[Peace-discuss] Details on Democracy Now!/UPTV problem

Wed Jun 2 18:58:25 CDT 2004

I just sent this off to Chris Foster, UPTV coordinator and his boss, Bill
Dejarnette, City of Urbana Information Services Manager. It's a pretty good
summary of where things stand. I'm having to turn up the heat, as you can
see...

R

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Randall Cotton" <recotton at earthlink.net>
To: "DeJarnette, Bill" <bhdejarnette at city.urbana.il.us>
Cc: "Foster, Chris" <clfoster at city.urbana.il.us>; "! Chynoweth, Danielle"
<chyn at ojctech.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 6:55 PM
Subject: Re: Update: progress on DN!/FSTV

: > ----- Original Message ----- 
: > From: "DeJarnette, Bill" <bhdejarnette at city.urbana.il.us>
: > To: "Randall Cotton" <recotton at earthlink.net>
: > Cc: "Foster, Chris" <clfoster at city.urbana.il.us>; "! Chynoweth,
Danielle"
: <chyn at ojctech.com>
: > Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 10:06 AM
: > Subject: RE: Update: progress on DN!/FSTV
: >
:
: > Randall: I appreciate your concern.  But as we are setting precedents
here
: it takes time.
:
: Bill, I respectfully disagree that the delay is due to "setting
precedents".
: Also, I disagree that this is a "precedent" in the first place. There are
: already over 100 FSTV affiliates. This project is not precedent setting.
: It's routine. At least it should be. I have more to say on that point
below.
:
: First, regarding the cause of the delay, here's a review of some pertinent
: facts:
:
: 1. My first e-mail to Chris (to whom I was referred by Danielle Chynoweth)
: back on March 28 regarding this project was ignored completely.
:
: 2. Three weeks later, on April 20, I e-mailed Chris again. I provided the
: required Free Speech TV Affiliate form as an attachment. This time he
: acknowledged and said he would get back to me. He never did.
:
: 3. A couple weeks later, I called him in his office. That finally
: precipitated a meeting the next day (May 6th, I believe). During that
: meeting, Bill made it clear that there was nothing standing in the way of
: this project going forward, that he was very interested in the project and
: that UPTV would pursue it "aggressively". I recall you all had the Free
: Speech TV affiliate agreement printed out at the time. However, another
week
: passed without action.
:
: 4. About a week later, despite the lack of progress, I received explicit
: assurance from Chris in an e-mail from May 14 saying "I will make sure to
: get the application and everything taken care of early next week".
: Obviously, this didn't happen.
:
: 5. On May 17, I received additional assurance from Chris, saying "We know
: that we can do it. but we want to cover all of our bases before we
proceed.
: Once we receive the info we will move forward with the affiliate
agreement."
: The info referred to was a response from FSTV regarding their agreement
with
: Dish Network. That response arrived May 19 according to James Traynor at
: FSTV, but here we are two weeks later with no change in status.
:
: 6. Yesterday, Chris promised via e-mail "I promise I will call you this
: afternoon for a more in depth update". That call never came.
:
: The two-month delay is just that - delay. There is no valid discernible
: reason for this long delay, only a string of increasingly tenuous excuses.
: And during that time, we've gone from explicit, enthusiastic agreement
that
: this project will proceed, to an alarming pattern of repeated broken
: promises and unreasonable delays.
:
: Reasons I've been given so far for the delay include:
:
: a. UPTV needed to discover the cost of mounting the equipment. However,
this
: has no bearing on whether or not to send the FSTV Affiliate Agreement.
: You've said all along that this project would go forward and that mounting
: equipment cost was never a problem. Weeks ago, I even offered to
personally
: assist Chris with spec'ing out equipment for this and even installing it,
: but Chris assured that me it was not necessary and he would let me know if
: he needed help. The whole mounting-equipment issue is undeniably
immaterial
: to the delay in moving this project forward by signing and sending the
FSTV
: Affiliate Agreement.
:
: b. Chris told me TODAY in a voice message that "I just need to pass it
: through the people that it needs to be passed through". What people? Does
: someone other than Bill need to approve this? Why was this not brought up
: before? Is there some higher-up blocking this?
:
: c. Now, you (Bill) are saying below that a "legal review" is necessary
: because FSTV decided against divulging the (private) details of their
: contractual agreement with Dish Network.  But FSTV's private agreement
with
: Dish Network has no bearing on UPTV. The FSTV Affiliate Agreement (which
: I've again attached for Danielle's benefit) is an agreement between UPTV
and
: FSTV. UPTV is not a party to any agreement FSTV has made with Dish Network
: to use their satellite network. Honestly, I fail to see where any legal
