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BACKGROUND The City has been facilitating the broadcasting of live City Council meetings since the early 1990's. In addition, for the past year, the City has also been making these meetings available live and in an archived format on the City's web site. In addition, there is interest in podcasting City Council and Planning Commission meetings. Podcasting is a method distributing multimedia, most typically audio files, over the Internet using syndication feed or for playback on mobile devices such as mp3 players and personal computers. A syndication feed or RSS, allows users to "subscribe" to a podcast so that the multimedia content is automatically made available to the user at a set time and date after the meeting is held. While the City is currently using services to facilitate web streaming of City Council meetings, these services were secured as a means of evaluating the effort and services necessary for effective web streaming. Since the start of these web services, staff has indentified opportunities for enhanced services and for podcasting City Council and Planning Commission meetings. Podcasting is not currently available for City Council meetings and implementing this service will be beneficial for users who prefer podcasting as a means of obtaining City information. Podcasting Planning Commission meetings will address a long standing interest of staff and the Planning Commission, of enhancing access to meetings. Staff has evaluated existing available services and resources to make the necessary improvements and identified Granicus, Inc., as the best available option. DISCUSSION Granicus, Inc. is a California corporation currently providing multimedia services to facilitate the broadcasting of city meetings to a large number of cities and counties throughout the Califomia and the country. A brochure outlining available services is included in Attachment B. A summary of the basic services that will be made available through the recommended Service Agreement include the following: . Scheduled archiving of City Council meetings . Automatic publishing of streaming to the Web . Easy user interface • Automated indexing of video broadcasting to improve agenda item navigation . Web based searches Off site storage of files for a period of one year (after which the City will store) . Regular maintenance services . Can be used to facilitate City training program through web based video broadcasts . Facilitates subscription services for podcasting Additional information regarding Granicus web services is available on their web site at www.granicus.com. Page 2 of 3