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Cable TV Advisory Committee

Meeting Minutes

Hingham Community Access and Media

Committees: Cable TV Advisory Committee

2010 Annual Report

During the first part of 2010, the Committee focused on updating and enhancing the Town's ability to broadcast meetings over the Government Access Channel. Funds for this were provided by capital payments and operational support payments made to the Town by Comcast and Verizon as part of their franchise agreements with the Town. Comcast began paying the Town 4.5 percent of its Hingham cable subscriber revenues in August 2009 for operational support, and Verizon began paying the same percentage in January 2010. The money provided to the Town by Comcast and Verizon can only be used to support Public, Educational, and Government ("PEG") Access cable television, and is not available for the General Fund.

The first order of business for the Committee was to get the Government Channel operational in Town Hall, to set up the Bulletin Board on Channel 10, and to have a Town employee assigned and trained to operate the channel. Cable funds were approved to fund 10 hours a week for a Town employee to run the Government Channel. The Committee prepared a job description, and operations began.

Early in the year, the Committee solicited bids for the upgrading of recording and broadcast equipment in the Selectmen's Meeting Room to improve the quality of Selectmen's meeting broadcasts and to enable live broadcasting of the Selectmen's meetings. All new equipment had to be installed in order to bring the quality of the broadcast up to acceptable standards. In March, the new broadcasting equipment was installed in the Selectmen's Meeting Room for a price of approximately $24,000. This equipment supports both live broadcast of the Selectmen's meetings and recording of the meetings for future broadcast. In April, the Government Access channel began live broadcast of Selectmen's meetings over Comcast Channel 10.

Also in April, the Committee recommended that cable funds be used to repair equipment at the High School so that Town Meeting could be recorded for broadcast. This was accomplished in time for Town Meeting.

Several meeting rooms in Town Hall were wired to allow live broadcast as well as delayed broadcast of meetings, and the Committee prepared a Request for Proposals to purchase portable studio equipment for these broadcasts. Following the purchase of this equipment, sometimes referred to as a "studio-in-a-box," several persons were trained to use it, and recording of some Committee meetings began. This equipment can also be used to produce video of meetings held in remote locations for later broadcast. In December, the School Committee meeting held at the Middle School was recorded using the studio-in-a-box and was later broadcast over the Government Access channels on both Comcast and Verizon.

In May, at the Committee's and Selectmen's request, Comcast installed a third channel located at Town Hall for broadcast of Public Access programming, Channel 97. Shortly thereafter, Verizon installed its Channels 30 (Government) and 31 (Public Access) at Town Hall. Verizon also installed a feed from the Library to Town Hall as required by its franchise, so that events at the Library can be broadcast over both Verizon and Comcast PEG channels. The Public Access channel on both Comcast and Verizon has a Bulletin Board for non-profit organizations in Hingham to use for providing notice of their activities to Hingham residents. The Public Access channel has also been broadcasting programming provided by the resident-run television channel at Linden Ponds and programming obtained at no cost from the Massachusetts Medical Society, as well as a limited amount of resident-submitted programming. Public Access programming will be taken over by the non-profit corporation, Hingham Access and Media.

The Committee recommended the purchase with cable funds of equipment to upgrade the Educational Access channel to a digital format. This is Channel 22 on Comcast and Channel 29 on Verizon. This equipment was installed at Hingham High School in time for the start of the school year in September. This equipment also allows remote programming of the Educational Access channel from computer stations located outside the Educational channel studio, making the channel more efficient to operate.

At the Committee's request, the Board of Selectmen funded with cable operating funds both a television production class at the High School to contribute programming content for the Educational Access channel and a $2000 per year stipend for the media teacher to operate channels 22 and 29.

During the summer, the Committee recruited a volunteer college student to film a public service announcement by Police Lieutenant Michael Peraino for broadcast on the Government Access channel.

In June, the Committee prepared and submitted, through the Town's cable attorney, a request to the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable to reduce Comcast's 2010 cable rates in Hingham by the $27,500 payment Comcast made to the Town in 2009 in return for the Town relinquishing its use of Comcast's Norwell studio four months early. Comcast included that payment in its 2010 rates. Hingham's request for this rate reduction was denied by the Department in November.

Following the 2010 Town Meeting, which approved the establishment by the Board of Selectmen of a non-profit corporation to operate the Public Access channel, the Committee prepared by-laws, articles of organization and a draft operating agreement with the Town for a non-profit corporation, to be named Hingham Access and Media ("H-CAM"). That corporation has been established.