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HomeMy WebLinkAboutICTC Agenda and Packet 2019-10-28 Agenda Iowa City Telecommunications Commission City Cable TV Office, 10 S. Linn St., Tower Place Parking Facility, Level 3A Monday, October 28, 2019, 5:30PM 1. Call to order 2. Approval of minutes 3. Announcements of Commissioners 4. Short public announcements 5. Municipal broadband research 6. REPORTS Consumer Issues City Cable TV Office Report 7. Adjournment If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate in this program/event, please contact Ty Coleman at 319-356-5454 or ty-coleman@iowa-city.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs. PRELIMINARY Iowa City Telecommunications Commission 09/23/2019 Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 4 Minutes Iowa City Telecommunications Commission September 23, 2019 – 5:30 P.M. City of Iowa City Cable TV Office, 10 S. Linn St. - Tower Place, Level 3A Call to Order:Meeting called to order at 5:35 P.M. Members Present:Matthew Brenton, Adam Stockman, Gina Reyes, Andrew Austin Members Absent:Kyla Paterson Staff Present:Ty Coleman Others Present: Recommendations to Council:​ ​None Approval of Minutes: Stockman moved and Reyes seconded a motion to approve the August 26, 2019 minutes as presented. The motion passed unanimously. Announcements of Commissioners: None. Short Public Announcements: None. Upcoming work of the Telecommunications Commission regarding municipal broadband: Austin summarized the meeting with City Council he and Stockman attended at the Council Work Session of September 17, 2019. He said that the Council seemed to start out opposed to the idea of exploring municipal broadband, but that they were in favor of researching whether resources should be devoted to investigating it thoroughly. Stockman said members of the Council were interested in the equity aspect of the topic. He said it would be good to keep an open eye towards other options that may be available that would help to address equitable access to broadband, whether or not it results in the pursuit of municipal broadband. Reyes mentioned the Council’s concern about the cost of infrastructure and said that the group could look at other options besides infrastructure. She noted the idea of mesh networking and the potential for working with existing internet providers as ways of addressing access to broadband without the challenges of the City building its own network. Austin said looking at the map of available service is important and that many hurdles can be overcome by implementation of technology. He said that bringing in competition would help to lower prices. Brenton agreed that coming up with solutions that provide affordable access to service will be necessary to increase the Council’s interest in pursuing the topic in greater depth. He mentioned one Council member’s point about internet access no longer being a luxury item, but being a necessity, and referred to a quote that suggested having access to the Internet today was like being able to read one-hundred years ago. Brenton referred to the non-profit organization Rural Tech Fund as a group trying to get access to those in rural areas, saying that internet access creates a huge difference in opportunity. Reyes said her son’s school uses online learning resources that can be utilized at home as long as someone has internet access. PRELIMINARY Iowa City Telecommunications Commission 09/23/2019 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4 Brenton referred to a group in Iowa City that was interested in doing some mesh networking, focusing around schools with a higher percentage of students without internet at home and distributing internet service to students in those areas using mesh technology. Austin said he wasn’t sure if the group was still meeting, saying it appeared their last meeting was over a year ago. He said the Commission could possibly pick up where the group left off. Coleman said he could direct members of the Commission to the meeting minutes where the community group had visited and discussed the work it was doing. Austin commented that the group’s focus on education was a very important aspect. Brenton said the group was called Community Internet Project - Iowa City. He said perhaps the group would be willing to provide the Commission with information about the work they did. Brenton said he knew one person who was connected to those who founded the group and that he would reach out to him. Stockman said he is interested to hear from other communities that have implemented municipal broadband and what they have done to address the digital divide. Stockman said the Commission would reach out to other communities to learn the factors that influenced their municipal broadband decisions. He said the group would plan to report back to the Council within six months to inform them of what they find. Austin said the Council was concerned about paying an outside consultant and said that having Commission members do some research can help to determine whether a consultant is necessary. Brenton recalled that one member of Council had stated it could cost more than $60,000 for a consultant to conduct a study. Brenton said many cities who have municipal broadband had infrastructure in place when they pursued it. He said that looking for cities who did not have existing infrastructure