(a) Negative options. will not engage in the practice of “negative option” marketing and will not charge a subscriber for any optional, a la carte or premium service or equipment which the subscriber has not affirmatively requested.
(b) Customer service standards. will comply with the customer service rules of the as in effect on the with the following modifications:
(1) therein shall mean 24 hours a day, seven days a week for telephone service availability, and at least 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, plus weekend or evening hours, for local office hours.
(2) In 47 C.F.R. § 76.309 subsection (c)(2)(ii) on service calls “promptly” is changed to “the same day service is requested (for requests made prior to 3:00 p.m.)” and in the second sentence “the same day service is requested (for requests made prior to 3:00 p.m.)” is added after “service problems” and “(for requests made after 3:00 p.m. on the previous day)” is added at the end.
(3) A copy of the
Customer Service Rules modified to reflect the preceding changes is shown in Appendix A.
(c) Reservation. reserves the right by ordinance to alter or amend the customer service and consumer protection matters set forth in this section, including adopting ordinances stricter than or covering items not presently set forth in this section. reserves the right to object to any such ordinance and nothing contained herein shall be read as advance consent by company to such modifications. Municipality agrees to meet with company on the matters in question prior to taking such action, and to provide company with at least two months notice of such action.
(d) Free service. During the term of this , will provide the following free service:
(1)
will provide without any installation charge or monthly charge one free outlet at each municipal building, in each public library and each public school and college in the
. If requested, company will add additional outlets at the preceding facilities (such as to some or all classrooms and auditoriums, but not to dormitories) and will do so at its standard hourly service charge. Such outlets shall be used only for cable television purposes. Except as set forth in division (d)(3) below, none of the preceding entities receiving service shall be charged any fee during the term of this
for those channels comprising basic service or any expanded basic service. No channels may be resold.
(2) In addition, one service outlet (which shall be at municipality’s city/township hall) shall receive without charge all video programming provided by
whether of a premium, pay-per-view or other nature. Such service shall be provided in such a manner that
may monitor the programming and use of the
for compliance with this
,
technical standards, and other applicable law. The services provided according to the preceding sentences shall be in an office location and not in a location conducive to public viewing.
(3) For the preceding facilities, if the
to the facility is more than 200 feet, the owner of the facility will be charged only the incremental cost for
or line extensions beyond 200 feet. Drops or installations of less than 200 feet shall be free for the preceding facilities.
(e) Access to service. shall not deny service, deny access, or otherwise discriminate on the availability or rates, terms or conditions of provided to subscribers on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, disability, age, familial status, marital status, location within , or status with regard to public assistance. Company shall comply at all times with all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to nondiscrimination. Company shall not deny or discriminate against any group of actual or potential subscribers in municipality on access to or the rates, terms and conditions of cable services because of the income level or other demographics of the local area in which such group may be located.
(f) Programming lockout. shall provide all subscribers with the option of obtaining a device by which the subscriber can prohibit the viewing of a particular cable service during periods selected by the subscriber.
(g) Pay-per-view. Subscribers shall be given the option of not having pay-per-view or per program service available at all or only provided upon the subscriber providing a security number selected by an adult representative of the subscriber.
(h) Blocking. Upon request by a subscriber, and within a reasonable period of time, for a fee shall use a notch filter or equivalent to block such subscriber from receiving both the audio and video portions (even though this may create problems on adjacent channels) of a channel on which programming is provided on a per program or pay per view basis.
(i) Municipal contacts. shall provide a separate phone number and management level person at company for to contact. Such person and number shall be for the use of municipality and not for the general public. Any such calls shall be returned within one business day. On any complaints registered by municipality to such person company shall within three business days provide municipality in writing its plan for resolution of such complaint.
(j) Credit. If for any reason within company’s control, service on all channels is interrupted for a period in excess of 24 hours then shall, upon request from a subscriber, credit the subscriber’s account for the period of interrupted service.
(k) Office/phone.
(1)
shall maintain an office to serve the purpose of paying bills; receiving and responding to requests for service; receiving and resolving customer complaints regarding cable service, equipment malfunctions, billing and collection disputes; and similar matters. Such office shall be located within ten miles of company’s existing facility at 3008 Airpark Drive, Flint, or at such other location as
and company shall from time to time agree. Company shall have a local telephone number or toll-free telephone number for use by subscribers toll-free 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The office of company shall be open to receive inquiries or complaints in person or by telephone during
.
(2) Upon request,
shall provide reports to
quarterly showing on a consistent basis, fairly applied, the number of telephone calls received by company and in addition measuring company’s compliance with the standards of
Rules 76.309 (c)(1)(ii) and (iv), and 76.309 (c)(2)(i), (ii), and (iv) (a copy of the current Rules are as shown in Appendix A). Such report shall show company’s performance, excluding periods of abnormal operating conditions, and if company contends any such conditions occurred during the period in question, it shall also describe the nature and extent of such conditions and show company’s performance including the time periods such conditions were in effect.
