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Home My WebLink AboutMarch 20, 2003THE MINUTES OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Fiwivi THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2003 The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Dennis Stroik, Chairperson. U(lT T (~' AT T (`.,,Y„Y,;~~;.,,, T~T~.,Y,1•.or~ 1~V LL 1.. L1LL. UVlllllllp Jlll111Y1.~111V41J Council Representative City Representative: Comcast Rep: APPROVAL OF MINUTES TlAnnic Ctrnil- Tl.lc~n T/T~~lnnAC~ Tlr3n ~Tnnlra Rnh Rll~nlt~r L V11111J IJ Lt V111, LILVV lYlu11V 11V,', l~i/1111V11.LlV, LVV LuVVi~t~, and Brad Peterson. Bruce Nawrocki-Excused Absence Jean Kuehn Kathi Donnelly-Cohen Motion by Dennis Stroik, second by Brad Peterson, to approve the minutes from the meeting of October 17, 2002. All ayes. OLD BUSINESS A. Channel Check Everything was ok. B. Correspondence Log and Complaint Follow Up. John Hunter, 1009 42 '/2 Ave-When his cable was installed, the line was connected to his antenna in the attic and not directly to his television so the picture quality was not the best. A service technician corrected the connection and the problem was resolved. Liz Fife-4510 Madison St-After receiving a call. from Telemarketer regarding her cable service, she decided to take advantage of a promotional offer for a special digital package for 3 months free and was told. her picture quality would. be improved. When she received the bill. it was for more than was quoted and felt she had been deceived. The company contacted her again, restored her service to what she originally had and credited her for the amount she had been billed. Adele Sperl-5243 5th St-She received a billing stating the company had not received her Aug payment. She then sent a notarized copy of the canceled check and was assured it would be credited. When she received her next billing, it still had not been corrected and late fees had been added. Her account was credited the correct amount. Jim Cleasby-4346 7th St-Complained his rates had been increased with no notice to him and that he received a credit for $4.50 fora "utility error" with no explanation either. Kathi Donnelly- Cohen sent him a letter explaining the credit of $4.50 was for franchise fees that had been paid for cable modem service that no longer was being charged to subscribers. She went on to explain that rates did increase and that notices were sent to subscribers. She enclosed another notice to him and explained that the notices were sent through the mail, and she has no way of verifying whether he actually received it or not. TELECOiviiviuiviCATivivS COiviiviiSSiON iviiivuTES MARCH 20, 2003 PAGE 2 C. Notice from October for Change in Analog A notice was received regarding changes to the Analog Service. Previously, premium channels were switched over to just the digital service and now pay per view channels are also being converted over to just digital service subscribers. Affected subscribers were also notified. D. Update from School District #13 An e-mail was received from Ruth Dunn at School District #13. The purpose of the message was to inform the City and Commission members about the TV production that is taking place at the high school. She also stated that a new SCALA system was in place and that programming on the Educational Access Channel has been greatly improved. E. Notice from December regarding Name Change for Cable Company Since the merger of AT & T and Comcast is now complete, the name of the new company is Comcast of Minnesota, Inc. Cable service will now be provided by this company and will operate under the name "Comcast". F. Notice from December regarding High Speed Internet Access A notice was received regarding high-speed Internet access connections. All. new cable modem customers after December 10, 2002 are being connected to the World Wide Web via the Comcast.net platform. Customers prior to that date will continue to be served by AT & T Broadband Internet. The prices for these connections were detailed in the notice. Eventually all customers will be switched over to the Comcast.net platform. The commission will be updated as changes are implemented. G. Notice from December regarding Pricing Changes for some Services Rates were increased effective January 2003 for certain Broadband services. Customers were notified via postcard of the changes. There were no changes to the price of basic cable, equipment, installation charges, Internet service or phone service at this time. H. Notice regarding Change of Pricing for Internet Services A notice was received regarding price increases for current Internet customers who do not purchase any AT & T Broadband Cable Services effective in February. It should be noted that more than. 90 percent of Internet customers also choose to receive cable service, so this increase will not affect them. I. Franchise Fees for 3rd and 4"' Quarter 2002 received. Enclosed in the agenda packets were copies of the checks received for the third and fourth. quarter franchise fees collected. TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES MARCH 20, 2003 PAGE 3 J. Other Oid Business None NEW BUSINESS A. Handling of Customer Complaints Kathi Donnelly-Cohen explained the team that has been established to respond to complaints such as those that come from cities, PUC, FCC or other organizations on a subscriber's behalf. With the team approach, complaints can be resolved quickly, as there is always someone available to resolve the problem. B. Other New Business * Ken Henlce had received a letter from Comcast and questioned what "Comcast presence in your neighborhood" meant. Kathi explained that the company will take an active role in local community events and will sponsor special programs throughout their service area. * The question was asked whether Police still could override and broadcast an emergency alert message. Kathi explained that, yes, they can in certain circumstances. However, certain messages must be authorized by higher authorities, such as the BCA. She went on to explain that Comcast tests the emergency system once a week, the FCC tests it once a month, and Broadcast Channels have to test the system at various times throughout the year. * Dem~is requested we have election of officers at the next meeting. And he would like to discuss the annual dinner held for the commission members and get opinions on whether to continue having it. RF.PnRT~ A. Report of Commissioners Education-Dennis has been in contact with Ruth. Dunn and the school district continues to produce programs and put appropriate messages on the access channel. Library-Nothing to report Public-Nothing to report Government-Nothing to report TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MINTES 1V1A1~ri11 2V, 2VV3 PAGE 4 B. Report of Comcast- The reports for October, November, December 2002 and January and February 2003, were included in the agenda packets. Kathi Donnelly-Cohen brought some of the surveys that were recently mailed out to subscribers for inclusion in the Annual Report. She stated that approximately 350 (or 10%) of the surveys were returned. She again. went on record that this is not a productive effort and shows nothing of value. She reviewed some of them for the commission members and noted the inaccuracies. Subscribers didn't know what service they had, or how much they were paying a month. The Commission members agreed that no useful information. was obtained for either the cable company or for the city. Kathi also passed out copies of newspaper coverage concerning an investigation of cable piracy taking place in California and an article regarding the refund of franchise fees for Time Warner cable-modem customers in California. C. Report of the Cable Attorney Legal Counsel was not present, as the issues being discussed did not require legal opinion or clarification. D. Report of the Special Projects Coordinator Jean passed out a memo from Tracy Schaefer, Assistant to the City Administrator in Shakopee. She explained the Fiber INET Partnership with Shakopee School District and Scott County. Time Warner was unable to meet their needs so they formed a joint powers agreement and created their own for a cost savings to all involved. This information was provided as a follow up to Mr. Nawrocki's comment concerning this project at the last meeting. Motion by Ken Henke, second by Dave Mahoney, to adjourn the meeting at 7:45 pm. All ayes. Respectfully submitted, Shelley Hanson Secretary