CITY OF ISSAQUAH CABLE COMMISSION December 4, 2014 Police Facility 6:00 Coho Room MEMBERS PRESENT Max Emrick, Vice Chair Ed Authier Open Robert Gonzales Robert Stephens, Chair (phone) ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF PRESENT Tim Smith, Specialist Sherry Smith, Recording Secretary VISITORS PRESENT Terry Davis, Comcast MEMBERS NOT PRESENT 1. CALL TO ORDER Vice-Chair EMRICK called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES None. 3. AGENDA ITEMS Annual Meeting of Comcast -Terry Davis 1. Supply an updated map of your Cable plant within the City of Issaquah. Davis submitted an updated map depicting the fiber route through Issaquah. 2. How many cable/internet subscribers doyou have within the City of Issaquah? 9,741 cable subscribers as of the end of October 80-90% of the total cable subscribers receive internet Davis provided information on commercial services and the different sizes of businesses enjoying specific types of services. 3. Supply a rate card for Issaquah with comparison rate cards from Seattle. Davis supplied the rate card for Issaquah as of October 1 and King County. He also provided an updated welcome kit with policies and procedures. 4. Please be prepared to discuss any new technologies or services Comcast may be implementing in the next 12 months. The only expansion is to continue to build out in the commercial zones. Comcast just launched the live X1 streaming there is no additional outlet charge or equipment which is an added value for the customer. Soon, subscribers will be able to access all of their DVR recordings anywhere they are. The recordings will be in the clouds.
Later this year Comcast will be doubling speeds at no extra charge. 25 goes to 50, 50 goes to 105 and 105 goes to 150. Upload speeds stay the same. Xfinity has created a way for customers to use other Xfinity wi-fi without having to use any passwords or using that person s band width. 5. Please be prepared to walk the Commission through a new customer process. 6. What is the policy/process of disconnecting a customer? In the welcome kit are the standard policies and procedures. Customers can send a letter by US mail to disconnect, they can email, or they can call directly. There is a lag time with the mail system. Most people call. What is your retention policy? Davis unknown there is nothing in writing that he has seen. 7. Please provide a breakdown of a typical triple play bill. There is a quad play that includes Xfinity Home. Members reviewed an invoice with a bundled rate. 8. How does Comcast view the future of content delivery? Unknown. 9. What are your distribution path and the vulnerabilities? Describe the outages in September and Comcast communications to their customers. How do they keep their phones working? Customers can call 1-800-COMCAST for service. Customers can also text the word out to Comcast to let them know their area has an outage. As soon as power came back on the service came back on during the Auburn outage. There was a nationwide X1 issue and that has been corrected. 10. Please supply a company Org Chart. 11. Could you describe your cable package bundling and unbundling process? Billing is always 30 days in advance There are 3 options of bundling, no contract, 1 year and 2 year. The most value lowest price. Customers are encouraged to look at the everyday rate if they don t wish to contract. Unbundling no contract, no problem. Unbundling under a contract there will be a termination fee. (This relates to phone/internet/tv) EMRICK suggested adding contract expiration dates to billing. Davis reviewed local Comcast store locations. EMRICK shows a picture of the operating system inside a box. He has 2 boxes with Xfinity and 2 TVs that are digital to analog conversions.
