(A) FCC standards. Cable operators shall comply with the customer service standards established by the FCC.
(B) Notifications to subscribers. A cable operator shall provide information and notices to subscribers as required by FCC regulations.
(C) Billing practices. A cable operator shall comply with the billing practice regulations of the FCC.
(D) Billing credit or refunds for service outages, interruptions or unsolicited service. A cable operator shall provide a subscriber upon request with credit or a rebate for a service outage or interruption exceeding eight hours. The credit for purposes of determining the amount of the credit or rebate shall be deemed to be equivalent to, or the same as a 24-hour service outage. No credit or rebates shall be required where the outage was due to matters beyond the immediate control of the cable operator.
(E) Special service requirements. A cable operator shall comply with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations concerning special service requirements for disabled, sight or hearing impaired or ambulatory impaired customers.
(F) Preferential or discriminatory practices prohibited.
(1) A cable operator shall not, as to rules, regulations, rates, changes, provision of service or use of a provider’s facilities and equipment, make or allow or grant illegal preference or advantage to any person, nor subject any person to illegal prejudice or disadvantage on the basis of age, race, creed, color, sex, national origin, handicap, religious affiliation or location of residence. Cable operators shall not deny cable service, or the extension of cable service, to any group of potential residential cable subscribers because of the income of the residents of the local area in which such group resides.
(1) The provisions of this section shall not, however, prohibit a cable operator from:
(a) Offering a promotional or incentive discount rate or charge;
(b) Denying service based on location of residence, if that residence is outside the parameters for line extension as detailed in a franchise agreement, if applicable; or
(c) Implementing a carefully designated no-frills service tier for lower income, and/or fixed income individuals.
(G) Use and return of equipment. A customer shall maintain any equipment rented or leased from a cable operator in good working order and operate the equipment only in the manner specified by the cable operator or the manufacturer of the equipment.
(1) If needed for proper operation, or requested by a customer, a cable operator shall deliver to a customer written instructions detailing the proper use of rented, loaned or purchased equipment. A cable operator may comply with this section by delivering the manufacturer’s instructions to a customer.
(2) A customer shall totally and fully reimburse a cable operator for any damage to a cable operator’s equipment that is due to the customer’s failure to properly maintain and operate the equipment.
(3) A customer shall be relieved from any responsibility for reimbursing a cable operator for equipment which malfunctions or does not operate due to a hidden or latent defect in the equipment or which fails to operate or improperly operates due to natural occurrences conditioned by the normal wear and tear of the equipment.
(4) No charge shall be made to the subscriber for repair services except in the event that such repair service is necessitated by the subscriber’s willful misuse of the equipment or the subscriber’s continued negligent care of such equipment.
(H) Security deposits. A cable operator is not required to seek a security deposit from a customer for use or rental of the cable operator’s equipment. However, if a security deposit is charged:
(1) A cable operator shall comply with any and all applicable state statutes, rules or regulations concerning security deposits. If the state has no statutes, rules or regulations concerning the security deposit for a particular piece of equipment, then the cable operator shall be prohibited from charging any security deposit for equipment which exceeds the replacement cost to the cable operator; and
(2) A cable operator shall return a security deposit if the equipment is returned in as good condition as when provided to the customer, normal wear and tear accepted.
(I) Disconnection for non-payment. A subscriber shall not be subject to disconnection for non-payment unless at the time of posting the following months bill, payment has not been received by a cable operator.
(1) Before disconnection of a subscriber’s cable service for nonpayment takes place, the subscriber must in fact be subject to disconnection for nonpayment, and at least five days shall have elapsed after a written notice of impending disconnection has been served upon the subscriber, or at least seven days have elapsed after mailing written notice of impending disconnection to the subscriber.
(2) The written notice of disconnection must state the amount that is owed by the subscriber to a cable operator, the minimum amount required to be paid to avoid disconnection and the date and place where the payment may be made.
(3) Receipt of a bad check from a subscriber in response to a written notice of disconnection does not constitute payment, and the affected cable operator need not give the subscriber further notice prior to disconnecting service.
(4) A cable operator may add a reasonable collection charge to the subscriber’s bill if the billing amount is not appropriately contested and payment is not made within a reasonable period following the due date, unless prohibited by law.
(J) Voluntary disconnections and downgrades. A subscriber may at any time request that a particular service tier, pay channel, premium channel, informational service or the entire cable service be disconnected. In addition, where different levels of service are offered by a cable operator, a subscriber may request a downgrade from a particular level of service to a less comprehensive or less expensive level of service.
(1) For a service tier, premium channel or informational service which is voluntarily disconnected, a subscriber shall pay a pro rata share of the monthly rate for that service.
(2) Any refund due a subscriber after downgrade or disconnection (both for non-payment and voluntary) shall be made within 45 days after the downgrade or disconnection.
(K) Service requirement. If the cable operator fails to provide any material service requested by a subscriber or programmer in accordance with the standards set forth in the franchise, the company shall, after adequate notification and being afforded the opportunity to provide the requested service, promptly refund all deposits or advance charges paid for the service in question by the subscriber or programmer. If any subscriber terminates for any other reason, the cable operator shall refund the unused portion of any prepaid subscriber service fee, on a daily pro rata basis.
(L) Protection of subscriber privacy. A cable operator shall abide by any and all subscriber privacy rules or regulations of the federal or state governments. The cable operator shall be constantly alert to possible abuses of the right of privacy or other legal rights of any subscriber, programmer or general citizen resulting from any device or signal associated with the cable communications system. The possibility of such abuse may be discussed at every scheduled review session.
(M) Resolution of complaints/inquiries. A cable operator is required to develop a comprehensive complaint/inquiry resolution policy that is consistent with the rules and regulations outlined in this subchapter. The Cable Television Advisory Board will be authorized to specifically handle complaints or inquiries that are not satisfactorily resolved at the cable operator level.
(Prior Code, § 110.070) (Ord. 13-08, passed 6-3-2013)