(a) Franchisee duties. A franchisee shall satisfy the customer service standards set forth in this section and any additional or stricter requirements established by regulations of the FCC or other applicable federal, State, or local law or regulation.
(b) Scope of article. This article does not prevent or prohibit:
(1) the County and a franchisee from agreeing to customer service requirements that exceed the standards set forth in this article;
(2) the County from enforcing, through the end of a franchise term, pre-existing customer service requirements that exceed the standards set forth in this article and are contained in current franchise agreements;
(3) the County from enacting or enforcing any lawful customer service or consumer protection laws or regulations; or
(4) the establishment or enforcement of any County law or regulation concerning customer service that imposes customer service requirements that exceed or address matters not addressed by the standards set forth in this article, a franchise agreement, or federal or State law or regulations.
(c) Compliance with agreement and consumer protection laws. This article does not relieve a franchisee of its obligation to comply with other applicable consumer protection laws and its franchise agreement.
(d) Meeting standards specified percentages of time. Where standards must be met a certain percentage of the time, a cable system operator must adopt policies designed to meet those standards in all cases, and in no event shall intentionally violate the standards; however, the cable operator shall not be subject to penalties or liquidated damages if it unintentionally fails to meet the standards in particular cases, so long as the cable system operator meets the standards the specified percentage of the time.
(e) Violations during first six months of service. Other than for violations of § 10-8-111, a cable operator shall not be subject to penalties, liquidated damages, or other monetary sanctions for violations of the customer service standards set forth in this title that occur during the first six months after the operator first begins to provide cable service in the County, unless such violations involve fraud or willful misconduct.
(Bill No. 54-06)