HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979.09.26_City Council MinutesOn Wednesday, September 26, 1979, the Owasso City Council met in Special Session
in Council Chambers at City Hall, per Notice of Special Public Meeting and Agenda,
posted on City Hall Bulletin Board at ?_:00 PM on September 2J_, 1979, 2.nd by refer-
ence made a part hereof. The purpose of t.h.e meeting was to individually inter-
view Cable Television Companies recommended by Ad Hoc Committee.
Present: Boyd Spencer, Mayor
Don Thompson, Councilman
Robert Wrestler, Councilman
Harold Charney, City Attorney
Merrilyn Merchant, Deputy City Clerk
Absent: Robbie Fickle, Vice Mayor
Al Lambert, Councilman
Wauhilleau Webb, Acting City Manager
The meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM with Mayor Spencer presiding.
ITEM 1 - INTERVIEW GREEN COUN`T'RY CABLE `TELEVISION
Greg Armstrong, Local Manager of Green Country Cable Television, introduced
officers of the organization and outlined the services of the association as
outlined in packets to council, and by reference made a part hereof.
Mr. Armstrong emphasized that converters would be sold to the customers at
$20.00 each with no deposit. There would also be a 20% discount to Senior
Citizens, except for the converter. He also emphasized they presently anticipated
a completion date of April, 1980, with facilities and studio equipment in Owasso.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1. Q. Why is home box office on tier 1 instead of tier 2'?
A. There is no difference in charge for tier. 1 and tier 2. Tier 1 includes
R rated movies but controls for R rated movies will be provided free of
charge. Only those who want tier 2 channels will purchase a converter.
2. Q. Are you willing and able to put up a performance bond for completion
of the project`?
A. Yes.
3. Q. Would you be willing to enter into a contract with completion dates,
with guidelines put in by the City as to increase in rates?
A. Yes.
4. Q. How do you propose to do public relations work for the underground work?
A. We have a young lady that goes door-to-door and conr_acts people the day
before the work is due to he done. This way the Supervisor is aware of
any problems ahead of time.
5. Q. Will you supply service t~ all homes within the city limits of Owasso?
A. We will come out and immediately do 85% of the hOIRP_S and then proceed
on the balance of 3L homes per mile. Dates given for completion apply
to 85% of city limits, plus we will be going ahead with the balance of
15%.
Owasso City Council
September 26, 1979
Page Two
6. Q. Is the 15% left out located in Meadowcrest and Hale Acres?
A. If there are 32 homes per mile in those areas, they will be included
in the 85%. (Mr. Charney pointed these areas out on the map and they
still indicated they would be included in the 85% figure.)
7. Q. What would you do with the homes you pass with the cable, but which are
not in the city limits?
A. We would put those in if the County did not object. We have been told by
Tulsa County that any cable operator working in City will be able to build
in the surrounding fence line area.
8. Q. Do you have a head-in equipment site location?
A. We would like to locate somewhere north of the main portion of Owasso,
between Owasso and Collinsville.
9. Q. Will we be using shared equipment with Jenks and Sapulpa?
A. No. Owasso will be on separate facilities.
10. Q. How will you maintain your system 24 hours per day?
A. Our subscribers will have a phone number to call 24 hours per day. Our
representative will live in Owasso. As we expand in the County, there will
be two or three representatives.
11. Q. What will be your backup system if we have a power failure?
A. We have not found this to be necessary. However, if it is a problem,
we could put in additional emergency power.
12. Q. What is the estimated construction cost for Owasso?
A. $350,000, based on rough estimate of mileages and homes.
13. Q. Is this complete turn key?
A. Yes.
14. Q. Will there be an office building here?
A. There will be a store front operation here to handle calls and bills.
15. Q. Do you furnish any free equipment?
A. We will be furnishing free audio and visual equipment when Owasso reaches
2,000 subscribers.
16. Q. Who do you consider to be a Senior Citizen?
A. Those over 65, head of household, and drawing social security.
17. Q. To the northeast of us there is a town in itself, but out of the City limits.
Do you plan on going to these people?
A. Only after providing Owasso service.
18. Q. How do you know you can put lines on Public Service poles?
A. We have the legal right. Public Service provides forms to fill out and
they must furnish access by law. We just negotiate how much rent we pay
for them.