for broadband would be beneficial for the research process. Brenton said that each person could come to the next meeting with a list of similar cities who have deployed their own broadband networks. Stockman said it would be helpful to think of what questions should be asked to the cities identified. He said the group could also learn from any that may not have been successful. Brenton agreed that the group should come up with a standard set of questions. Coleman said that as the Commission was developing its proposal for directing its focus towards municipal broadband, he had begun putting together a survey that could potentially be sent to communities and that he could send it out to the Commission for their modification and use. He said a survey would offer an efficient way to gather some information. Austin agreed it was a good idea for members of the Commission to conduct some research and share it with the group at the next meeting. He said then they might start to see some direction regarding who to ask, what to ask, etc. Brenton said his impression was that the Council would like the Commission to provide them with options and general ideas regarding costs and challenges for each. Coleman said the group may want to consider forming a subcommittee at the next meeting to allow for more work to be done between meetings. He also suggested the group think ahead about the format for the report they would present to Council. Austin said he envisioned a written report accompanied by a representative from the Commission. Brenton agreed that a report that could be reviewed by Council ahead of a meeting with the Commission could work well. He suggested the group may want to create a presentation for the Council. Consumer Issues: Brenton referred to the issue in the monthly complaint report regarding a resident’s yard not being returned to its original condition following some work for ImOn that had been done recently and noted it PRELIMINARY Iowa City Telecommunications Commission 09/23/2019 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4 had been resolved. Coleman said he had been told that ImOn would be starting service to some residential customers in September, but was unaware of whether that had happened yet. Brenton said the Commission should consider ImOn’s expansion in Iowa City as the group looks into municipal broadband. Austin asked if ImOn would only be burying cable or if it would also be hanging some from utility poles. Coleman said it was much cheaper to hang cable than to bury it, so ImOn would likely hang cable wherever it is allowed. Austin asked if ImOn would be providing fiber-to-the-home or if it would only go to the block and then extend to homes via copper. Coleman said his impression was that ImOn would get fiber to the block and then connect fiber to the home once a resident has elected to become a customer. Mediacom Report: No discussion. Local Access Reports: Brenton said it was interesting to hear that Public Space One and Public Access Television were combining. Coleman said that the organization would be focusing on digital distribution and that the cable TV channel would no longer be used. He noted that he had heard of one news article implying that Public Access was losing its channel, but clarified that this was a decision made by the organizations. Brenton recalled that the Iowa City Public Library discontinued use of its channel due to the cost of maintaining cablecast equipment and the fact that more of its viewers were consuming content through the Library Channel’s web platforms. Coleman said he thinks the merger is a good solution to allow residents to have continued access to media creation tools. City Cable TV Office Report: Stockman asked about the list of most-viewed online programs, noting that the Welcome to Iowa City video had significantly more views than other videos and wondered if it had been shared with new students. Austin said he had seen the video, but couldn’t recall how he had come across it. Coleman said the video is on the front page of the City’s website. Coleman said the Cable TV Office would soon be starting up its Meet the Candidates project. He said that this year, the community would be offered an opportunity to submit questions for the City Council candidates. Coleman said he hoped this would increase engagement and help residents to learn about the election and the Meet the Candidates project. He said the project offers the community another way to learn about the candidates in an uninterrupted way, rather than hearing short soundbites or reading a reporter’s summary of what a candidate has to say about an issue. Adjournment: Stockman moved and Austin seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously. Adjournment was at 6:12 p.m. PRELIMINARY Iowa City Telecommunications Commission 09/23/2019 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 4 TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 12-MONTH ATTENDANCE RECORD Gowder Brenton Pierce 10/22/2018 x o x vacant x 11/26/2018 Meeting not held due to lack of quorum. vacant 12/17/2018 x o x vacant x 01/22/2019 Meeting not held due to inclement weather and lack of quorum. vacant resignation Stockman 02/25/2019 x vacant x x o/c Reyes 03/25/2019 resignation o/c x x x 04/22/2019 vacant x x x o/c 06/03/2019 Meeting not held due to lack of quorum. vacant 06/24/2019 