For the purpose of this franchise, the following, terms, phrases, words, derivations and their derivations shall have the meanings given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future tense, words in the plural number include the singular number and words in the singular number include the plural number. In the event the meaning of any word or phrase not defined herein is uncertain, the definitions contained in applicable local, state or federal law shall apply.
ACCESS CHANNELS. Any
or portion of a
utilized for public, educational or governmental programming.
AFFILIATE. Any
controlling, controlled by or under common control of grantee.
AFFILIATED ENTITY. Any entity having ownership or control in common with the grantee, in whole or in part, including, without limitation, grantee’s parent corporations and any subsidiaries or
of such parent corporation.
APPLICABLE LAWS. Any law, statute, charter, ordinance, rule, regulation, code, license, certificate, franchise, permit, writ, ruling, award, executive order, directive, requirement, injunction (whether temporary, preliminary or permanent), judgment, decree or other order issued, executed, entered or deemed applicable by any governmental authority of competent jurisdiction.
BASIC CABLE SERVICE. Any service tier which includes the lawful retransmission of local television broadcast.
CABLE ACT. The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, 47 U.S.C. §§ 521 et seq., as amended by the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, as further amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as further amended from time to time.
CABLE SERVICE. Shall mean (a) the one-way transmission to subscribers of (i) video programming or (ii) other programming service, and b)
interaction, if any, which is required for the selection or use of such video programming or other programming service. For the purposes of this definition, “video programming” is programming provided by, or generally considered comparable to programming provided by a television broadcast station; and, “other programming service” is information that a cable operator makes available to all subscribers generally.
CABLE SYSTEM or SYSTEM. Shall have the meaning specified for “cable system” in the
. Unless otherwise specified, it shall in this document refer to the cable system utilized by the grantee in the
under this franchise.
CHANNEL. A portion of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum which is used in a
and which is capable of delivering a television channel as defined by the
by regulation.
CITY. The City of Bloomington, a municipal corporation in the State of Minnesota.
CITY CODE. The municipal code of the City of Bloomington, Minnesota, as it may be amended from time to time.
CONNECTION. The attachment of the
to the television set of the
.
COUNCIL. The governing body of the
.
DAY. Unless otherwise specified shall mean a calendar day.
DROP. The cable that connects the
terminal to the nearest feeder cable of the
.
EFFECTIVE DATE. December 1, 2015.
EXPANDED BASIC SERVICE. The next tier of service above the
tier excluding premium or pay-per-view services.
FCC. The Federal Communications Commission, or a designated representative.
FRANCHISE. The right granted by this franchise ordinance and conditioned as set forth herein.
FRANCHISE AREA. The entire geographic area within the
as it is now constituted or may in the future be constituted.
FRANCHISE FEE. The fee assessed by the
to grantee, in consideration of grantee’s right to operate the
within the
’s streets and rights of way, determined in amount as a percentage of grantee’s
and limited to the maximum percentage allowed for such assessment by federal law. The term FRANCHISE FEE does not include the exceptions noted in 47 U.S.C. § 542(g)(2)(A-E).
GAAP. Generally accepted accounting principles as promulgated and defined by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”), Emerging Issues Task Force (“EITF”) and/or the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
GROSS REVENUES Any and all compensation in whatever form, from any source, directly or indirectly earned by grantee or any
of grantee or any other
who would constitute a cable operator of the
under the
, derived from the operation of the
to provide
within the
. GROSS REVENUES include, by way of illustration and not limitation, monthly fees charged subscribers for cable services including
, any expanded tiers of
, optional premium or digital services; pay-per-view services;
, installation, disconnection, reconnection and change-in-service fees, leased access
fees, all
lease payments from the
to provide cable services in the
, late fees and administrative fees, payments or other consideration received by grantee from programmers for carriage of programming on the
and accounted for as revenue under
; revenues from rentals or sales of
or other
equipment; advertising sales revenues booked in accordance with applicable law and
; revenues from program guides and electronic guides, additional outlet fees,
required by this franchise, revenue from
to the extent they are considered cable services under applicable law; revenue from the sale or carriage of other cable services, revenues from home shopping and other revenue-sharing arrangements. Grantee agrees that GROSS REVENUES shall include all commissions paid by grantee to any company affiliated with the grantee that grantee utilizes for the sale of advertising on the
within the
allocated according to this paragraph using total
subscribers reached by the advertising. Copyright fees or other license fees paid by grantee shall not be subtracted from gross revenues for purposes of calculating
. GROSS REVENUES shall include revenue received by any entity other than grantee where necessary to prevent evasion or avoidance of the obligation under this franchise to pay the
.
