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FRANCHISE CONDITIONS
No person or cable operator, shall be permitted to construct, operate or maintain a cable system which requires the laying or positioning of cable (coaxial, fiber or functional equivalent) across the rights-of-way of the city without first having entered into a franchise agreement with the city.
(A) The Council may award one or more non-exclusive cable service franchises within its geographical limits.
(B) Such franchise shall be awarded at a public proceeding and hearing which affords due process to both the city and the applicant. If the applicant is selected as a franchised operator, then the applicant will enter into a franchise agreement with the city, pursuant to the provisions of federal, state and local laws and regulations.
(C) Subject to applicable law, the city reserves the right to construct, operate or maintain a city-owned cable system and/or the right to provide commercial cable services within the city limits.
(D) Should the city construct a competitive system, the cable operator may withhold certain information it deems proprietary but shall be required to continue to comply with the auditing and review provisions contained herein.
(Prior Code, § 110.085) (Ord. 13-08, passed 6-3-2013)
(A) The franchise granted herein is non-exclusive. The city specifically reserves the right to grant, at any time, additional franchises for a cable television system in accordance with state and federal law. The city agrees that any grant of additional franchises by the city to any other entity to provide cable or video service shall not be on terms and conditions that when taken as a whole are more favorable or less burdensome to the franchisee of any such additional franchise than those which are provided to an incumbent franchisee.
(B) If the city grants a cable television franchise or other right to provide cable service to another person on terms which overall provide greater benefits or impose lesser burdens than provided to an incumbent franchisee, the city agrees to amend the incumbent’s franchise (effective upon the grant to said other person) to overall provide such greater benefits or lesser burdens.
(Prior Code, § 110.086) (Ord. 13-08, passed 6-3-2013)
(A) If the Council awards an applicant a franchise to construct, operate or maintain a cable system in all or part of the city, or approves a proposal for renewal of a franchise, then a franchise agreement shall be entered into. A newly franchised operator may not lay any cable until the franchise agreement is executed by the newly franchised operator and the city. At a minimum, a franchise agreement shall contain provisions for the following:
(1) The term or duration of the franchise;
(2) An agreement to comply with this subchapter; and
(3) Any applicable construction, upgrade or rebuild schedule.
(B) Any franchise so approved shall materially follow the constructs of this subchapter and may directly encompass this law allowing for applicable operator inclusion and delineations of systematic capacity and technical expansion and the exact term of the franchise agreement.
(Prior Code, § 110.087) (Ord. 13-08, passed 6-3-2013)
(A) Upon an award of a franchise, and the subsequent execution of a franchise agreement, a cable operator may construct, install, maintain, operate, repair, replace, remove or restore a cable system within the geographical limits set forth in the franchise agreement.
(B) The franchised cable system may utilize the streets, rights-of-way, easements and public ways of the city.
(C) The franchised operator shall be responsible for obtaining its own easements for private property, including privately-owned utility or street light poles.
(D) A franchised operator, through a separate pole or utility easement agreement with an affected utility, may locate the cable system on, or within, the property of the utility company.
(Prior Code, § 110.088) (Ord. 13-08, passed 6-3-2013)
The city may develop rules and regulations with respect to the submission and processing of applications for a franchise. The rules and regulations shall primarily be aimed at determining the legal, financial, technical and character qualifications of the applicant. Unless otherwise prohibited by law, the rules and regulations may require an applicant to pay an application fee which shall be equal to the administrative costs associated with processing an application for a franchise. If required, the total application fee must be paid prior to the Council’s formal action on the franchise application and shall not be subject to refund. No application fee shall be required to renew an existing franchise provided that the cable operator has satisfactorily complied with the provisions of this subchapter and the franchise agreement.
(Prior Code, § 110.090) (Ord. 13-08, passed 6-3-2013)
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