(a) General standard.
(1) A franchisee shall render efficient cable service and make prompt repairs. A franchisee shall intentionally interrupt cable service on the cable system only for good cause and for the shortest time possible, and, except in emergency situations, as set forth in paragraph (2) of this subsection, or to the extent necessary to correct the affected subscriber's service problems, only after a minimum of 48 hours' prior notice to subscribers and the County of the anticipated cable service interruption.
(2) A franchisee need not give notice to subscribers for planned maintenance that does not require more than two hours' interruption of cable service and that occurs between the hours of 12:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., but shall give notice to the County no less than 24 hours prior to the cable service interruption.
(3) The franchisee shall maintain a written log or the equivalent stored in computer memory and capable of access and reproduction on hard copy of all cable service interruptions and requests for cable service.
(b) Requirements. Under normal operating conditions, each of the following standards shall be met by a franchisee no less than 95% of the time, measured on a quarterly basis.
(1) An installation located up to 200 feet from a franchisee's existing distribution system shall be completed within the times specified in § 10-8-102(d).
(2) Excluding time required to obtain necessary permits, an installation located more than 200 feet from a franchisee's existing distribution system shall be completed within 60 days if extension of the distribution system less than one-half mile is required, or within one year if extension of the distribution system one-half mile or more is required.
(3) Work on other requests for service shall be commenced by the next business day after notification of a problem, and the work shall be completed within three days from the date of the notification. If, for reasons beyond the franchisee's control, the work cannot be completed in the required time despite the exercise of all due diligence, the franchisee shall complete the work in the shortest time possible. A franchisee's failure to hire sufficient staff or to train its staff properly does not justify a franchisee's failure to comply with these requirements. Except as federal law otherwise provides, a charge may not be made to the subscriber for work to correct a problem, except for the cost of repairs to the franchisee's equipment or facilities if it can be documented that the subscriber damaged the equipment or facilities.
(c) Normal business hours. At a minimum, a franchisee shall perform installations and disconnects during normal business hours.
(d) Technicians. A franchisee shall maintain a force of technicians capable of responding to subscriber requests for service within the following time frames, including weekends:
(1) for a system outage, within two hours of receiving a subscriber call that identifies a system outage of sound or picture of one or more channels affecting at least 10% of the subscribers of the system;
(2) for an isolated outage, within 24 hours of receiving a request for service that identifies an isolated outage of sound or picture for one or more channels; and
(3) for inferior reception quality, within 48 hours of receiving a request for service that identifies a problem concerning picture or sound quality.
(e) Response to service request. A franchisee has responded to a request for service under the provisions of this section when a technician arrives at the service location and begins work on the problem, or, if a technician's presence at the service location is not necessary to diagnose and cure the problem, when the franchisee has begun work on the problem elsewhere. If a subscriber is not home when the technician arrives, response is considered to have taken place if the technician leaves written notification of the technician's arrival. The franchisee may not charge the subscriber for a service call unless the service request can be demonstrated:
(1) both to have been repeated and not to have been based on a problem originating with the cable system; or
(2) to involve subscriber negligence or misuse of equipment.
(f) Appointment window. The appointment window for installations and service calls shall be a specific time or, at maximum, a four-hour time block during normal business hours. A franchisee may also offer longer appointment windows so long as it also offers the customer the specified four-hour time block.
(g) Cancellation of appointment. A franchisee may not cancel an appointment with a subscriber after the close of business on the business day preceding the appointment. If a franchisee's representative is not able to keep the appointment as scheduled, the subscriber shall be contacted and the appointment rescheduled for a time convenient to the subscriber. Such rescheduling shall not relieve the franchisee of responsibility for an improper cancellation where the cancellation and rescheduling occurs after the close of business on the business day preceding the original appointment.
(Bill No. 54-06)