Owasso City Council
September 26, 1979
Page Three
19. Q. Do you prefer a franchise or a permit?
A. We prefer a franchise because state law says we must go franchise.
20. Q. What type of receivers do you have for the head in equipment?
A. Microwave is projected to the satellite and projected back to earth. We
install an earth station (dish) which is 5 meters (16 feet). We will
install in the vicinity of Owasso witi7 a tower to pick up the Tulsa
stations. We convert satellite station to the TV frequency. The other
type of microwave is one of many lines being brought in from Tulsa,
which is subject to interference from storms.
21. Q. How far can you go out from the earth station?
A. IO to 15 miles.
22. Q. With the equipment you are proposing, could you handle our expansion?
A. Yes, up to 15 miles ire any direction from the equipment.
23. Q. What will be the cost of the headin equipment?
A. $104,000
24. Q. Wtlere do your signals come from?
A. The satellite.
25. Q. What other signals are available to cable TV except those on the satellite?
A. The stations that originate in Tulsa - 4 stations. (AbC, NBC, CBS, KOED)
We will produce 4 to 6 channels 'Here in Owasso for pu'olic information. We
are legally barred from receiving more than 2 stations. Most all channels
are on the satellite. The satellite provides best of independent programs
in the U.S.
26. Q. If deregulation occurs, will you offer subscribers any channel that might
be selected? Such as full daytime program from Dallas, Atlanta, etc?
A. We are offering full time programming out of Atlanta and Chicago. If
Government deregulates, we will carry more - Los Angeles, Oakland, New York,
whichever is stronger.
27. Q. What is an independent station?
A. All but the three main channels (ABC, NBC, CBS) and religious stations.
All others can only be brought in two at a time.
28. Q. Will CBS be showing the same thing to everyor-e in the united States?
A. Unlikely because of the time zones. Also, other stations may choose to
put their own movies on instead of the network shows. We are only allowed
so much and we choose the best programming we can to please the customers.
We will be using additional stations to fill in with.
29. i~. Do you use a converter on tier I?
A. Yes.
30. Q. With our close proximity to Channel 8, how will you overcom? 8's ghost?
A. We run our signal hotter in our system so it will overpower 8 and also move
8 to another channel and put some other station in place where 8 was.
Owasso City Council
September 26, 1979
Page Four
31. Q. Do each of you gentlemen live in this area?
A. No, we are from Broken Arrow, Tulsa, Sapulpa, and two from California.
32. Q. Is there a charge for FM?
A. Only for outlet - $1.50 per month.
33. Q. Will there be background music for the alpha-numeric stations?
A. Yes.
34. Q. Is there any room for negotiating on charges if awarded franchise?
A. We feel we are firm on our rates but will hold our rates for one year.
35. Q. Will you guarantee rates will only be by approval of the Council?
A. Yes.
36. Q. How many subscribers do you expect to pick up in Owasso?
A. 1150 to 1200.
37. Q. Would you enter into a time contract with the City to complete not only
our own City but those areas in our community also?
A. Yes, when we see all those people out there, we want to serve them,
but we will have to talk to the County Commissioners first. We can
investigate but we can not guarantee.
38. Q. Will you finish Jenks and Sapulpa before constructing Owasso?
A. No, this will be independent from those two.
Meeting adjourned at 8:20 PM for a break and reconvened at 8:27 PM.
ITEM 2 - INTERVIEW GLEASON CABLE TELEVISION
Mr. Roger Gleason indicated he was planning on living in the community of Owasso
and would be furnishing personalized service if they were awarded the contract.
Mr. Ted Gleason was introduced as being on the Board of Directors of Mid-America TV
and presently owner of 17 cable stations himself.
He indicated they could not promise to give anything anyone else can't because
they were all bound by laws, but they could promise service.
He also indicated that FCC rules only apply if there are over 1,000 customers
and he did not feel we would have over 900 customers at this time. We would
only have Owasso cable connected with this system, but will not prevent from doing
the rural area here also.
He indicated most of their presentation was as outlined in their proposal to Council,
and by reference made a part hereof. He would like to use the time for questions
instead of going over the proposal again.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Owasso City Council
September 26, 1979
Page Five
1. Q. L?Y:at is your rate structure?
A. $7.40 for basic home - $9.85 for premium package. $2.00 additional for
each additional outlet. The total best package for one set V:ould be
$17.~r. FM would be $1_.CO per month.
