The Indianapolis Marion County Cable Franchise Board (CFB) oversees local cable franchise agreements, local access TV channels, and meets monthly. Public comments are allowed at the end of the meeting. The official meeting minutes and video archives of the meetings are available on the IndyGov website.

The Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission (IURC) oversees the state video franchise certificates for Comcast and AT&T.

November 19, 2007
Chairman Peter Blum and Richard Curry were the only board members present and did not constitute a quorum, so no votes could be cast. Cable Communications Agency Director Rick Maultra reported that the Indiana Reading and Information Services (IRIS) and the Educational Television Cooperative (ETC) public purpose grants have been processed and the money sent. Also interconnection plans for AT&T and PEG (educational and government) channels are under review by the city’s Office of Corporation Council. The city’s audit of the Bright House Networks (BHN) franchise fee payments for 2004-2006 identified a $73,308 deficit and BHN has been notified of that shortfall. Complaints for BHN totaled 14, with 33 for Comcast, which Maultra deemed “remarkable” since the agency contact information no longer appears on Comcast bills. Ken Montgomery, manager of government Channel 16, reported on a busy month, with the League of Women Voters’ Candidate Forum, the African-American Male conference, and two Indianapolis Fire Department (IFD) benefits briefings. Online archive use is increasing, with 8,115 hits for October, up from 6,571 in September. The General Election Inspector training generated 951 hits by the time of the November election. Year-to-date archive hits and live streams totaled 28,407, with 95% from archives.

Buz Nesbit, BHN division president, with Presidential Assistant Mike Higginbotham reported on BHN activities that included the Circle City Classic and the Heartland Film Festival. Nesbit asked what is preventing AT&T from carrying the PEG channels and if the issue is not resolved, what would the next step be—the city lodging complaints or reducing BHN’s requirements? Nesbit also mentioned that the mandated emergency alert system (EAS) is being provided to other cable customers but not to AT&T customers. Blum responded that it had taken time to get a proposal from AT&T but now the “ball is in the city’s court” to formulate a response to the offer. There was no update on the EAS situation. Nesbit indicated that a Freedom of Information (FOI) request might be initiated by BHN to see what stumbling-blocks exist in this situation. Interim ETC President Robert Gobetz had no report since ETC did not meet in November. There was no public comment.

December 16, 2007
Blum, Curry, Lara Beck, and Loren Heger of the CFB were present and approved the minutes for each of the months of September through November. Maultra reported that WFYI requested an extension of the December 31 deadline to file their report on how the 2007 Indiana Reading and Information Services (IRIS) grant monies were spent and the board extended the report deadline to mid-January. Blum requested that the City-County Council be made aware of the change. Maultra stated that the AT&T PEG connection proposal is still under review by the city’s Office of Corporation Council. However, “[the] City of Speedway is receiving PEG channels provided by AT&T.” The city received a public records request from BHN on November 29 and the matter is under review by the city’s public access councilor with a full response anticipated within the next 30 days. The cable agency met with staff from the Indianapolis Mapping and Geographic Infrastructure system (IMAGIS) to explore possible synergy in the areas of rights of way and user participation in the system. The city is still awaiting BHN response to the payment shortfall that the city auditor found in the 2004-2006 BHN audit. The agency received nine complaints for BHN and nine for Comcast. Montgomery reported for Channel 16 that web video archive hits were down about 2/3 in November, but the General Election Inspector Training program showed 775 hits early in the month. Coverage has included some of the Indy GreenPrint programs that offer initiatives for sustainable living. Gobetz reported the ETC annual meeting is scheduled for January 18. He also reported that Sundance Digital company has completed an upgrade on ETC’s playback equipment. Nesbit, with Higginbotham, reported some BHN activities including the United Negro College Fund gala, the IPS 2007 Spirit Awards, and a BHN float in the Veterans’ Day Parade.

