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HomeMy WebLinkAbout26- CATV CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION From: Frank Keller, Cable Television Subject: Authorization to establish a Manager Teleconferencing Center at the Dept: CATV Channel 3 studio Date: O ctober 21 1996 ORIGINAL Synopsis of Previous Council action: Recommended motion: 1 . Authorize the Telecommunications Division staff to pursue the development of a Teleconferencing Center at the Channel 3 studio. 2 . Direct staff to develop and issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the telecommunications services and equipment necessary for the center, stipulating that the equipment will be provided at no cost to the City. Signature Contact person: Frank Keller Phone: X5147 Supporting data attached: yes Ward: FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: Amount: N/A Source: (Acct. No.) (Acct. Description) Finance: Council Notes: Agenda Item No. STAFF REPORT In today' s technological world, more and more companies are using teleconferencing as a means of communicating with employees and clients in other areas . This technology allows meetings to be held without having the expense and inconvenience of traveling to other locations . Instead, communication can take place with people anywhere in the world with a minimum of effort . The Telecommunications Division is requesting authorization to partner with a local fiber optic service provider to develop San Bernardino' s first Teleconferencing Center. This partnership would allow the Center to provide a valuable service to businesses, education, and government agencies in San Bernardino and the Inland Empire, while generating revenue for the City. The Teleconferencing Center will serve as the location from which the teleconference would originate . Using existing studio video equipment, the meeting' s audio and video signals would be sent to an encoder that converts the signal into a data bit stream. This data would then be sent via fiber optic cable to the uplink satellite site . There, the signal would be decoded back into audio and video, then sent via satellite to the appropriate location. The proposed system could also work in tandem with a 1-800 number. Viewers at the receiving site could call the 1-800 number, and those calls could be answered by those attending the meeting in the studio. In the future, additional satellite receive dishes would be purchased (for under $1, 000) that would allow the Teleconferencing Center to become totally interactive with video, audio, and data. No teleconferencing center currently exists in San Bernardino. There is a small operation in Highland, but it is limited to a single user at a computer terminal . San Bernardino' s Teleconferencing Center would offer a high quality, professional service to organizations in the Inland Empire . This Teleconferencing Center will be operated at no cost to the City. The partner telecommunications provider will provide the necessary communications equipment and installation. The Center would be operated by the existing Telecommunications Division staff, with no additional studio equipment or personnel needed. There is no financial risk to the City in this project . All costs of studio production time, transmission fees, satellite time, and overhead will be combined into an hourly rate that will be paid by users . This hourly rate cannot yet be calculated, since it will vary depending upon the transmission charge for the use of the fiber network, and the cost of the satellite time . Once these charges are known, they will be added to the existing studio charges and overhead rate to determine the fee . The amount of revenue that will be generated cannot be estimated at this time . Revenue to the City will depend upon the level of use the Teleconferencing Center receives, as well as the amount of the user fee charged. It is recommended that the Mayor and Council approve the following actions : 1 . Authorize the Telecommunications Division staff to pursue the development of a teleconferencing center at the Channel 3 studio; 2 . Direct staff to develop and issue an RFP for the telecommunications services and equipment necessary for the center. The RFP will stipulate that the equipment will be provided at no cost to the City. This matter will then be returned the Common Council for the selection of the vendor, and for the establishment of user fees .