(A) The following minimum requirements for facilities and services apply to all licenses:
(1) A cable system must have a minimum capacity of 90 video channels available for immediate or potential use.
(2) “EG” channels or educational and government channels: A cable system must dedicate or set aside capacity, equipment and operation of access channels for programming, content and use by government and educational institutions as required by federal law. The licensee must provide information on all access channels in its annual report under § 118.29(A).
(a) A cable system must provide up to two access channels, which will be individually designated by the town for educational or governmental access. The town may require the licensee to make a reasonable contribution to capital costs for access studios and related equipment and facilities if the standard channels and equipment are already in place or need to be upgraded. All licensees are to provide, at no charge to the town, modulators, processors, and all necessary transmission equipment for these channels and agree to design the system to accommodate the desired connections from the town hall to all headends throughout the town systems to all customers.
(b) Licensees shall also provide, at no charge, prompt and regular maintenance and replacement of any cables, amplifiers and other distribution equipment used for the educational and governmental channels, except for if the town or educational institution desires relocation of the primary points of origin, the town or educational institution shall bear the cost of such relocation. Licensees shall also provide programming and studio/production training or consulting support at no cost to either entity once the channels become operational.
(c) Capital grant provisions: Licensees shall provide funding to the town and educational institution to:
1. Purchase or otherwise furnish all necessary equipment not otherwise furnished in the above section in an amount not to exceed $7,500 lump sum per entity; and
2. Provide a capital investment fee of $.50 per customer, per month for the maintenance, support, upgrade and equipment lease payments necessary of the educational and government channels; and
3. Provide the ability to lease (at cost) or purchase from licensee any other equipment the town or educational institution deems necessary to establish and operate such access throughout the community.
(d) Service to all public buildings owned and operated by the town and the Florence Unified School District. Licensee will provide all service drops without charge to the town and details (including locations of such facilities) are to be set forth in the license agreement.
(3) Emergency notification system: A licensee must design its system to allow the town to interrupt cable service in an emergency to deliver necessary information to subscribers in accordance with FCC rules. The system shall be installed and operated with an emergency alert system in compliance with the rules of the Federal Communications Commission and the state “Emergency Alert System Operation Plan” (“state plan”), as amended from time to time, provided, however, that, notwithstanding any such FCC or state rules, the system shall be configured such that, in the event of a local emergency as reasonably determined by the town, the town shall be able to interrupt, to the extent not prohibited by FCC regulations or the state plan, audio and video signals distributed over the system for the delivery of appropriate signals necessitated by such emergency. The emergency override system will be operated in accordance with the license agreement, and rules and regulations issued by the town as permitted by applicable law and as amended from time to time.
(4) Interconnection: A cable system must be able to permit competitor interconnect and sharing in the capacity and/or transmission of “EG” channels and the emergency notification system requiring minimal system compatibility and limited interoperability. Unless otherwise expressly set forth otherwise in a license agreement, a licensee shall cooperate with other grantees in making available their signal distribution capabilities if one operator should so request. The expense of labor and material to effectuate such a juncture shall be the responsibility of the licensee requiring such services, who shall also indemnify and hold harmless the furnishing licensee from all damages and liabilities whatsoever stemming from the requesting grantee's use thereof. Further, unless otherwise expressly exempted in a license agreement, a licensee shall interconnect its system with any or all other systems located in the town upon the request of the town, provided that the town shall not require a licensee to interconnect with other systems if the town and the licensee reasonably determine that such interconnect is technically and economically infeasible. Upon receiving the request of the town to interconnect, a licensee shall immediately initiate negotiations with the other affected system or systems in order that technical details are resolved and that costs may be shared on an equitable basis.
(5) Co-location and joint trenching: see construction standards in § 118.33.
(B) The town may require that a license exceed the minimum requirements set forth in division (A) if so designated in the license.
(C) The town may waive minimum requirements set forth in division (A) where the applicant demonstrates that a waiver is in the public interest or is unduly burdensome to the operation of their system.
(Prior Code, Ch. 18, Art. V, § 18-310) (Ord. 343-04, passed 6-21-2004; Ord. 366-05, passed 3-7-2005)