LG Davitian CCTV's blog

VAN ANNUAL MEETING
2 May 2008
Bennington VT

(Note from LGD: I was under the impression that I sent these already, so forgive duplicate posting if I did).

1. Introduction from Lisa Byer – She welcomed us and provided history of the CAT-TV historic building we are lucky enough to be meeting in.

2. Welcome from Chamber of Commerce – Spoke of all the great collaboration with CAT-TV including Xmas Tree trip to DC. Welcomes us back to Bennington to visit.

3. VAN Board Members
Rob Chapman, Pres/ Treasurer
Lauren-Glenn, Sec.
Dick Thodal, VP
Lisa Byers
Jeff Tolbert
John Bloch
Tony Campos

4. VAN Membership/ Challenges/ Protecting our Interests/ Funding
Points of Pain:
- Annual Reports on Line

South Portland- State Representative Lawrence Bliss is sponsoring LD-2133, An Act To Establish Consistent Consumer Protections for Cable and Video Programming Customers. Co-sponsors listed on the bill include Senator Lynn Bromley of Cumberland, Representative Jane Eberle of South Portland, Representative Stan Gerzofsky of Brunswick, Representative Bryan Kaenrath of South Portland and Representative Peter Rines of Wiscasset.

"I'm delighted to work with the Community Television Association and the Maine Municipal Association to move forward with this legislation that will protect municipalities and individual video broadcast users," said Bliss. "As technology continues to leap forward, it's important to make sure that everyone receives the best protection as well as the best service. This legislation will go a long way in that direction."

The bill has three primary benefits for municipalities and subscribers, first it makes clear that consumer protections with respect to television services delivered to the home over the public rights of way apply to any corporate entity, not just "cable" companies.

Second, it seeks the creation of a model franchise agreement by the PUC in consensus with video service providers. This model franchise would then be available for municipalities to use on a voluntary basis. Third, the bill amends and strengthens various consumer protection statutes related to television service.

A public hearing and a workshop on the bill have been held at the Utilities and Energy Committee and a modified version of the bill received an "Ought to Pass" vote following supporting testimony by the Maine Municipal Association and the Public Advocates office.

A revised draft of the bill will be heard by the Committee on Tuesday, March 4th .

Additional details of the bill's provisions include:
1. It holds new entrants to the same standards as current cable operators.
2. It clarifies credits and refunds for interruption of service.
3. It clarifies the complaint filing procedures for the subscriber.
4. It requires the operator to notify subscribers that they have a right to request only the basic, non-premium tier.
5. It requires the operator to notify the attorney general annually that it has distributed certain consumer information to subscribers.
6. It strengthens the subscriber privacy rights so that the operator cannot sell subscriber lists.
7. It directs the PUC to create by rule, standards to implement the provisions in this section.
8. It requires the cable operator to file copies of all Franchises with the PUC.

The Community Television Association of Maine is an affiliate of Maine Municipal Association and assists municipalities with issues related to local television access channels.

Tony Vigue
CTAM Acting Secretary
P.O. Box 2124
South Portland, ME 04106
(207) 767-7615
www.ctamaine.org

Comcast's Cohen To Issue PEG Apology To Congress
Will Admit Fumbling Plan Concerning Public, Educational, and Government Channels
Multichannel news
Ted Hearn
01/29/08

WASHINGTON - In a contrite statement, Comcast Corp. executive vice president David Cohen is planning to apologize to a House subcommittee Tuesday afternoon for fumbling a plan that required thousands of Michigan subscribers to obtain at least one digital set-top box to view local public, educational, and government (PEG) channels.

"In retrospect, we failed to communicate adequately our goals and to work cooperatively with our local partners to produce a `win' for everyone. This is not the way we want to do business - in Michigan or in the rest of the country - and I want to apologize for that," Cohen is planning to say, according to a copy of his testimony obtained Monday by Multichannel News.

Cohen is scheduled to testify before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.

Comcast's plan to move PEG channels to digital would have affected about 40% of its 1.3 million Michigan customers.
[...]
While Cohen's testimony had a conciliatory tone, he stressed that the entire planet is going digital and that Comcast is trying to reclaim analog capacity in a manner that did not inconvenience customers.

I am so sorry to create a problem after all of the effort involved in finding a date for our VAN Retreat, but I've been called to a meeting in Boston on Monday 8/27 and I cannot figure out how to get back to Vermont in time for our Tuesday retreat on 8/28 in N. Hero.

I am open all the other dates of that week.

I am wondering if we can revisit 8/30/ Thursday? So so sorry about this.

Please advise.