(1) Moving from level 100-200 is an issue. (2) When you first turn on the TV you cannot control the sound or channel. (3) Consistently Last watched doesn t work (4) Changing numbers using keypad an error code comes up (5) One TV produced audio but no picture, bought a new SMART TV, no picture they did not take the box back first. COMCAST said power down the box and re-power and it worked. (6) 2 weeks, old style phone didn t work for 2 weeks. Reset modem then it worked. (7) Low battery mode feature is good. (8) Service from street to house went bad, well qualified technician, laid new cable, set appointment for locates, boring located, took two weeks and went well. (9) Array of channels available, but don t use them. Unable to suppress them. (Marketing) Davis will see if there is a way to suppress possibly setting up favorites, but that would take time. These all occurred after the new service was provided. Davis suggested checking to see if the DVR is full and suggested power down the modem, re-power it up for any issues. Smith discussed some in-house city issues and the possible costs. 4. CITIZEN COMMENTS 5. REVIEW OF GOALS Review of Goals and Calendar of Events 1. Closely monitor and assess the franchise agreements for compliance. Jan Feb Fielded a citizen complaint concerning services with Comcast, and the issue was resolved. Mar-Apr Smith continues to field citizen comments with the community and briefs the Commission. May-June Smith continues to field citizen comments with the community and briefs the Commission. July-Aug No activity Sept Staff and the Commission reviewed the Franchise Agreement for Cable TV services for PCC and determined that it did not apply. Oct Commission finalized its annual franchise questions for WAVE and COMCAST, and finalized dates for December. Nov-Dec Annual meetings were held. 2. Monitor technical as well as regulatory changes that may be affecting Telecommunications and cable service. Jan Feb No activity Mar-Apr- Smith informed the Cable Commission that the FCC proposed new rules concerning net neutrality. It is now Public Comment time. May-June No activity. July-Aug No activity Sept No activity
Oct No activity Nov Dec No activity 3. Promote Channel 21 and website video content to the residents. Jan Feb Youth basketball games of the week was put out on ENews, the City s electronic newsletter. It drove people to watch it on You-Tube. Mar-Apr-Ongoing activity May-June Discussed potential sponsorships for Channel 21 as well as content discussion and coordination with the web. July-Aug Smith includes an end graphic/splash page ICTV21 to all media. Sept The City used Enews to promote ICTV content. Oct The City continues to use You-Tube and Enews to promote ICTV content. Nov Dec No activity. 4. Assess programming, content delivery, and policies for meeting the needs of City residents. Jan Feb Smith will begin to submit the number of You-Tube clicks and Live Stream Views. Feb-Mar Smith submitted the day-to-day view of the stream. May-June Reviewed Smith syou-tube and You-STREAM activities. July-Aug Smith reviewed his comparison of City You-Tube views to other jurisdictions and found that Issaquah was consistently above their view counts and content. Sept The City received its SAVVY Award. Oct Staff provided the Commission with analytics on You-Tube and You-Stream. Nov Dec Smith provided the analytics on You-Tube and You-Stream. 5. Create a White Paper for the Commission s Role Jan Feb Strategize on content and organization of the document Mar-Apr Smith incorporated changes and recommendations that were suggested and will input new suggestions going forward. May-June Smith will send out policies and procedures electronically to the Commission. July-Aug September 10 working session to review/edit documents. Sept. The Commission held a Special Meeting and continued making recommendations for updating the policies and procedures for the Commission to take to the Utility Commission. Oct. The Commission completed a near final draft of the Operational Policies and Procedures, updated section 2.50 of the IMC, updated the Cable Television Commission s Rules and Regulations. Nov Dec Continued. 6. REVIEW OF ACTION ITEMS 1. Smith will create a white paper on utilizing information and CTC input to finalize a recommendation on the ongoing role or disbanding of the CTC all together. He will include history, current role, and changing landscape. Ongoing Oct it is 80% complete. Continued to January. Smith will forward the finalized updated documents. 2. In November, Smith will send out the updated documents and the latest version of the white paper for review. Continued to January. 3. Smith Does DISH satellite networks pay B&O tax in the City? Continued to January. 4. Smith will follow up with PCC. No further contact. Completed in December. 7. CITIZEN COMMENTS
None. 8. NEW BUSINESS 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. NEXT REGULAR MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR: January 22, 2015. Respectfully submitted by Sherry Smith
CALENDAR January Finalize year-end report to City Council February As a Commission, review annually all applicable City Ordinances with new and existing members. Staff and/or Commission members attend local WATOA meeting March Cable Commission open seat interviews. April Review hardware, software, and labor requirements for Channel 21 Review and develop the Candidate s Forum. Review of Video Voter s Guide. May Prepare and review budget submittal items for Channel 21 Election of Officers June Review operational policies July Finalize and develop a Candidate s Forum and/or Video Voter s Guide. August Send letters to Franchisees requesting annual meeting with the Commission in September and October on the status of the Franchise; fees, build-out, customer service, etc. Develop and review a list of questions to the Franchisees for that meeting that includes the rates, fees, and the most recent system performance and signal leakage. Request finance report for cable deposits. September Review questions for Comcast October Meeting with Comcast on the franchise Candidates Forum November Review and develop annual goals Possible meeting with WAVE December Prepare draft of year-end report Finalize the year s activity Review costs and needs and make recommendations on WATOA and NATOA memberships. Solicit input from Mayor and Council on next year s goals