: issue arises in the first place. I gather you're concerned that there may
be
: some sort of legal issue with a Dish Network signal going out over a
: "competing" carrier (Insight Communications' cable system), but it says
: right in the FSTV Affiliate Agreement:
:
: "Free Speech TV warrants that it has the authority to grant such
: re-transmission rights."
:
: and
:
: "Free Speech TV agrees to pay any fee imposed by DISH Network in order for
: DISH Network to grant permission for Affiliate to re-transmit Free Speech
: TV's programming by means of the Feed (hereafter Retransmission Permit
: Fee)."
:
: Though I don't claim to be a lawyer, this seems pretty clear-cut and
: ironclad to me and any potential liability would be with FSTV, not UPTV.
: There are 108 FSTV affiliates and FSTV (Zach Warnow) tells me that NONE
: of them had any legal concern with the FSTV affiliate agreement and NONE
: have ever requested to see the details of the FSTV/Dish Network contract.
: But UPTV seems to be uniquely fixating on this phantom legal issue for no
: valid discernible reason. You're making this way more complicated than it
: needs to be and I can't understand why, especially given that you were so
: enthusiastic about the idea to begin with back in early May during our
: meeting.
:
: All in all, I feel the delays have been legion and unreasonable. I hope
you
: can understand why I feel I'm getting the run-around. It's like climbing a
: staircase that keeps getting longer by two steps for every step taken.
:
: Both you and Chris have said all along that you definitely want this to
: happen and that it will indeed happen. Since that is the case:
: =====================================================
: Will you PLEASE fill out and FAX the FSTV Affiliate Agreement TODAY? That
: way FSTV can ship the necessary equipment and we can begin to make
tangible
: progress. If not, could you please explain precisely why not?
: =====================================================
: The FAX should go to:
: 303-442-6472
: ATTN: Operations Department
:
: Thanks
: R
:
:
:
: > ----- Original Message ----- 
: > From: "DeJarnette, Bill" <bhdejarnette at city.urbana.il.us>
: > To: "Randall Cotton" <recotton at earthlink.net>
: > Cc: "Foster, Chris" <clfoster at city.urbana.il.us>; "! Chynoweth,
Danielle"
: <chyn at ojctech.com>
: > Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 10:06 AM
: > Subject: RE: Update: progress on DN!/FSTV
: >
:
: We have followed up with FSTV regarding their agreement with Dish Network
: and frankly their response left a little to be desired.
:
: After we discuss with some affiliates this should not be a problem.
:
: We have also been researching hardware
: necessary to provide a non intrusive mount for the roof and now have that
: issue resolved.  As this involves a contractual agreement and certain
: performances by the city it is prudent to send this agreement to Legal for
: review.  I will contact you when they have completed this review and we
can
: then follow up and resolve any issues they may raise.
:
: Thanks,
:
: B
:
: -----Original Message-----
: From: Randall Cotton [mailto:recotton at earthlink.net]
: Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 7:05 PM
: To: Foster, Chris; DeJarnette, Bill
: Cc: ! Chynoweth, Danielle
: Subject: Re: Update: progress on DN!/FSTV
:
:
: Chris, I didn't get a call from you today as you promised in your note
: below, so I'm disappointed.
:
: When you and I and Bill met to discuss this, there was no concern about
the
: cost of mounting equipment. What has changed since then?
:
: Are you saying that now because of this cost, UPTV may decide not to
pursue
: this? If that's not the case, then what exactly is preventing UPTV from
: FAXing in the FSTV affiliate agreement so that they can send UPTV the free
: satellite equipment? This is the next step.
:
: Bill, you said during our meeting that you wanted to "aggressively" pursue
: this project, but it has now been weeks since that meeting and no tangible
: progress has been made. I feel that despite my frequent calls to keep this
: moving forward, UPTV is stalling for some reason and I'm disappointed by
: that.
:
: I spoke with Danielle Chynoweth and she was surprised to learn that this
: wasn't already up and running. She said she would like to know the present
: status of this project from UPTV and I've carboned her on this note.
:
: Thanks
: R
:
:
: ----- Original Message ----- 
: From: "Foster, Chris" <clfoster at city.urbana.il.us>
: To: "Randall Cotton" <recotton at earthlink.net>
: Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 9:51 AM
: Subject: RE: Update: progress on DN!/FSTV
:
:
: Randall,
: I understand your concern about us not moving aggressively as you would
: like.
: Bill, had some issues that he wanted to take care of before we proceed
such
: as cost of mounting equipment etc.  I am swamped this morning but I
promise
: I will call you this afternoon for a more in depth update.  Thanks for all
: your help and I will talk to you this afternoon.
:
: Chris
:
:
:
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