vacant x x x o Andrews 07/22/2019 x x x x resignation 08/26/2019 o/c x x x vacant Paterson 09/23/2019 x x x x o (x) = Present (o) = Absent (o/c) = Absent/Called (Excused) ​ Approved Minutes Iowa City Telecommunications Commission February 26, 2018 – 5:30 P.M. City of Iowa City Cable TV Office, 10 S. Linn St. - Tower Place, Level 3A Call to Order:Meeting called to order at 5:34 P.M. Members Present:Derek Johnk, Paul Gowder, Laura Bergus, Matthew Brenton Members Absent: Staff Present:Ty Coleman Others Present:Gerardo Sandoval, Bond Drager, Bill Harshbarger, Chelsea Pfeiffer, Zara Peterson, Karen Michaeli Timmins Recommendations to Council:​ ​None Approval of Minutes: Brenton moved and Gowder seconded a motion to approve the November 30, 2018 minutes as presented. The motion passed unanimously. Announcements of Commissioners: Johnk mentioned that Bergus had indicated her time with the Commission would be ending when her term was up in July of this year. Johnk noted that there currently is a vacancy to be filled. He also said that if there are two vacancies following the expiration of Bergus’ term, the Commission would still have a quorum. Short Public Announcements: Commissioners introduced themselves to the members of the public in attendance at the meeting. Local access channel representatives who were present introduced themselves as well. Pfeiffer described a new initiative, called the Community Internet Project, she and others in the community were getting started. She said that the group was brainstorming ideas and researching existing initiatives in other cities, where public or community-owned Internet service providers (ISPs) are present, to investigate whether something similar would be possible in Iowa City. Peterson said the group is interested in getting a community ISP or a mesh network running that would provide Internet service to those who aren’t able to afford it. Johnk explained that providers who also provide TV service are required to enter into a franchise agreement. He mentioned that ImOn is a company who had begun to offer 1 ​ Approved business Internet services in Iowa City, but that they had not entered into the residential market for Internet or TV services. Gowder mentioned that some members of the Iowa City City Council had expressed interest in exploring the potential for municipal broadband. Gowder said the Telecommunications Commission has offered to make itself available to the Council when the issue can be placed on the agenda for a future Council work session. Johnk referred to a conversation he had with Susan Mims of the City Council, where she had pointed to Cedar Falls as an example. Johnk explained that one of the reasons the municipal broadband initiative in Cedar Falls was successful was that it already had an established municipal electric utility. He said that this may be an obstacle to creating a public Internet utility in Iowa City. Bergus said the topic of municipal broadband service has come up in the past. She noted that there is a lot of Internet infrastructure in Iowa City, but that very little of it is owned by the City. Bergus stated that this could be an additional hurdle. She said that the infrastructure is owned by multiple organizations who would most likely not have an interest in interconnecting for the purpose of creating a more robust and unified network. Bergus said she thought there had been some vendors in the past who were interested in setting up wireless equipment and that there seem to be a number of wireless networks in the downtown area, but that the Commission was not aware of the status of any current efforts for wireless networks. Bergus said the Commission’s regulatory authority was only for cable television, but that it can still serve as a voice to ISPs. Brenton said he had worked for a company who did mesh networking. He believed that as long as a network sticks to public bands, there would be no regulatory issues. Brenton stated that one problem is that there could be a lot of activity on the 5GHz band as well as the 2.4GHz band. Peterson said the group has had two meetings so far and have been discussing what the options might be. He said the group is considering mesh networking as a primary source. Peterson noted that one issue with mesh networking is that most terms of service prevent residential subscribers from sharing their Internet with others, outside their homes. He said that if the group was to work with businesses and public organizations who had strong fiber connections, they may be able to work with them to spread the Internet signal outward. Peterson said the group wants to also explore the idea of a municipal ISP, where existing dark fiber might be leased to either serve as the starting point for a mesh network or to create a broadband-connected ISP. Peterson expressed that the group wanted to connect with the Telecommunications Commission to learn more about what kind of municipal action could be taken to move forward with the Project. He said there has been a good amount of interest in the Project by those interested in information technology. 