2. 4', what FM will be available?
A. Whatever we can pick up in this area. We have not done a survey yet,
but we can go 100 miles. Lie will not be able to get Dallas, only Tulsa
or Oklahoma City.
3. Q. How does Tulsa Cable TV get Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta?
A. They get it off t..e satellite and we can do that if it is wanted.
4. Q. Do you pay for the satellite by subscriber or by tap?
A. We pay by tap - 10~ per subscriber to use the signal. FM is much less.
5. Q. Mould you put t I stations on?
A. Yes, we are here to put on what you want. We would like so.ne of the
religious people of the community to choose which religious stations would
be put on, or the Council could choose those.
(Mr. Charney a::vised the Council it T~,~oulc be unwise for the city government
to regulate which religious programs would be on. That would have to
came from the religlGaS people of tr:e n°igh~orhOOd as a request to the
company.)
6. Q. What size headin equipment would you use?
A. Five meter dis?-!. There r~oald be a tower fc,r lc,cal off ai_r channels and k'M.
We can produce alYha•-n=am~ric the same as everyor_e else ca~_i.
7. Q. What would you put on in the way of extra programs?
A. Nobody buys cable T~J to ge-~ alpha•-numeric -Resdoi~t devices. T~~. y want
e:ztertaliLTL1ent. r?:ose are only an ~nduc~»rscnt to bi~.y other systems.
Gee would put an outlet ir!. the scho_~1 S~ `L!=ey co~~ld snake annou»cements.
We are going to put on ever~tbing we csre L,ig en<.~ugh to nut c,,,..
8. Q. How many suburban areas do you serve?
?.. None, they are all rural, small towns. ~~?e founded our comF~a.zy for small
towns.
9. Q. What is formula for homes served?
A. Twenty-five homes per mile. When we leave your jurisdic~_ion we m2.y have
to adjust right to land owner when we get our where the homes are scarce.
10. Q. How much T,,aill it cost to lay the cable?
A. $8,C~0~:~ per mile. We Y!ave an obligation to build every ho?.ne within the
City limits, and then, if practical, we will go in the rural rea.
11. Q. When would the converters be used?
A. If We come llp Wlth a good plan where Tr.'e put 15 c.~ar_n:is 0:7 yo'ar Set, W2
will add converters. We will use if necessary. We use basic channels
and then add other channels for sports, ar!othe-r channel is old. movies.
Owasso City Council
September 26, 1979
Page Six
12. Q. In talking about as big as you are going to get - how many stations can
you bring in?
A. Religious stations plus independents out of Chicago and Atlanta, New
York City and Oakland, Ca. if we can legally do so. We would like to
leave the package open and let the community decide what they want. We
don't want to stand up here tonight and stick to a hard fast rule.
13. Q. How many channels are you offering at this time?
A. Fifteen, using premium device with no converter. (12 channels, plus
3 premium channels).
14. Q. Do you put transmitting equipment in the schools and pay for it?
A. Yes. We would like to do this and to also find best products for the
town. All of the companies can do exactly the same things.
15. Q. Would it cost you to put all 32 channels on?
A. Yes, it would cost us more. You can put about 40 channels on with a
converter.
16. Q. Do you sell converters?
A. Yes, for $20.00, or the subscribers could rent one.
17. Q. Do you have different grades of converters and will people have access?
A. Yes, we have converters in our office for remote control as well as non
remote control, and customers can buy or rent.
18. Q. Do you have experience with the underground aspect of cables?
A. Yes, we will go underground where is underground need and above ground
where there are poles.
19. Q. How will you hadle public relations with regard to easements?
A. Very carefully. We have vibrating plows to put the cable down 1 ft.
to 18 inches, so we don't hurt the lawn. It just leaves a small line
through the yard which is not noticable most of the time.
20. Q. What is the physical width of the sod plow?
A. About 32 feet, which is too wide to go through most gates, so fences will
have to come down.
