(A) Franchise required. The County Commissioners may grant multiple nonexclusive cable franchises. No person may construct or operate a cable system in the county without a franchise granted by the County Commissioners. No person may be granted a franchise without having entered into a franchise agreement with the County Commissioners pursuant to this chapter.
(B) Application for initial franchise.
(1) A written application shall be filed with CCRC for the grant of an initial cable franchise. To be acceptable for filing, a signed original of the application shall be submitted together with ten copies. All applications shall include the names and addresses of persons authorized to act on behalf of all applicants with respect to the application. The written application for a cable franchise submitted to CCRC shall contain, at a minimum, the following information:
(a) The name, address, and form of business (corporation, partnership, etc.) of the applicant;
(b) Ownership and control of the applicant, including the names and addresses of all entities with 5% or more ownership interest in the applicant. Where such owners are not individuals, the applicant shall provide the same information with respect to their ownership and control, and so on until the ultimate owners are reached;
(c) Information showing the applicant’s technical ability to construct and operate the proposed system;
(d) Information showing the applicant’s financial qualifications to construct and operate the proposed system;
(e) Information showing the applicant’s legal qualifications to construct and operate the proposed system;
(f) A summary of any construction activity within the county anticipated by the applicant in connection with the proposed cable system, including a projected schedule for completion of such construction (which shall not be binding, except to the extent it may be incorporated into a franchise agreement); and
(g) The applicant may submit any other information it considers relevant to its application.
(2) The applicant shall submit with its application such application fee as may be specified from time to time by CCRC, based on the anticipated costs incurred by the County Commissioners in negotiating and granting the proposed franchise.
(3) CCRC may at any time request, and the applicant shall provide, such additional information as the County Commissioners reasonably deem relevant to the County Commissioners’ consideration of the application.
(C) Franchise agreement. Within a reasonable time after submission of an application, the County Commissioners shall enter into negotiations with the applicant as to the terms and conditions of a franchise agreement.
(D) Public hearing. The County Commissioners may hold a public hearing to hear comments on a franchise application. The County Commissioners shall give the public at least 15 days advance notice of any such hearing by publishing a notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.
(E) Reimbursement of application costs. After an initial franchise is granted, the applicant shall remit to the County Commissioners the amount of any actual costs incurred by the County Commissioners over and above the application fee referred to in division (B)(2) above, within 30 days after receipt of an invoice from the County Commissioners specifying such costs.
(F) Franchise conditions. Every cable franchise granted pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to the following conditions:
(1) A cable franchise shall be subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules and regulations, ordinances and resolutions, including those governing the monitoring and tapping of cablecast signal privacy, and the penalties for violation thereof.
(2) A cable franchise shall be subject to all lawful exercise of the police power of the franchisors and CCRC.
(3) A cable franchise shall be subject to the right of the franchisors and CCRC:
(a) To terminate the same for misuse, or failure to comply with any material provisions of this chapter, or any federal, state, or local laws, ordinances, rules, or regulations, or failure to comply with any material provision of the franchise agreement; and
(b) To control and regulate the use of the public streets.
(4) If a franchise terminates, and the franchisee does not have authority independent of that franchise to maintain and operate its system in the county’s public streets, then, to the extent not inconsistent with 47 U.S.C. § 541(b)(3), the County Commissioners may order the franchisee to remove its facilities from the franchise area within a reasonable period of time as determined by the County Commissioners. In that case, any property owned by the franchisee and not removed from the public streets within six months from the date of the County Commissioners’ order shall be considered to have been abandoned by the franchisee and will become the property of the franchisors to do with as they may choose. If a franchisee fails to remove its facilities as provided in this division (F)(4), CCRC may have the removal done at the franchisee’s expense, and any cost incurred by CCRC or the franchisors in removing the franchisee’s facilities from the county’s public streets or property will be a claim against the franchisee.
(5) In order that the franchisors and CCRC may exercise their rights herein upon termination of the franchise, a franchisee shall not make, execute, or enter into any deed, deed of trust, mortgage, contract, conditional sales contract, or any loan, lease pledge, sale, gift, or any other agreement concerning any of the rights, facilities, or property, real or personal, of the cable system without prior approval of CCRC and upon CCRC’
(6) The grant of a franchise by the franchisors shall be nonexclusive and shall be for a term as provided in the franchise agreement, which shall not exceed 15 years.
(7) A franchisee shall, where practicable, use existing towers, poles, conduits, lines, cables, and other equipment and facilities. Copies of all agreements for the use of such equipment and facilities with public utilities operating within the county shall be maintained on file by the public utility and made available for review by CCRC upon reasonable notice. Where such facilities are not reasonably available from public utilities, a franchisee shall have the right to erect and maintain its own poles, conduits, and related facilities in the public streets as may be necessary for the proper construction, installation, and maintenance of its cable system, subject to applicable law.
(8) Nothing in a franchise agreement shall be deemed to waive the requirements of the various codes, laws, and ordinances of the county regarding permits, zoning, fees to be paid, or right-of-way management, or to take the place of any general license or permit required for the privilege of transacting or carrying on a business within the county as required by the ordinances and laws of the County Commissioners, or for attaching devices to poles or other structures, whether owned by the franchisors or a private entity, or for excavating or performing other work in or along the public streets.
(9) A franchisee shall not oppose intervention by the franchisors or CCRC in any suit or proceeding pertaining to the cable system to which the franchisee is a party.
(10) No reference herein, or in any franchise agreement, to “public streets” shall be deemed to be a representation or guarantee by the franchisors or CCRC that its interests or other right to control the use of such property is sufficient to permit its use for such purposes, and a franchisee shall be deemed to gain only those rights to use as are properly in the franchisors and as the franchisors may have the undisputed right and power to give.
(G) Termination on account of certain assignments or appointments.
(1) To the extent not prohibited by the United States Bankruptcy Code, any franchise shall be deemed revoked 120 calendar days after an assignment for the benefit of creditors or the appointment of a receiver or trustee to take over the business of a franchisee, whether in a receivership, reorganization, bankruptcy assignment for the benefit of creditors, or other action or proceeding; provided, however, that a franchise may be reinstated at the franchisors’ sole discretion if, within that 120-day period:
(a) Such assignment, receivership, or trusteeship has been vacated; or
(b) Such assignee, receiver, or trustee has fully complied with the terms and conditions of this chapter and the applicable franchise agreement and has executed an agreement, approved by a court of competent jurisdiction, under which it assumes and agrees to be bound by the terms and conditions of this chapter and the applicable franchise agreement, and such other conditions as may be established or as are required by applicable law.
(2) Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event of foreclosure or other judicial sale of any of the facilities, equipment, or property of a franchisee, the franchisors may revoke the franchise, following a public hearing before CCRC, by serving notice on the franchisee and the successful bidder, in which event the franchise and all rights and privileges of the franchise will be revoked and will terminate 30 calendar days after serving such notice, unless:
(a) The franchisors have approved the transfer of the franchise to the successful bidder; and
(b) The successful bidder has covenanted and agreed with the franchisors to assume and be bound by the terms and conditions of the franchise agreement and this chapter, and such other conditions as may be established or as are required pursuant to this chapter or a franchise agreement.
(2004 Code, § 93-2) (Ord. 41, passed 4-28-1983; Ord. 08-10, passed 12-18-2008)