2 ​ Approved Pfeiffer wondered whether the City would consider the idea of municipal broadband given that it is currently involved in a lawsuit related to Internet service providers in Iowa City. She said that the University of Iowa Student Government is working on a proposal to the City to state its interest in municipal broadband. Gowder asked if the Student Government had spoken with the University. Peterson said they were in the beginning stages and may be awaiting results from a student poll to gauge student interest and support. He said that if a student lived outside the residence halls, they wouldn’t have access to University-provided service. Peterson mentioned that some downtown apartments require students to deal with Mediacom through their leases. Bergus said the Commission is available to the City Council to offer expertise, historical perspective, and research, though it may not currently be a political priority. Bergus explained that the revenue the City receives from providers is limited to cable TV. Coleman said that as cable TV subscribers reduce, the franchise fees provided to the City will be impacted. Bergus mentioned the 2007 change in Iowa law that removed a city’s ability to regulate individual cable franchises and that once the current municipal franchise expires later in 2018, the City’s authority will be further reduced. Bergus added that the formula for calculating franchise fees is based on revenues the provider generates for the services customers pay for, rather than simply being a rental of the right of way. The Commission expressed its excitement to see a group of community members emerge to discuss the topic. Gowder said that it is important for residents to be active and to tell the City Council what they want. Pfeiffer stated that she had read information provided by a local school that indicated one in ten student households did not have Internet access at home. She noted that some classes require Internet access for completing homework. Pfeiffer sees the Project addressing an education gap in the community. Drager stated that Mediacom does offer a discounted Internet service for homes with students who meet the requirements of the school’s free and reduced lunch program. Michaeli Timmins asked Drager if the Library kept data on the number of people who come to use the Internet. Drager said it did and that she could talk to a librarian to get that information. Drager also mentioned that the Library has been offering wireless hotspots and currently has 20 units available for checkout. Peterson said members of the group have been testing mesh nodes and can achieve successful transmission up to 600 feet from the source. He said that a mesh network could provide Internet access for students living close to their school if the school’s high-bandwidth Internet was used as a starting point. Peterson said that a school would have the terms of service that would allow them to spread their Internet, but wondered if service providers would change their terms of service if they knew that service was being extended to others outside of school hours. Bergus suggested that with the potential for additional Internet service providers entering 3 ​ Approved the Iowa City market, the Project would benefit from a direct partnership with a provider. Johnk recommended focusing on areas with the lowest income rates and the highest population density. Michaeli Timmins said the group had discussed the southeast portion of Iowa City. Peterson said that the need for this seems to be less dire as you get closer to the center of town due to the University’s wireless eduroam service and increasing wireless options in the downtown area. Peterson mentioned the group has brought up the Iowa City Marketplace as one idea as a good space for generating a wireless mesh network. Johnk suggested the Riverfront Crossings area as another area to consider, noting that income-contingent housing is being built there. Peterson suggested that a community-driven approach, wherein residents in an area could choose to put a mesh node in their home, providing access to neighbors who need it. He said that perhaps there would be a way to raise funds to assist those interested in putting a node in their home with the cost of purchasing the node. He reported that a household-level node costs around $100, while a more robust, professional-level node may cost $250. Peterson said he is unsure of whether this kind of system would have a legal status as an actual ISP or be simply recognized as a network. Peterson clarified that individuals with nodes would not be passing their own Internet service through the nodes, but would only be passing along a signal generated from a school. Johnk asked whether businesses might be considered. Peterson questioned whether a business would be willing to offer the service without a monetary component and said that a school would be less likely to expect users to pay for it. He said businesses would not be out of the question and some may be willing to put a node on their business for carrying the signal and helping to spread the network to a wider area. Peterson said there may be some businesses who have fiber in place or nearby, but the question comes down to who owns it. Johnk asked about a cooperative ISP approach. Peterson referred to South Slope Cooperative Communications in North Liberty. He said that his experience a few years ago with a cooperative seemed to provide average speeds that were closer to the speeds promoted within the service plan than what one might expect with a traditional ISP. Peterson said the group hopes to put together a brief