GROSS REVENUES shall not include any taxes on services furnished by grantee, which taxes are imposed directly on a
or user by a
, county, state or other governmental unit, and collected by grantee for such entity. The
is not such a tax. GROSS REVENUES shall not include amounts which cannot be collected by grantee and are identified as bad debt; provided that if amounts previously representing bad debt are collected, then those amounts shall be included in GROSS REVENUES for the period in which they are collected. GROSS REVENUES shall not include payments for
access capital support. The
acknowledges and accepts that grantee shall maintain its books and records in accordance with
.
INTERACTIVE SERVICES. Those services provided to subscribers whereby the
either (a) both receives information consisting of either television or other signal and transmits signals generated by the
or equipment under his/her control for the purpose of selecting what information shall be transmitted to the
or for any other purpose or (b) transmits signals to any other location for any purpose.
LIVING UNIT. A distinct address as tracked in the
network inventory, used by CenturyLink to identify existing or potential subscribers. This includes, but is not limited to, single family homes, multi-dwelling units (e.g., apartment buildings and condominiums) and business locations.
MINNESOTA CABLE COMMUNICATIONS ACT. The provisions of Minnesota law governing the requirements for a cable television franchise as set forth in M.S. §§ 238 et seq., as amended.
MOSAIC CHANNEL. A
which displays miniaturized media screens and related information for a particular group of
with common themes. The MOSAIC CHANNEL serves as a navigation tool for subscribers, which displays the group of
on a single
screen and also provides for easy navigation to a chosen access
.
NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS. Those hours during which most similar businesses in
are open to serve customers. In all cases, NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS must include some evening hours, at least one night per week and/or some weekend hours.
NORMAL OPERATING CONDITIONS. Those service conditions which are within the control of grantee. Those conditions which are not within the control of grantee include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages, telephone network outages, and severe or unusual weather conditions. Those conditions which are ordinarily within the control of grantee include, but are not limited to, special promotions, pay-per-view events, rate increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods, and maintenance or upgrade of the
.
PAY SERVICE. Programming (such as certain on-demand movie
or pay-per-view programs) offered individually to subscribers on a per-
, per-program or per-event basis.
PEG. Public, educational and governmental.
PERSON. Any natural person and all domestic and foreign corporations, closely-held corporations, associations, syndicates, joint stock corporations, partnerships of every kind, clubs, businesses, common law trusts, societies and/or any other legal entity.
QC. Qwest Corporation d/b/a CenturyLink (“QC”), an
of grantee.
QUALIFIED LIVING UNIT. A
which meets the minimum technical qualifications defined by grantee for provision of
. A
receiving a minimum of 25 Mbps downstream will generally be capable of receiving
subject to grantee performing certain network grooming and conditioning.
SET TOP BOX. An electronic device, which converts signals to a frequency not susceptible to interference within the television receiver of a
, and by an appropriate
selector also permits a
to view all signals included in the
tier delivered at designated converter dial locations.
STREET. The surface of and the space above and below any public street, road, highway, freeway, lane, path, public way, alley, court, sidewalk, boulevard, parkway, drive or any easement or right-of-way now or hereafter held by
which shall, within its proper use and meaning in the sole opinion of
, entitle grantee to the use thereof for the purpose of installing or transmitting over poles, wires, cables, conductors, ducts, conduits, vaults, man-holes, amplifiers, appliances, attachments and other property as may be ordinarily necessary and pertinent to a
.
SUBSCRIBER. A
who lawfully receives
.
WIRELINE MVPD. A multichannel video programming distributor that utilizes the streets to install cable or fiber and is engaged in the business of making available for purchase, by subscribers, multiple
of video programming in the
.
(Ord. 2015-36, passed 11-16-2015)