(a) In accordance with the requirements of Ohio R.C. 1332.32, all video service providers providing video service in the City of Fairlawn pursuant to a video service authorization obtained from the Director of the Ohio Department of Commerce shall pay Video Service Provider fees (“VSP Fees”) in the amount of 5% of gross revenues received from providing video service in the City.
(b) For purposes of this Section, “gross revenues” shall be computed in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and shall consist of all of the following revenue collected by the provider for video service from all its subscribers having service addresses within the City of Fairlawn:
(1) Recurring monthly charges for video service;
(2) Event-based charges for video service, including, but not limited to, pay-per-view and video-on-demand charges;
(3) Charges for rental of set top boxes and other video service equipment;
(4) Service charges related to the provision of video service, including, but not limited to, activation, installation, and repair;
(5) Administrative charges related to the provision of video service, including, but not limited to, service order and service termination charges; and
(6) Advertising revenue, which shall mean the net revenue received by the video service provider for advertising on its subscription-based video service within the City of Fairlawn. If such revenue is derived under a regional or national compensation contract or arrangement between the video service provider and one or more advertisers or advertising representatives, the amount of revenue derived for the City of Fairlawn shall be determined by multiplying the total net revenue received by the video service provider under the contract or arrangement by the percentage resulting from dividing the number of subscribers in the City of Fairlawn by the total number of regional or national subscribers that potentially receive the advertising under the contract or arrangement.
(c) For purposes of this Section, “gross revenues” shall not include any of the following:
(1) Any taxes, fees, or assessments that are collected by the video service provider from video service subscribers for pass-through to any federal, state, or local government agency, including the video service provider fee authorized under this section, the fee authorized under division (F) of Ohio R.C. 1332.30, and the Federal Communications Commission user fee;
(2) Uncollectible charges, except that uncollectible charges, all or part of which are written off as bad debt but subsequently collected, less the expenses of their collection shall be included in gross revenue in the quarter collected;
(3) Late payment charges;
(4) Maintenance charges;
(5) Charges for services other than video service, reasonably identifiable on books or records the video service provider keeps in the regular course of business or by other reasonable means, that are aggregated or bundled with amounts billed to video service subscribers, including, but not limited to, any revenue received by a video service provider or its affiliates for telecommunications service, information service, or the provision of directory or internet advertising, including yellow pages, white pages, banner advertising, and electronic publishing;
(6) Reimbursement by programmers of marketing costs actually incurred by the video service provider;
(7) Any other revenue not expressly enumerated in division (b) of this Section.
(d) This Chapter shall apply to all new and existing video service providers authorized to provide video service in the City of Fairlawn under Ohio R.C. 1332.21 to Ohio R.C. 1332.34.
(e) If the City receives notice from a new video service provider that they will begin to provide video service in the City of Fairlawn pursuant to a State-issued video service authorization, then the Assistant Director of Finance of the City shall be authorized and directed to provide such video service provider with written notice of the applicable VSP fees as determined by this Ordinance, which notice shall be given by certified mail no later than ten days from receipt of any notice from a video service provider that it will begin providing video service in the City pursuant to a State-issued video service authorization.
(Ord. 2016-028. Passed 4-4-16.)