synopsis of its goals and plans in order to talk with University or City officials. He said the group would also plan to gauge the interest of public institutions, churches, and schools and put together a rough map of a potential mesh network. Pfeiffer said the group will need to be flexible due to potential limitations on what can be done. Johnk suggested identifying a town of similar size and demographics who has been successful with a similar initiative. Bergus said the primary question is whether it would be possible to carry out an initiative as described without the participation of a commercial ISP, noting that at some point in the system, there would need to be a connection to a backbone. Peterson responded that the question is what led the group to also consider the potential for a municipal broadband utility. Bergus noted that municipal services would have First Amendment issues that commercial providers would not have. 4 ​ Approved Johnk stated that the Commission is in support of ensuring the people of Iowa City have more equitable access to the Internet. Pfeiffer said the group would meet next on March 10, 2018 at 2pm in Meeting Room B of the Iowa City Public Library. She suggested that anyone interested in the initiative should search for “Community Internet Project” on Facebook to find out more and to get involved. Consumer Issues: Johnk noted that one issue reported in the January 2018 consumer issues report was still unresolved. Coleman reported that the cause of the heavy data use measured by Mediacom seems to be unknown. He said that Mediacom’s measurements show extremely high usage, while the customer reports that she does not use anywhere close to the amount being measured. Coleman said that one complicated component of the situation is that, as high data usage has been measured over the past couple of years, overage fees have sometimes been charged to the customer; Mediacom has also recommended higher and higher service packages in order to raise the data limit. Johnk wondered if the problem was related to a network security issue. Coleman said network security had been investigated and malware scans had been conducted. Coleman said that local Mediacom staff reported the issue had been escalated to the Internet department, who stated they have confirmed that the measured amount of data usage is coming from the customer’s modem. The customer was present at the meeting and reported that her Internet service is slow and buffers frequently. She said that she conducts speed tests often. Drager suggested using a data meter on her devices in hopes of narrowing the high usage down to a particular device. Brenton recommended an application for Apple computers called Little Snitch. Drager mentioned a free, open-source application named BitMeter. Brenton asked if the customer had logged into the modem’s management portal to verify that all of the connected devices listed were ones that were expected. The customer responded that she had and found nothing unusual. Mediacom Report: Coleman said he received a letter from Mediacom that reported the local broadcast station surcharges would be increasing by 49 cents effective March 1, 2018. Coleman said the letter indicated that the local broadcast station surcharge was one of the most rapidly increasing fees Mediacom is charged. Mediacom stated it has continued to try to get the legislation changed to limit the surcharge. Coleman said Mediacom has expressed that it prefers not to raise rates, as it typically leads to a loss of customers. He said that often the public perception is that Mediacom is raising rates to increase profits, when, in fact, this is not the case with regards to this surcharge. Coleman also reported that local Mediacom staff had alerted him to an upcoming, scheduled service outage that would take place on February 28, 2018. The outage is necessary for the Windstream company to complete some fiber maintenance. 5 ​ Approved Local Access Reports: Sandoval reported that Public Access Television (PATV) had started a program called “PATV Underground.” He said that Public Space One is collaborating with PATV on the program. Pfeiffer asked whether PATV had worked with United Action for Youth (UAY). Sandoval responded that PATV is planning to conduct a kind of digital academy this summer in collaboration with UAY. Drager reported that the Library is close to completing its Digital Media Lab. Johnk suggested that the Commission should hold a future meeting in the Lab. Commissioners agreed that it would be a good idea. Drager said it might be best to wait until April before meeting in the space. City Cable TV Office Report: Coleman reported that the City’s new Media Production Assistant, Toni Ugolini, has been working as part of the Cable TV Office team since the beginning of 2018 and that she has been doing excellent work. He also presented that he plans to have Ugolini begin to create a series of short videos to highlight individual City boards and commissions, starting with those who have had vacancies for a long time. Coleman said the goal would be for the videos to help promote what a particular board or commission does, its role, and what it means to serve on it. Adjournment: Gowder moved and Brenton seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously. Adjournment was at 6:09 p.m. 6 APPROVED Telecommunications Commission 04/23/2018 Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 4 Minutes Iowa City Telecommunications Commission April 23, 2018 – 5:30 P.M. City of Iowa City Cable TV Office, 10 S. Linn St. - Tower Place, Level 3A Call to Order:Meeting called to order at 5:32 P.M. Members Present:Derek Johnk, Paul Gowder, Laura Bergus, Matthew Brenton, James Pierce Members Absent: Staff Present:Ty Coleman Others Present:Gerardo Sandoval, Chelsea Bacon, Bill Harshbarger Recommendations to Council:​ ​None Approval of Minutes: Brenton moved and Bergus seconded a motion to approve the March 26, 2018 minutes as presented. The motion passed unanimously. Announcements of Commissioners: The Commission and cable TV access channel representatives exchanged introductions with James Pierce, the newly appointed member of the Telecommunications Commission. Short Public Announcements: Bacon provided an update on The Community Internet Project presented at an earlier meeting. She said the group working on the project had tentatively decided to pursue an approach that features mesh networks around schools. Bacon said the primary reason for the project is that only 80% of students have reported they have Internet at home. She noted that in this statistic there is no differentiation between a student who has an Internet service provider and one who simply has a cell phone with a data plan and that it is likely even fewer students have service at home from a traditional provider. Bacon said members of the group had met with Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) information-technology staff who expressed interest in the project. Bacon pointed out that the group’s long-term vision is for community-wide access to the Internet, but said working with the schools will present fewer obstacles. She said the school district staff did not have concerns about security or bandwidth. Bacon said that in order to ensure that the Internet service offered through the school district would be used for school-related purposes, students would log into the network using their school logins. Bacon said that a pilot school would be chosen based on population density and concentration of free and reduced lunches. Bacon said the group is developing a survey for students in order for the group to assess the status of student Internet access. Gowder asked if the group had a sense about access to a computer for students. Bacon replied that the survey asks whether a student uses a desktop, laptop, tablet, or other mobile device to access the Internet. Bacon said the group was encouraged to hear that the ICCSD staff with whom they met did not seem to have any objections to the project and said that the ICCSD plans to purchase a backup Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the future, which would not require the use of the service to be school-related and therefore create the potential for use by the general community. APPROVED Telecommunications Commission 04/23/2018 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4 Harshbarger commented that if Iowa City was considering a municipal Internet service, using the same ISP that the ICCSD chooses for a backup provider would be ideal. Johnk said that there was not currently a plan by the City to pursue a municipal network. Gowder said the Commission has offered to be a resource to the City Council in the event that they would have increased interest in municipal broadband. Brenton asked if the Commission would be able to suggest to the Council that they move forward with investigating the idea of municipal broadband service. Gowder said the Commission could take the initiative to provide information to the Council. Bacon suggested that the Commission connect with the University of Iowa Student Government (UISG), which is working on a plan to express interest in municipal broadband to the City of Iowa City. Brenton noted that the more people who express an interest in the topic to the Council, the more likely the City Council might be to investigate it. Johnk said that one of the biggest logistical barriers is that the City does not own its own electric utility, noting that many others who have started a municipal broadband utility already had its own electric utility. Johnk said that the group’s approach of using a mesh network gets around this issue. Johnk said he liked the idea of getting information to the City Council and also said it would be good to reach out to the UISG and to invite them to a Telecommunications Commission meeting. Pierce noted that the leadership in UISG had recently changed hands and that this could be a good time to connect with newly-elected officers to talk about interest in municipal broadband. Pierce said he is willing to contact UISG. Bergus said she wants to be sure that any initiative of the Telecommunications Commission does not interfere with the progress the Community Internet Project group has made. She commented that she would like to see the group’s efforts succeed and hopes that it could be used as a model when the time comes to approach the Council. Bacon said she would stay in contact with the Commission and would continue to attend its meetings. Bacon said that the group will be getting the Internet access survey to students before the end of the school year. Bacon presented the survey questions to the Commission for its feedback. Questions included: