November 19, 2007
MEMBERS PRESENT
Peter Blum, ChairmanRichard Curry Jr., Member
MEMBERS ABSENT
Lara Beck, MemberLoren Heger, Member
OTHERS PRESENT
Rick Maultra, Cable Communications
Al Aldridge, Bright House Networks
Cristy Tirotta, Cable Communications
Buz Nesbit, Bright House Networks
Ken Montgomery, Channel 16
Robert Gobetz, ETC
Chairman Blum calls the November meeting of the Marion County Cable Franchise Board to order.
There is no quorum so only the monthly reports will be heard.
The first order of business is the Agency report submitted by Mr. Maultra, Director of the Cable Communications Agency.
Mr. Maultra thanks the Board for the opportunity to highlight some of the things that the Cable Communications Agency has been involved with during the past month.
Both the IRIS (Indiana Reading & Information Services Grant) to benefit the sight impaired and the ETC Public Purpose Grants have been processed and the monies sent to those entities in the last couple of weeks.
As the Cable Communications Agency continues to negotiate the government access interconnection and carriage with AT&T the matter is under review by the Office of Corporation Counsel.
As reported at the last meeting, Bright House was non-compliant for the FCC measurement in answering their customer service lines in 30 seconds or less. This is a measurement that is measured quarterly by the FCC and the Agency has advised Bright House formally per the franchise agreement and the City’s Cable Code as to the non-compliance.
In completing its franchise fee audit for Bright House for the review period of 2004-2006, the City has advised Bright House that it deficient a total amount of $73,308. Bright House has been advised of the amount owed to the City and have been sent a copy of the audit review.
The Cable Communications Agency has been serving as a consumer advocate to Indianapolis and Marion County cable subscribers in assisting them in mediating cable complaints on their behalf.
That concludes Mr. Maultra’s Agency Report and remarks and he will answer any questions that the Board may have.
For the month of October, the Cable Agency received a total of 13 complaints for Bright House . The high areas of complaints were primarily with billing procedures. For Comcast , the Agency received 33 complaints since the Agency’s contact information has been taken off of Comcast ’s billing statement. The high areas of complaints for Comcast were derived from billing procedures and their telephone service.
The next item on the agenda is the Government Access TV Programming Report with Mr. Ken Montgomery, Manager of Channel 16.
Mr. Montgomery will go over the October 2007 Programming and Production Report that was included in the Board packets. Channel 16 completed 57 hours and 28 minutes of live and tape delayed meeting coverage for the month of October.
There were 26 hours and 44 minutes of specials and events production for the month of October. Channel 16 did 4 hours and 47 minutes of In-Kind Production for City-County/Government Agencies and 2 hours on Series Programs.
The total for new production in all categories was 90 hours and 59 minutes. The In-Kind Services were tracked at $5,395 for materials and services for the month of October if Channel 16 would have charged.
Mr. Montgomery has included an On-Line Archives Usage Report to track how the amount of requests for particular meetings.
With that, Mr. Montgomery will answer any questions from the Board.
The next item on the agenda is the Cable Operators Management Reports by Bright House Networks.
Buz Nesbit, Division President for Bright House Networks with Al Aldridge, Director of Public Affairs will present the Operator’s Management Report that was distributed to the Board.
Bright House began the month with 56,518 customers and ended the month with 55,528, giving a system total of 990 customers as a loss for the month of October.
On the incoming call report, Bright House handled 59,711 calls out of 60,015 calls received. 55,562 calls were answered in 30 seconds or less, which gave a call answer rate of 93.1% and a busy rate of 0.151%, as represented by them.
On the Complaint Summaries Report, there were 14 complaints from 11 customers.
100% of service interruption calls were addressed within 24 hours.
There were no planned outages, but there were 26 unplanned outages that affected 5,284 customers. The system reliability for the month was 99.96%, as reported by Bright House .
100% of total service calls were addressed within the next business day, unless as otherwise directed by the customer. There were no appointments kept outside of the 4-hour service window during normal business hours, unless requested by customer.
100% of standard installations were performed within seven business days after the order was placed.
There was construction done at Chatam Kynett Court during the month of October.
The Division was a sponsor of the CIRCLE CITY CLASSIC. This is the 23rd year that Bright House has sponsored this community event. They hosted former Heisman trophy and pro footballer, Eddie George and His wife Taj for the weekend. They anchored their float in this year’s parade.
Bright House also sponsored the La Plaza’s annual fundraiser. LaPlaza is the umbrella Hispanic community organization. This event raises scholarship dollars for Hispanic students to attend college. This year, the organization was able to provide full scholarships to 4 Students. This was Bright House's first sponsorship with La Plaza.
Bright House Public Affairs Director Al Aldridge was a guest speaker at the 2nd Annual IPS Alumni Hall of Fame luncheon. He also serves as the President of the IPS Education Foundation. This luncheon showcases graduates of IPS who have made successful careers. Notable inductees include; Actress Vivica A Fox, US Senator Dick Lugar, US Representative Julia Carson and Pro football player, Roosevelt Colvin.
As a way of helping to strengthen Bright House's Video On Demand (VOD) offerings, they sponsored the 2007 Heartland Film Festival. They were a Marquee Sponsor and the Title Sponsor of the Crystal Heart Awards. This ceremony honors an independent filmmaker or a group of filmmakers for their excellence in filmmaking. As a part of this sponsorship Bright House launched the Heartland on Demand channel where we showcased 10-Heartland Award Winning films, selected shorts and some documentaries.
The Division was one of the major sponsors of the Indianapolis Alzheimer’s Chapter 2007 Memory Walk. Their Division President Buz Nesbit and several BHN employees walked in the event and helped the organization to raise over $15,000 dollars.
The Division was a sponsor of the Hemophilia of Indiana ’s 2007 “Mystery Bus” fundraiser. The Division’s Director of Public Affairs was the volunteer attendee for the event. The Division also donated prizes for the silent auction.
Bright House was a sponsor of the History Channel’s “Take A Vet To School” project. They took several BHN Veterans and an employee who has a son in the military, to discuss the reasons for Veteran Day with over 150, 4 and 5 graders at Indianapolis Public School #51.
Bright House continues to support various community organizations with volunteers such as, the Indianapolis Public Schools Education Foundation, Gideon’s Gate, the Indiana Cable Telecommunications Assn., the YMCA, the 100 Black Men of Indianapolis, LEAD, Inc, the Coalition of 100 Black Women, Indianapolis Chapter and the Indiana Hemophilia Foundation, and IPS School 51.
There was no report submitted by ETC for the month of October.
Chairman Blum congratulates Mr. Maultra on his Ovation Award presented to him by the NATOA Board of Directors for his commitment and service to the association and members.
There were no public speakers.
Chairman Blum announces the next Board meeting on Monday, December 17th, 2007, at 2:30 PM in room 260 and adjourns this meeting.
___________________________
Mr. Peter Blum, Chairman
Ms. Lara Beck, Member
Mr. Loren Heger, Member
Mr. Richard Curry Jr.
Ms. Cristy Tirotta, Recording Secretary