HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-06-05 Cable TV Committee Minutes
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North Andover Cable Television Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
Date: June 5th, 2017
Time: 5pm-6pm
Place: Town Hall, Conference Room # 2, 120 Main St. North Andover, MA
Attendees:
Committee Present: Christopher McClure (Non - voting)
Brian Fraser (Non- Voting)
Ronn Faigen (Chairman)
Chanida Oros
Paul F. Blinn
Shane Woodruff
Other Attendee: Michael Grant
Attorney Bill Solomon
Jill Rddish
John Harrington, Kerby Harrington Pinkard LLP representing
Verizon
Committee Absent: Robert Parker
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Agenda
● Call to Order
● Acceptance of Minutes
● 2018 Verizon Cable License Renewal Informal Negotiation Invitation - Verizon
● Old Business : Review Draft Contract Language, ascertainment and timeline
● New Business: Schedule additional meetings with Verizon as needed
● Adjournment
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Meeting was called to order by Ron Faigen at 4:40pm
● Christopher McClure asked each meeting attendant to introduce themselves.
● Atty. Bill Solomon asked for a word document of current VZW’s contract from the committee
and Brian Fraser will forward the requested file to Atty. Bill Solomon
● Atty. Bill Solomon stated that he will provide a draft of North Andover proposed license to the
town after the meeting.
● Jill Radish, VZW representative announced that she will be retiring in November and she will
reassure that the new representative will be ready to continue the works needed to be completed.
However, she does not know yet who will be the new representative for North Andover.
2018 Verizon Cable License Renewal Informal Negotiation Invitation - Verizon
● Atty. Bill Solomon went through the changes in the proposed license section by section. Most of
the changes were legal terminology being used in the license. Atty. Solomon explained the
rationale of each changes. Verizon said that they will look at the draft and share with us their
thoughts before we finalize the draft.
● Atty. John Harrington stated that Verizon will continue to support the community and will work
with the committee to agree on mutual language that will also be in line with other towns that are
working on agreement.
● Jill Radish, VZW Representative, stated that Verizon is comfortable with matching similar
economic items in the contract to the ones the CAC negotiated with Comcast as well.
● Jill Radish stated that Verizon is interested in a shorter contractual time period. They are
interested in a five year period and not a ten-year period
● Atty. Bill Solomon suggested the option that VZW can offer HD Peg access as a trade for the
shorter term of the renewal license.
● Jill Radish, VZW representative, explained the concept of bandwidth management for HD
channel and mentioned that she needs to talk to the people who manage HD to check the
feasibility of this option.
● The committee asked Verizon to provide an update of the homepassed in town as well as
serviceable FIOS home number. Jill Radish confirmed that 100% of the homes in town are
serviceable FIO home. The committee confirmed that it is not as there are some members on the
committee who still do not have FIOS as option. Jill Radish asked if those homes fell into the
category of serviceable homes based on the license. It has been agreed that VZW will check into
the status of homepassed for North Andover town.
● The committee discussed the availability of Verizon service for public places including town
halls and schools. Brian Fraser proposed that he will provide a written request to include all
public buildings and schools as well.
● Atty. Bill Solomon went briefly to the proposed of 4% fee for peg access support and clarified
that if Comcast increases to 5% in the future, VZW will increase as well.
● Atty. Bill Solomon and Atty. John Harrington agreed to share the draft of the proposal
electronically.
● Atty John Harrington agreed to provide feedback within 2-3 weeks to Atty. Bill Solomon.
● Atty. Bill Solomon shared that he will provide the revised draft by July 15th.
● VZW team left at 6:00pm
● The committee reviewed the options together and agreed that will determine when the next
meeting should be after getting the revised draft from Atty. Bill Solon
Adjournment
Meeting was unanimously adjourned at 6;20 pm. Respectfully submitted by Chanida Oros, Committee
Member.
Upcoming Meeting Date
TBD
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