the student’s grade, the student’s race/ethnicity, the student’s school, the number of hours per day spent using the Internet, the amount of time spent per day using the Internet for homework, whether the student has Internet access at home, what devices the student uses to access the Internet at home, and how often the student goes to a location outside of his or her home to use the Internet. Brenton suggested that a question be added to ask whether the student has homework that requires him or her to access the Internet. Bergus wondered if some students would understand what “the Internet” means, given that many now think of things in terms of apps like YouTube or Snapchat. Gowder wondered if students would have a clearer conception of “online” than “Internet.” Harshbarger said that if a student does not have Internet service at home, the group should be able to tell by the survey responses. Gowder suggested that the survey could ask whether a student engages in particular activities using the Internet at home, such as checking email or watching videos. Bacon said that a question could list several potential uses and ask students to check all activities that apply. Consumer Issues: No discussion. Mediacom Report: Coleman said he had not received any information from Mediacom. APPROVED Telecommunications Commission 04/23/2018 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4 Local Access Reports: Sandoval said that in the past it had been a challenge to get PATV users and guests to sign in upon arrival, but that PATV now uses a tablet to allow for easier counting of visitors. He reported that PATV had 1,700 people come to its facility last year to be part of a show, to produce a show, to use the edit bays, check out equipment, etc. Sandoval said that there continues to be an interest in and desire for public access television here in Iowa City and across the nation. Sandoval said PATV continues to have support from the community and that it recently held an “I Drag for PATV” fundraiser at Studio. City Cable TV Office Report: Coleman referred to the report the Cable TV Office had submitted in the meeting packet. Adjournment: Gowder moved and Brenton seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously. Adjournment was at 5:55 p.m. October 24, 2019 To: Iowa City Telecommunications Commission From: Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator (MPSC) Re: Cable Complaints September 2019 1.) Date: ​09/03/19 ​Method of contact: Phone call to MPSC Complaint/Comment Summary: Resident said that a month or two earlier, he had received a note that ImOn had accidentally cut a Mediacom cable on his property. He said that someone had come out to put up a temporary cable that had been hanging over his yard and sidewalk for a while and he wondered when it would be permanently positioned. Resolution Summary: MPSC contacted Mediacom’s Rick Karnes, who reported that the job had been given to a contractor and that it would be complete within the next couple of weeks. Karnes reported three days later that the work had been completed. Date of Resolution:​ 09/06/19 2.) Date: ​09/12/19 ​Method of contact:​ Phone call to MPSC Complaint/Comment Summary: Resident was concerned that his Mediacom bill was higher than the special pricing he agreed to when speaking with a customer service representative a couple of months ago. Resolution Summary: Resident had called Mediacom customer service recently to resolve this and was told by the customer service representative that there was no record of his call or agreement. MPSC contacted the customer service staff at the local Mediacom office. Mediacom’s Stephanie Poole reported that she reached out to the resident and was able to arrive at a satisfactory billing amount. Date of Resolution:​ 09/13/19 3.) Date: ​09/23/19 ​Method of contact:​ Voicemail to MPSC Issue/Comment Summary: Resident contacted the Cable TV Office to ask if there was a cable TV outage. Resolution Summary: MPSC inquired about the potential outage with Mediacom’s Rick Karnes, who confirmed that there was an outage and that a crew was in the process of resolving the issue. Service was restored later that day. Date of Resolution:​ 09/23/19 4.) Date: ​09/30/19 ​Method of contact:​ Phone call to Cable TV Office Issue/Comment Summary: City staff from the Forestry Division called regarding a low-hanging cable near an area where they planned to trim some trees. Resolution Summary: MPSC contacted Mediacom’s Rick Karnes, who sent someone to look at the cable and determined that the cable belonged to CenturyLink. MPSC contacted CenturyLink’s Tabitha Byrd, who reached out to CenturyLink staff to get it taken care of. CenturyLink’s Chad Sanasack had the cable raised. Date of Resolution:​ 10/09/19 5.) Date: ​09/30/19 ​Method of contact:​ Email to MPSC Issue/Comment Summary: Resident complained that his internet service rates had increased significantly, noting that while other area providers also seemed to have high prices, the cost of broadband service in Iowa City appeared to be much higher than other cities. The resident asked if there were alternatives to the commercial services available in Iowa City. Resolution Summary: MPSC provided information to the resident, noting that it is common for promotional prices to expire and for prices to go up after the first or second year. MPSC also explained that the