(a) No transfer of control of the cable television system shall take place, whether by forced or voluntary sale, lease, mortgage, assignment, encumbrance or any other form of disposition, without prior notice to and approval by the Council, which shall not be unreasonably refused. The notice shall include full identifying particulars of the proposed transaction, and the Council shall act by resolution. The Council shall have ninety days within which to approve or disapprove a transfer of control. If no action is taken within such ninety days, approval shall be deemed to have been given.
(b) The consent or approval of the Council to any assignment, lease, transfer, sub-lease, or mortgage of the grantee shall not constitute a waiver or release of the Village in and to the streets.
(c) For the purposes of this section, the term “control” is not limited to majority stock ownership, but includes actual working control in whatever manner exercised.
(d) A rebuttable presumption that a transfer of control has occurred shall arise upon the acquisition or accumulation by any person or group of persons of ten percent of the voting shares of the grantee.
(e) A mortgage or pledge of the cable system equipment or any part thereof, or a leasing by the grantee from another person of said cable system equipment or part thereof, for financing purposes or otherwise, shall be made only with prior approval of the Council and shall be subject and subordinate to the rights of the Village under this chapter or applicable law.
(f) In the absence of extraordinary circumstances, the Council shall not approve any transfer or assignment of the franchise before completion of construction of the initial service area of the energized cable.
(g) The Council reserves the right to review the purchase price of any transfer or assignment of the system, and any assignee or transferee to the franchise expressly agrees that any negotiated sale value which the Council deems unreasonable will not be considered in the rate base for any subsequent request for rate increases. Reasonableness of purchase price shall be determined by taking into consideration the original cost of all tangible and intangible property, as well as salvage value, book value, replacement value, cash flow, and other factors.
(Ord. 16-80. Passed 5-20-80.)