Back to Cable Advisory Committee Minutes
March 3, 2010
I. Call to order
Sandra Peavey called to order the regular meeting of the Hingham CAC at 7:00pm on 3/3/2010 in Hingham Town Hall.
II. Roll call
Eric Connerly conducted a roll call. The following persons were present: Eric Dresser, Jim Dellot, Rob Kirk, Katy Gallagher-Wooley, Sandra Peavey, Eric Gauthier, and Eric Connerly. Also present were Hull residents Peter Sites and Don Roine from the Hull community access channel and Peter McIntyre, Hingham resident and Kate Richardsson, government channel employee.
III. Open issues
A. Priorities for PEG
Mr. Sites and Roine discussed various strategies that had worked for Hull to build viewership, including focusing on high school sports to build a volunteer base for the public channel. They also urged acquiring a network attached storage system to simplify cataloging programming.
B. Government channel employee
1. Kate Richardsson introduced herself to the committee and discussed her available hours and schedule. She commited to regular office hours to attend to the maintenance of the government channel, including the bulletin board.
C. Status of government channel
1. Mr. Dellot indicated that the Board of selectmen room would be wired the weekend of the 14th.
2. Mr. Dellot indicated he had submitted Access AV's bid for the anycast equipment; he also indicated that a request for bid would be posted in the Patriot-Ledger.
D. Public Access Forum
1. Various strategies to publicize the public access forum were discussed, including posting in the newspaper and library.
2. Also discussed was posting on the channel's bulletin board.
3. Mr. Dellot and Mr. McIntyre agreed to collaborate in taping an advertisement for the forum.
E. Warrant article at town meeting
1. Discussion of the illegality of having a warrant article implying rate reduction for cable subscribers. The language of the warrant will need to be altered to prevent the town getting sued.
2. Discussion of the ramifications of passing the warrant article as worded – it would reduce the town's negotiating position, necessitate the refunding of money to Comcast and prevent the installation of any additional i-Net sites unless the taxpayers agreed to fund the connection and maintain the network directly.
F. Next meeting – was set for the Wednesday following town meeting.
IV. Adjournment
Ms. Peavey adjourned the meeting at 9:00 pm.
Minutes submitted by: Eric Connerly