In new business, the 2008 CFB schedule was approved, with all meetings at 2:30 PM on the third Monday of each month (unless that day is a public holiday, when the meeting will be held on Tuesday of that week) and except for April and August, when the start time will be 5:30 PM. The following contract renewals were approved: Captivision closed captioning service (full council meetings only) at $105 per hour, which Maultra called a modest increase over the 2007 cost of $95 per hour; engineering and equipment maintenance by Dale Smiley and Jack Tapp at $35 per hour, not to exceed $8,500 per individual per year (a required non-discrimination clause was added as an amendment to these individual contracts); and Megatrax production library for music replay on cable TV and streaming services. The board also approved paying the available portion of the city’s assessment for membership in the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) and a legal and legislative action fund, which Maultra cites as necessary to support advocacy actions before the Federal Communications Commission such as the franchising docket which includes a reduction in police powers of the cities over cable television service. NATOA requested $900 but the budgeted and approved amount was $605.

Public Comment: Carl Kakasuleff spoke about Comcast’s removal of C-SPAN2 from his basic service and its transference to digital channel 104 without notice and without any assistance to the customer in receiving the new signal. Kakasuleff listed the entities, and some phone numbers, from which he sought help: Comcast customer service in Ontario which did not seem to understand what he was talking about (no office in Indianapolis); Comcast Sales (275-6200) in Indianapolis (Kakasuleff had to leave a voice message); Mary Beth Fisher (232-2297) of the IURC (232-2712), who is keeping count of complaints for the state legislature; Senators Bayh and Lugar; Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, and Indiana Representative Vanessa Summers at the Indiana House (232-9400). Kakasuleff suggested that another law is needed to protect the consumer and said he sees Comcast’s actions as a feeler to see if there is public reaction and if they can drop other channels, one by one. Nesbit asked for comment from the board on the AT&T situation and Blum stated the matter is still unresolved.

January 22, 2008
The CFB, with Beck acting as chair, and Heger and Curry present, approved the December minutes. Maultra reported that IRIS had provided highlights of their 2007 activities that covered 24-hour reading services over more than 300 days, totaling 9000 hours. AT&T is purchasing the equipment and plans to install the PEG connections on January 29, with the launch date on or about February 6. Virtually every complaint lodged against AT&T has been from customers’ inability to receive government access TV. The agency has provided statistical information about Channel 16 and web services to the city as required by the Federal Government Accounting Standards Board. The city is still awaiting payment from BHN of the outstanding fees identified in the 2004-2006 audit. The agency received five complaints for BHN and 19 for Comcast. Comcast has been moving some programs from the basic services tier to digital channels. Montgomery provided a summary of activities for 2007, which included bi-monthly meetings of the new Equal Opportunity Advisory Board, and Congressmember Julia Carson’s nearly four-hour memorial service, which was provided by her church and which many people requested from Channel 16. The online archive produced 6112 hits, with the last council meeting of 2007 generating 2406 hits. All told, there was 978 hours 44 minutes of new production in 2007. No representative from BHN was present. Gobetz, secretary and new treasurer of ETC, reported that Chuck Fearnow from IUPUI was elected ETC president for a two-year term and the position of vice president remains open. The University of Indianapolis will be the fiscal agent for ETC. Public comments were offered by Robert Hoyt, who said he saw last month’s meeting just after he had called Comcast about losing channels to the digital range and asked if his bill was going to decrease. (He was told it would not.) Hoyt believes his enhanced service is going to be phased out by Comcast. Hoyt said that Fisher at the IURC told him that he has no recourse with the IURC but that she was accumulating information on complaints. Maultra explained that the city had been authorized to regulate the lowest basic tier of cable service, but under state-issued certificates, all regulation is gone away and providers don’t have to offer limited basic service. He suggested that Hoyt call his state senator or representative and tell them the law allegedly intended to promote competition includes no consumer advocacy.

Reported by Jean Coughlin