Board Meeting Minutes – 5/3/18

Date & Time: Present:

Present by Proxy: Location:

Thursday, 5/3/2018 @ 6:02p.
Keith Berkelhamer, Brian Shupe, John Daniell, Ian Sweet, Tony Italiano, Ilse Sigmund, Liz Levey, Roger Nishi
Lisa Loomis, Dan Eckstein
Mad River Valley Television Offices, Waitsfield, VT

Welcome/Additions/Changes to Agenda- Liz opened meeting @ 6:02p.

• No additions, changes to agenda.Public Form - No public present.

Director’s Report: Keith

• -  See attached.

• -  Keith reviewed social media data

  • YouTube - Top Videos, Visitors by Geography
    - MRVTV is in top 5 YouTube channel among Public Access TV Centers in VT

  • Facebook - 1,003 likes which equals 709% increase in Likes since June 2017.

  • Instagram / Twitter

  • Mailchimp - 138 subscribers; 25% to 30% open rate

  • mrvtv.com - 444/page views per week or 63/day

    - Top Sections/Videos Viewed

• School Board Meetings, Local Government (Town Fayston, Town Waitsfield)

- Top Referrals
• google / organic & direct/Mad RIver Glen/ Facebook

Program/Technical Report: Tony

• -  Tony described the unexpected challenges related to the HD cutover.

  • Telvue Connect Issues

  • New work flows in office.

• -  Studio Activity

1

• Purchased new curtains and will paint studio.

• Programming - Ongoing and Possible

  - Today Lights Tomorrow, Yoga, Shalam - Shalom

  - Possible future shows by Jack Garvin and Rick Rayfield

• -  Other Activity

  • Tony had camera at Harwood’s TedX but no-one was available to do the shooting. Tony let the camera run.

  • Old SD equipment traded to Darrad for $500 credit and 20 a % of sales sold on eBay - Tony will confirm

  • MRVTV plans to stream the 4th of July Parade from the Warren Store porch.

• -  Tony described new Telvue InfoVue service

  • New Community Calendar with ticker at the bottom

  • WMRW Stream is background music on sponsorship pages and all other pages

    - Ian mentioned potential upcoming streaming opportunities
    - July 5th - Bruce Sklar & musicians playing at a private event at the Sugarhouse Sounds- July 6th - The Grift will be playing at the Concert on the Green / Pre Marathon Party

    Update on Payback Plan: Keith

- Keith reviewed payback plan.

• Total Equipment Cost = $51.7k ($8.3k under $60k budget)

• We have pulled $30.8k from reserves so far (plan was to pull $41.3k)

• We are under budget and are in a position to move up payment schedule or lower amount to payback each year. Another option is to invest in additional equipment such as lights for the studio. Will assess total expenses at end of 2018 and make adjustments to schedule. One caveat, we may need to invest up to $8k for new encoders to fix our HD signal problem. Still troubleshooting issue.

  Rob Williams arrived at 6:45p

  Sponsorship Leads Discussion: Keith

- Keith led the discussion with a compiled list of local businesses who may be candidates for sponsorship.

• We reviewed the list together to see if anyone knows the contacts personally and could reach out to make an intro- duction for Keith.

- Keith & Tony described the Sponsorship Package options to include: 1) Digital only; 2) TV only or 3) Digital and TV combined.

2

Brian Shupe departed at 7:00p

Waitsfield Cable Update: Roger

• -  Roger reported revenues were strong despite:

  • WCVT had recent rate increases - $12/customer.

  • Losing subscriptions.

  • Smaller Telcos are in difficult situation where cable is losing business to streaming.

• -  Rob asked Roger if WCVT was receiving favorable PR due to their net neutrality stance.

• Roger reiterated that WCVT will not change the service in any way that will harm the customer experience.

Financial Update: Keith

- Keith lead discussion on Balance Sheet
• Roger questioned the balance in account 215 - Chase Card Services.

- Keith noted it was primarily for equipment and will be paid off.- Keith lead the discussion on Profit & Loss

• Income Account ‘402 - Miscellaneous Income’ is for sponsorships: live webcam streaming, production services; dvd sales.

• Income Account ‘404 - MRVTV Fundraising’ - does not yet reflect the Lawson’s $5.4k donation. Donation received in 2nd quarter.

• Expense Account ‘502 - Digital Services’ includes cloud storage, website expenses, Telvue Care and Social Media Marketing expenses

  - Keith expects to save on website service because he does a lot of the updating himself.

  - Telvue Care - We pre-paid the amount for 4 years in 2017. This expense has to be accrued in 2018 and the next three years. We did not account for this in our 2018 budget.

• Expense Account ‘508 - Hourly Labor’ - includes salary for shooters.
  - We’ve been paying unemployment benefits (approximately $1,000 to date) for a previous shooter.

• Keith is appealing the unemployment claim.
• Expense Account ‘540 - Office’ - higher than expected at this point due to crowdfunding expenses.

Live Webcam Replay Discussion: Keith

- We revisited question of enabling the record function on the covered bridge.
• We decided to hold off until after the summer season; discuss at September 2018 meeting.

3

Ideas for Fundraising 2018: Liz, Rob, Tony & Keith

• -  Liz noted Big Basin Band is no longer available for entertainment.

• -  Committee is hoping to move forward with ‘Family Type Events’

• -  Liz commented that event types should be chosen based on staffing available.

• -  Rob suggested a Parking Lot Block Party - here outside the office.

  • Some ideas included: Ticketed Event, Music, Rent out tables to vendors.

  • Can the event be sized to the staff we have?

• -  Other fundraising ideas

  • Approach banks for donations to non-profit organization.

  • 1824 has offered us space and a live auction was suggested.

  • Brian to ask Flatbread for a Benefit Bake night.

  • Autumn/early August proposed for events.

• -  Liz to work with a committee for suggestions.

  Streaming Service Discussion: Keith

• -  Keith attempted to call Lisa to include her in the discussion. Keith presented his idea to the group and communicated Lisa’s concerns on behalf of Lisa.

  • Consider offering weekly live streaming shows to Mad River Glen and Sugarbush.

  • They would provide host; MRVTV would provide production services.

  • Sugarbush live streamed Pond Skimming using an iPhone and had 66k live views.

• -  Keith looking for feedback on idea

  • Based on bylaws, MRVTV cannot have Call to Action on TV broadcasts.

  • However, there is nothing in the bylaws about digital.

  • Keith asked for opinions on whether it would be ok if the Live Stream could contain promotional content and then edit it out for re-broadcast on TV.

    - Sponsor’s logo can be on the digital live stream (removed for TV broadcast)

  • Group decided not to vote on it today but will follow up with an electronic vote.

• -  Rob thought it would be a good idea if we could offer the weekly ski areas a show.

• -  Ian cautioned that it is not likely that Sugarbush will go for the idea since they used to have a show and did away with it.

• -  As for our production services, Ian also cautioned that there are other capable production companies in the area who may not view this favorably.

• Even Sugarbush has their onsite production team.4

Other Business
- Keith to send invitation for Q3 meeting in September and Q4 in November.

Adjournment
Rob made motion to adjourn. Ian seconded, Motion passed and meeting was adjourned at 8:15pm.