By Nolan Bowie | June 25, 2007

OVER THE air broadcast regulation now violates the spirit of the First Amendment's defense of freedom of the press.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/06/25/rewriting_the_broadcast_regulation_rules/

Broadcast regulation is still rationalized under an outdated assumption that the radio spectrum and channels are scarce resources, but new communications technologies -- cable TV, VCRs, DVD-ROMs, digital recorders, direct satellite broadcasting, PCs and the Internet, cellular phones, multicasting via digital compression of channels, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, HD radio, and using white space and spectrum hopping technology, smart antennas that electronically focus radio toward their intended targets for high speed broadband connectivity -- have successfully undermined all the old assumptions about scarcity.

If broadcasting is to continue to be regulated, a common carrier model like the one used for the Postal Service or transportation would allow the radio frequencies or airwaves to be made available to anyone on a first-come, first-serve basis and without censorship of content.

The scarcity rationale is a relic of the early 20th century that allows government to censor broadcasting by grants of exclusive licenses to some, but not to all. We now live in a world of channel or portal abundance, if not super-abundance. This is why it is increasingly difficult for traditional media to aggregate a huge mass audience.

There is actually no more or less spectrum now than ever before or will be in the future. Since the beginnings of the 20th century, no new spectrum has been added or subtracted from the universe. What has occurred since that time is that human beings have invented better communication technology, resulting in the more efficient and effective use of available spectrum to transmit interactive sound, data, text, and full-motion video.

Particularly during the past 20 years, the convergence or blending of traditionally different media, such as print, telephony (telephones regulated as common carriers) and broadcasting, has broken the boundaries and regulatory regimes that developed before the digital revolution arrived.

Common carrier regulation is generally associated with the Postal Service, public transportation, and such public utilities as water and electricity. Historically, this type of regulation has been applied to local monopolies in order to protect consumers from arbitrary pricing and substandard service. Government utility commissions would allow a fixed rate of return for the guarantee of universal service on a nondiscriminatory basis.

The Postal Service, for example charges everyone the same rate for a first-class mailing. Moreover, it does not censor the content of mail, except in extreme cases based on just cause.

Cable access TV services operate as common carriers. They provide access to community members on a first-come, first-serve basis and do not censor content. Moreover, different classes of users are expected to provide different types of programming content, e.g., public, educational and government programming.

In a like manner, all over-the-air broadcasting could legally be regulated as common carriers, sharing their facilities with others. The 1969 decision by the Supreme Court in Red Lion v. FCC made clear that no one has a First Amendment right to be a broadcaster and that the First Amendment rights of the viewers and listeners are paramount over broadcasters. Moreover, there is no property right in the broadcast license. Therefore, common carriage regulation of television could be phased in when current license terms expire after eight years.

On the other hand, Congress could amend the Communications Act to require the FCC to allocate spectrum now used by TV stations to "unlicensed broadband," thus creating the opportunity for the rapid deployment of ubiquitous wireless, high-speed broadband. This approach is more attuned to First Amendment principles, and, it would go a long way in spurring the economy, closing the digital divide, delivering better e-government and e-citizen services, better healthcare and emergency services, lifelong learning opportunities, and promoting national security.

Public policy and communication law simply have not kept up with rapidly changing and evolving technology. This has led to a situation where the old rationales for broadcasting regulation fail to pass muster on First Amendment grounds. If Congress does not see this First Amendment elephant in the room now, then when will it, if ever?

Nolan Bowie, a guest columnist, is an adjunct lecturer in public policy and a senior fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

by Colin Rhinesmith - Community Media in Transition
06/13/07 - Just a quick word on why RSS (Really Simple Syndication) really matters for PEG access TV centers that are posting (or thinking about posting) their video online. RSS feeds allow Internet video players (like Democracy) to subscribe to and deliver an access centers’ video to viewers on-demand. This is important because it provides a fairly easy distribution platform (and free as in Democracy: Internet TV) for PEG access TV centers looking to reach an audience on the web. This is also important for people like me who would like to have an easy way to find more access centers’ videos on the web.

I like Democracy because it provides a great way to search, find, and watch PEG access TV videos from centers like WCCA TV and CCTV right alongside other popular programs like NBC Meet the Press with Tim Russert. This is all made possible because these shows have made their RSS feeds available for subscribing to and watching via Internet video platforms like Democracy.

So if you’re at a PEG access TV center that is posting video on the web, please be sure to create an RSS feed for your online video so people (like me) can subscribe to them. If you don’t know how to create an RSS feed for your online video there are plenty of options. I would recommend visiting the “Publish Video” page on the Make Internet TV website. That’s a great place to start.
http://cmediachange.net/blog/2007/06/13/why-rss-matters-for-peg-access-tv/