21. Q. How much will it cost to install cable in Owasso?
A. A minimum of $200,000
22. Q. How much have you and your banker discussed?
A. We have a line of credit and could talk 500,000 dollars if we had to
but we have to justify to the bank the cost. It is too .soon to predict
cost considering inflation.
23. Q. Are you including the north area of the city limits?
A. Yes, we want to furnish all of the city limits.
24. Q. Concerning the FCC rules that allow under 1000 subscribers to towns to
bring in more than two stations, what happens when the system goes
over 1000. Would you have to pull some stations?
A. You might but I have never been in this situation. FCC rules may be
with us another five years, but they are on the way out.
Owasso City Council
September 26, 1979
Page Seven
25. Q. Ir. your contract with the City*, would you be agreeable to make ar_y change
in rates wit'r~ Council approval?
A. Yes, but it is not good sound business to say will not ever need to raise
the rates.
26. ~:~. G~Y:at would be the percent you r.ould give the l',i ty on the franchise?
A. Two perc~~izt (21} .
27. Q. What would happen if you asked for a rate increase and the Council turned
it down?
A. We have never been in that position before.
28. Q. What would your nors:al rate increase be?
^, 10%
~..
29. Q. 'rlher. is the expected completion sate if get permit a month from now?
A. Nine months to one year. It takes six months to get the equipment after
it is ordered.
30. Q. Could it be next October to get vast majority on the system?
A. Yas, bst we woulc. try for September T~~hen rew stations come on.
31. :~. If you are installed, and city is served, will you go in new houses
at the time otrie-r utilities go in to connect?
A. Yes, we like to pre-wire homes.
32. Q. Do you prefer a franchise or permit?
A. wither o.e that is legal in Oklahoma.
33. Q. Will you have an office here in Owasso?
A. ^?o, w~ w0'11d r~ra an office.
34. Q. Would you have a technician here?
A. I (Roger Gleason) am presently looking for a home to buy here.
35. Q. All proposals are within a few dollars. Why are you offering less
channels than others?
A. No one is offering more than anyone else. We can add more cn but what
is use of all those channels if they are never used. To get FM stations,
you use a lot of energy, i,~e are here to ~cide what the community wants.
** 36. Q. What would you estimate cost of converter to be for additional services?
A. $20.00 to buy or rent for $1.00 per month. We are going to build a
35 channel system and if you feel the people want all these stations on
we will provide. Monthly rates will stay same except for converter. We
were trying to stay away from the converter so would keep charges down
as most people do not think of the total cost to put the system in their
home, only the monthly charge.
Owasso City Council
September 26, 1979
Page Eight
37. Q. Why can't you make a choice for the people?
A. We are trying to leave it open so the people can make a choice of what
they want to see. Options will become rapidly open. You can choose how
many channels you want.
38. Q. When does the channel break occur where you have to use the converter?
A. We are talking about three services. Basically you need to be sure that
anyone that comes in will provide service and we can do this. If you
want service, we will give you service.
39. Q. What is the initial installation fee?
A. $10.00
40. Q. Will you be willing to negotiate for no fees for first 60 days?
A. We are open to something of this nature, if some money changes hands. In
other words, we do not want to give the customers something for nothing.
In other circumstances we have given reduced rates for installation.
41. Q. You are not opposed to negotiating rates?
A. No.
42. Q. Channel 8 locally has a strong image. You would possible have to change
to another channel. What would happen to 8?
A. You could put black and white information on it (alpha-numeric) and
would not have problems. Aground frequently gets away from this problem.
43. Q. In the package of movies, all have R rated material. How do you keep
children from seeing these movies? How could we get GP only?
A. We could provide a key for R rated movies, but we could not provide
service with no R rated movies.
44. Q. If we have 32 channels, how long would it be before prices increased?
A. Do not know. Would like to have option to provide old movies and sports
later.
45. Q. Would you have a local office and allow the community use of equipment
to lend out?
A, Yes. Dale Johnson had suggested a class in the schools that would promote
this theory.
Being no further discussion, ~~hair adjourned at 9:30 PM.
~~~
Mayor
Deputy City erk
**In regard to Item 36, Roger Gleason came to the office of the Deputy City Clerk
on the morning of September 27, 1979 and stated that he had been figuring on the
cost of putting the system in and they did not feel they could furnish more than
15 stations for the price quoted. due to the cost of equipment_