Loading...
Upon written request of the city, a cable operator shall furnish, at no cost to the city, copies of any or all filings with the FCC and the United States Copyright Office which concern the operations system in the city within 30 days of the request.
(Prior Code, § 110.068) (Ord. 13-08, passed 6-3-2013)
A cable operator shall keep complete and accurate books of accounts and records concerning the business and operations of the cable system.
(A) The city shall, upon seven days’ written notice, have access at all reasonable hours to all plans, contracts and engineering, accounting, financial, statistical, summary customer service records and other documents, as are necessary to the enforcement of city’s rights or cable operator’s obligations under this subchapter or applicable law.
(B) The city shall have the right, on seven days’ written notice, to review at the cable operator’s local office all records pertaining to a cable operator’s cable operations with respect to the city which are necessary to the enforcement of this subchapter or an applicable franchise. Any review, unless mutually agreed upon or judicially ordered, shall occur during the cable operator’s regular office hours. The city acknowledges the sensitivity of these records and will treat this information as confidential and proprietary to the fullest extent authorized by law.
(C) Not more frequently than every third year, subject to the provisions of division (E) below, the city shall have the right to hire an independent certified public accountant, or other business or financial expert, to review the books and records of a cable operator pertaining to revenue information in order to determine if franchise fees were properly paid.
(D) A deliberate false entry in the books and/or records of a cable operator of a material and substantial fact relevant to a cable operator’s compliance with the terms of this subchapter or its franchise may constitute a material violation of this subchapter.
(E) If, after a review or audit of a cable operator’s records, it is discovered that the cable operator has underpaid franchise fees to the city by an amount that exceeds 5% of the total amount paid for any reporting year, then the city may require the cable operator to reimburse the city for the actual underpayment, and in addition thereto the city may require additional audits the following two years.
(Prior Code, § 110.069) (Ord. 13-08, passed 6-3-2013)
(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)
(A) A Cable Television Advisory Board is expressly authorized to provide for related municipal services. The Mayor, with the ratification of the majority of the City Council, shall have the established authority to appoint a CATV Advisory Board consisting of at least five members who shall serve for three-year terms with such terms to be staggered, as its designated representatives.
(B) Interested citizens may attend Board meetings. The Board’s duration and requisite actions shall be under the express control of the City Council and it shall directly advise the City Council of its regulatory jurisdiction and may have the following additional responsibilities and duties:
(1) Offering to mediate disputes or disagreements between subscribers and the franchised company after an investigation, should the subscriber and the company not be able to resolve their view or disagreement;
(2) Reviewing and auditing all reports and filings submitted to the city as required hereunder and such other correspondence as may be submitted to the city concerning the operation of the cable television network and reviewing the rules and regulations set by franchised operators;
(3) Assuring that all rates and rules pertinent to the operation of the CATV system in the city are made available for inspection by the public at reasonable hours and upon reasonable requests;
(4) Reviewing rates subject to regulation;
(5) Recommend programming of a government access nature, to plan for community utilization of the local EG Channels, to encourage and foster local participation in EG channels and coordinate related use with appropriate cable television franchise representatives;
(6) Periodically review and inspect for compliance with the franchise agreement and this subchapter, the operations, service standards and technical systematic capacities of franchised cable operators to monitor for compliance under this subchapter and applicable local, state or federal laws or regulations, in existence, that govern telecommunications providers;
(7) Provide annual review that indicate whether any problematic concerns exist and directly communicate any related difficulties directly with the cable operator. In addition, the Cable Advisory Board will be responsible to coordinate the franchise renewal process whenever a cable operator with a satisfactory performance achievement rating indicates a desire to begin this process and the applicable renewal period is in effect. In all cases, this must occur at a point not less than six months prior to the expiration of a related franchise agreement; and
(8) Other duties and responsibilities that may be additionally assigned or delegated by resolutions or actions of the City Council.
(Prior Code, § 110.071) (Ord. 13-08, passed 6-3-2013)
(A) Any person violating any provision of this chapter for which no specific penalty is prescribed shall be subject to § 10.99 of this code of ordinances.
(Prior Code, § 110.100)