City does not have regulatory authority over internet service rates. MPSC informed the resident of ImOn being a new provider that has been providing business services for the past two years and is now beginning to offer residential services as it builds its network in Iowa City. MPSC also mentioned the concept of municipal broadband and the challenges of creating a municipal network, while also informing the resident of the Telecommunications Commission’s current initiative to look into whether it makes sense for the City to hire a consultant to conduct a feasibility study. MPSC said that if the resident felt his rates had been raised more than the standard charge for his services, that the Cable TV Office could connect with the local customer service staff to see if there is a billing issue to resolve. No further communication was received from the resident. Date of Resolution:​ 10/01/19 Date: ​October 21, 2019 To: ​The Iowa City Telecommunications Commission From: ​Ty Coleman, Media Production Services Coordinator, City of Iowa City Cable TV Office Re: ​City of Iowa City Cable TV Office report for the October 2019 meeting Media Production Services Submitted by Jack Brooks, Special Projects Assistant, and Ty Colemani, Media Production Services Coord. Recent production activities: ●Coverage of the “Homecoming: Reentry Summit,” featuring a number of speakers and panels on topics related to reentering the community following incarceration. This event was a recipient of a Racial Equity and Social Justice grant from the Human Rights Office. ●Recorded and live streamed a City Council candidates forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Johnson County. ●Produced episode of ​Iowa City Update ​with topics that included the City’s Housing Rehab Grants/Loans, Your Best Lawn, and the Leaf Vacuum Program. ●Created PSA on a tree planting at Terry Trueblood entitled Growing Our Future and a new ​Bike Shorts​ video on how to plan a route. ●Completed half of a fall foliage series with drone footage of autumn colors on the west and south sides of town. Will be finishing up with east and north sides. Upcoming productions: ●Recording a training session for emergency response involving hot air balloons. ●Live streaming presentations at the Iowa City Climate Expo. ●Planning to record a new episode of the Iowa City Matters podcast on the variety of Housing Rehab programs and funds offered through the City. ●Working on a series of video in support of the Transit Study. ●Creating a video that highlights the City’s sale of two homes to the nonprofit Public Space One and how the space will be used for community arts. Programming and Interactive Services Submitted by Kevin Crawley, Communications Technician Recent and Upcoming Projects I've added a related videos section to our video player. A new algorithm uses a combination of titles, tags, and categories to suggest videos similar to the one being watched, and I'm pretty pleased with it. I've been working on my drone videography technique, and trying to provide the social media folks plenty of HDR aerial photography. Website: In September, there were 6,976 users accessing 11,886 pages in 9,638 sessions. Our most popular pages were Mediacom's channel lineup page, our home page, Mediacom's channel rates,our live-video page, our watch-online page, our program schedule, and the ICFRC program featuring this year's Mandela Fellows. On YouTube, we had 6,483 video views account for 18,845 minutes (314 hours and 5 minutes) of watch time. We added 29 more subscribers, and our current total is 703. Our most watched videos by views were Iowa City Update episodes on the 2019 Jinglecross, Dog Paddle, Housing Rehab and Tips for Renters, and the Prison Dog Training Program video, and the most watched by total viewing time were the live feeds of the City Council meetings of 9/17 and 9/3, and Iowa City Foreign Relations Council presentation on Neoliberalism, and the Jingle Cross episode of Iowa City Update. Programming: In September, we cablecast 125 programs produced in-house 756 times for 484 hours of programming, 47 locally-produced (DITV, Senior Center, Hoover Library, Task Force on Aging, Education Exchange and meetings of the JC Board of Supervisors, Coralville, North Liberty, University Heights, and ICCSD School Board) programs 126 times for 104 hours of programming, and 48 imported programs 153 times for 92 hours of programming. We also showed 134 PSAs 1141 times for 29 hours of programming. Programs Completed by the Cable TV Office in September 2019 ●2019 Friday Night Concert Series ○The Dawn ●2019 Taste of Iowa City ●2019 Taste of Market ●Bike Shorts: Planning a Route ●Emergency Response Training - Active Shooter Response ●How to deal with storm debris ●Iowa City City Council Meetings ○September 3, 2019 ○September 17, 2019 ●Iowa City City Council Work Sessions ○September 3, 2019 ○September 17, 2019 ●Iowa City Foreign Relations Council Presents ○Global Education Programs in Teacher Education ○Challenges of International Experience and Entrepreneurship ○Floods, Tariffs, Deals: An Update for Global Agriculture ○Wither Democracy in Brazil and Venezuela? ●Iowa City Update ○2019 Dog Paddle ○Housing Rehab Programs ○Iowa City Book Festival ○Jingle Cross & World Cup of Cyclo-Cross ○Rental Tips ●Market Music 2019 ○Mission Bluegrass Band ○Ron's One Man Band ○The Dandelion Stompers