04-13-2016 Workshop Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP APRIL 13, 2016 Montour explained that the City collects franchise fees from subscribers, which is currently five percent of the monthly costs. He noted that Little Canada received $128,000 in franchise fees from Comcast in 2015. He then explained that from the franchise fees, the City pays a quarterly fee to CTV, and also pays the North Suburban Communications Commission about $30,000 annually. He noted that this Commission negotiates the franchise agreements with Comcast, and soon CenturyLink also. Montour stated that the CTV also collects a flat monthly PEG fee from each cable subscriber and passes it on to the North Suburban Communications Commission. He stated the PEG fee amount is negotiated with the cable provider, and is added to each subscriber's monthly bill. The PEG fee is currently $4.15 per month. Montour stated that many people are not getting their news from TV anymore, and he feels that CTV needs to expand its offerings to stay around. Montour noted that community access TV will not look the same in 15 years, and that that finances will likely change in coming years. He stated that Comcast and CenturyLinlc may refuse to pay as much for PEG fees, so cities and CTV will have to either pay more, or start finding sponsors and funding from other places. Ms. Raye stated that the CTV strategic planning committee will look at the comments and questions that have come up from the cities that she has talked to. The City Administrator stated that Shoreview conducted a survey that showed most people watching a local access channel were watching local government meetings and not much other public programming. Ms. Raye stated other cities have said they aren't aware if their residents even know about the online and streaming services that are available. She noted that cities and CTV have not been publicizing these options. Keis asked if the North Suburban Cable Commission has looked at other city cable commissions to see which ones are successful. Montour stated that some commissions have not been good at negotiating their PEG fees so they have much less revenue. He noted that the North Suburban Cable Commission is one of the top commissions. Fischer stated that residents don't know when shows are on public access because they need to be in the programming guide, although he noted is starting to get better. Ms. Raye stated that issue could be addressed by on - demand options. Cable Producer Van Alstine stated that the negotiations with Comcast have not provided the government channel with an HD channel. She noted that Little Canada's new equipment has the ability to record everything in HD. 0a