           (New Haven) – Secretary

Yvone Manning Jones – Advisor (New Haven)

Sharon Codeanne (Comcast Representative)

Advisors Absent:

Melissa Canham-Clyne   New member – (Hamden Library System Representative)

Anthony Cardo (Hamden) – Assistant Secretary

6. Call to Order 6:03 PM, , Zoom Roll Call, and Review of October Minutes
   
   Draft of Minutes had been distributed October 24, with request for any member’s
   modifications. No modifications have been requested. Secretary Johnes Ruta had
   released October Minutes by email to members as “Final.”

   Yvonne Manning-Jones makes a Motion to Approve the October Minutes.
   Tom Costa seconds this Motion. Vote is unanimous, carried.

   II.  Treasurer’s Report

   George states that the September balance of CTAC funds was $5,006.30, and was reduced by the dinner check of the October 6 meeting at Ristorante Luce’ in Hamden
   by $570.34, including service tip, to the current balance of $4,435.79.

   Peaches makes Motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report; Johnes Seconds this Motion.
   Vote unanimous, and carried.

III.     CTV – Citizens Television

*   Joe Schofield, Exec Director of CTV has not communicated with CTAC.
Laurel reports that the CTV studio has not yet reopened to the public or for
CTAC meetings.

 

10. Comcast Report – COMCAST Report – Representative Sharon Codeanne attending.

    Community Impact

    • Comcast has provided a $15,000 MyFuture grant and a $25,000 Lift Zone Opportunity Fund   grant to the Boys & Girls Club of New Haven
    • Comcast has provided a $15,000 Digital Equity grant to LEAP
    • Comcast has provided a $10,000 Internet Essentials Digital Skills grant to the New Haven       Free Public Library
    • Comcast has provided a $5,000 grant to ARTE, Inc.
    • Comcast has provided a $2,500 grant to Concepts for Adaptive Learning
    • Comcast has provided a $5,000 grant to the United Way of Greater New Haven

    Programming Updates

    • Effective November 16th G4 will be added to Digital Starter and the Entertainment Genre        Pack
    • Effective December 31st NBC Sports Network will cease operations.

    Sharon asks the question of where to send the 2022 Comcast check for this Cable Television
    Advisory Council support, as this will normally be sent to George Alexander the Treasurer,
    and George will be moving his residence at the end of January to a new apartment location, also in Hamden ?   George responds that he will notify Sharon of his new address.

    Peaches Quinn asks about the “Rise” Program Grants for minority-owned businesses,
    and how these will be processed?Sharon replies that these grants will be processed through
    a designated bank in our district, specifically the Cross Point Credit Union.

    Peaches asks Sharon about the outstanding case of a Comcast subscriber with a so-called
    “revolving-door penalty” for compounding late charges on one payment that was late ?
    Sharon states that this case is being investigated by the accelerated Customer Service
    supervisory.  Tom Costa asks if there is a Customer Service telephone number on the
    Comcast Bill ? Sharon answers that yes there is a valid number. Sharon further states that
    it is the customer’s responsibility to read their Bill..   And also that Comcast will sent a
    notification of a shutoff before the scheduled termination.

    George asks Sharon whether New Haven possibly offering “City-Wide High-Speed WiFi ?
    Sharon replies that she will look into this possibility.
    Sharon Codeanne reports: “PURA has done-away with Franchise Agreements legislation –
    substituting with a “Certificate of Franchise Authority” which must offer services in
    accordance with CT State Law.   Regarding other cable options in the New Haven 3-town area, Comcast also offers pole-by-pole RENTAL, requiring payment for each pole carrying
    other Cable company lines.

    Peaches asks Sharon what is the so-called “Internet Adoption” ? Sharon explains that it
    is also called “Internet Essentials” – a plan of $10.99 per month for low-income households.
    This retains the video quality of “29 down and 3 up.” (?)

    Peaches asks Sharon the status of the Data-Caps limits to 300 Tera bytes per month on
    internet download usage. This was a new Comcast policy proposed in the months before
    the Covid-19 quarantine public shut-down, and had been prospectively blocked by a Legislative Bill put forward by Governor Lamont, which had died with the end of the 2020
    Legislative Session. Sharon replies that there is no current plan to implement Data-Caps.

    Peaches asks Sharon about wording changes on the State-wide Advisory documentation.
    Sharonwill investigate this issue.

    V.    Frontier Cable Report

    Peaches Quinn reports that she was unable to attend the State-Wide Cable Advisory meeting due to her family health issues at that time. Therefore, she has no new to report of this meeting.

    George Alexander states: “Frontier Customer Service is totally uneducated. Example:
    the rep advised a customer to only reboot their router when actually a tree had fallen
    on the wires during a wind storm. The Service man did not fix the phone even though
    there was no dial-tone.” George posted a Public Complaint on the Nextdoor blog.

    VI. Old Business

    By-Laws:
    A new By-Laws document was edited by Johnes Ruta, clarifying a policy to allow
    CTAC members representing district City Library Systems and Boards of Education
    even if they live in a different town that their system. Also to clarify to allow members
    of each town in the district, where previous By-Laws rules were unclear on this allowance.
    Peaches makes Motion to approve By-Laws document. George seconds this Motion.
    Vote – all in favor. Carried.

    Yvonne reports that she has contacted the City of New Haven Mayor’s Office for a
    link on the City website to CTAC website and Minutes pages.

    The CTAC PSA – Laurel reports that the CTV video PSA is not yet on the CTV channels
    26. 27, or 96. But there is a mention of CTAC reference on a CTV Notice-board.

    George has updated the CTAC membership webpage with the new By-Laws and the Minutes
    now up to date.

    Broadband Access: Tom and Melissa were waiting for the Mayoral elections of Tuesday
    November 2^nd to be settled before contacting their respective City Halls about this issue.

    VII New Business

    CTAC records archiving:
    Tom Costa presents three opportunities for long-term storage of CTAC documents running back to the early 1990s, that George transferred in two boxes to Johnes on October 6 for disposition: Tom’s options:
    1. Materials to be stored in New Haven Local History Archives in the New Haven Ives           Library.
    2. Hamden Public Library Historical Room – storage would be cost-free. Melissa will
    pursue this possibility.
    3. New Haven Museum – preservation archives. What would be the limitations of this           option?

 

 

Question: are these papers and documents in chronological order ?   Johnes will check.

The December CTAC Meeting will not be a dinner, as was done in October.
Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday December 1^st at 6:00 pm via ZOOM.
Peaches makes Motion to accept this plan, concerning the CTAC budget. Johnes seconds this Motion. All in favor.

Peaches makes Motion to adjourn presnt meeting at 7:30 pm. Johnes seconds. Carried.

November 3, 2021 CTAC Minutes respectfully submitted by Johnes Ruta, Secretary CTAC
on Friday November 26, 2021.