(l) Continuity of service. shall interrupt service only with prior notice to subscribers, good cause and for the shortest time possible except:
(1) In emergency situations;
(2) As required by the
; and
(3) Service may be interrupted between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. for routine testing, maintenance and repair, without notification. In the event of a system upgrade,
shall both minimize any interruptions in service caused by the upgrade, and shall meet with
in advance to advise municipality of the nature, geographic extent and duration of any interruptions and obtain and where possible respond to municipality’s comments on same. Company shall credit subscribers on a pro rata basis for services not received during an interruption.
(m) Log of complaints. shall maintain a written log of all subscriber complaints or an equivalent stored in computer memory and capable of access and reproduction in printed form of all subscriber complaints. Such log shall list the date and time of such complaints, identifying (to the extent allowed by law) the subscribers and describing the nature of complaints and when and what actions were taken by company in response thereto. Such log shall be kept at company’s local office reflecting the operations to date for a period of at least three years, and shall be available for municipality’s inspection during . Upon request, company shall provide with a copy of the log or summary of it.
(n) Identification. All service personnel of or its contractors or subcontractors who have as part of their normal duties contact with the general public shall wear on their clothing a clearly visible identification card bearing their name and photograph. Company shall account for all identification cards at all times. Every service vehicle of company, its contractors and subcontractors shall be clearly identified as working for company, such as by magnetic door signs.
(o) Disconnection.
(1)
may only disconnect a subscriber if at least 45 days have elapsed after the due date for payment of the subscriber’s bill and company has provided at least ten days written notice (such as in a bill) to the subscriber prior to disconnection, specifying the
after which
are subject to disconnection; provided, however, notwithstanding the foregoing, company may disconnect a subscriber at any time if company in good faith and on reasonable grounds determines that the subscriber has tampered with or abused company’s equipment; or is or may be engaged in the theft of cable services; or that the subscriber’s premises wiring violates applicable
standards. Company may not disconnect a subscriber for failure to pay amounts due to a bona fide dispute as to the correct amount of the subscriber’s bill.
(2)
shall promptly disconnect any subscriber who so requests disconnection. No period of notice prior to requested termination of service may be required to subscribers by company. No charge may be imposed upon the subscriber for any cable service delivered after the
of the disconnect request. Except for pay-per-view services, if the subscriber fails to specify an effective date for disconnection the effective date shall be deemed to be the day following the date the disconnect request is received by company.
(p) Late payment.
(1) Each bill shall specify on its face in a fashion emphasizing same (such as bold face type, underlined type or a larger font) the date after which a late payment charge (however denominated or described), if any, shall be added to the subscriber’s bill.
(2) No late payment charges, however denominated, shall be added to a subscriber’s bill less than 21 calendar days after the mailing of the bill to the subscriber.
(3) All cable payment charges shall be separately stated on the subscriber’s bill and include the word “late” (or synonym denoting lack of timeliness in payment) in the description of them.
(4) Late payment charges imposed by
upon subscribers shall be reasonably related to company’s cost of administering and collecting delinquent accounts.
(q) Privacy and monitoring. Neither and its agents nor and its agents shall tap or monitor, or arrange for the tapping or monitoring, or permit any other person to tap or monitor, any cable, line, signal, input device or subscriber facility for any purpose, without the written authorization of the affected subscriber. Such authorization shall be revocable at any time by the subscriber without penalty by delivering a written notice of revocation to company; provided, however, that company may conduct system-wide or individually addressed “sweeps” solely for the purpose of verifying system integrity, checking for illegal taps or billing.
(r) Subscriber information. shall comply with the provisions of federal law regarding recording and retaining subscriber information.
(s)
technical standards. shall meet or exceed the FCC’s technical standards that may be adopted from time to time.
(1) Upon request,
shall provide
with a report of such testing.
(2)
shall establish the following procedure for resolving complaints from subscribers about the quality of the television signal delivered to them. All complaints shall go initially to a customer service representative and then to the manager of company’s local office for resolution within ten days. If not resolved at that level, they shall be referred to
and then to the
.
(3)
at its expense and with notice to
may test the
in cooperation with company for compliance with the
technical standards once per year and more often if there are a significant number of subscriber complaints. Company shall reimburse municipality for the expense of any test (not to exceed $5,000 per calendar year for tests) which shows a material noncompliance with such standards (but not a noncompliance disclosed by company in the report it provides municipality).
(t) Backup power.
(1)
shall install an electric generator which starts automatically in the event of loss of conventional power to provide electric service to the
head-end and associated equipment in the event of a power failure. Company shall also provide battery backup power (or an electric generator) at all other locations on company’s cable system where the loss of electric power might disrupt the provision of cable service within
such that the cable system and each portion of it shall operate for at least four hours even if electric service from conventional utility lines is interrupted.
(2)
or an
may not use a permanent or semi-permanent internal combustion engine (such as a gasoline or natural gas powered electric generator) located in the streets or
to provide backup power at any point or points on the
without municipality’s prior written approval. The preceding sentence does not apply to such engines located inside buildings or on land owned by company or an affiliate. Municipality’s approval may be granted subject to conditions, such as relating to testing times (e.g., not in the middle of the night), screening, noise levels, and temperature and safe discharge of hot exhaust gases.
(u) Undergrounding. If a subscriber requests underground cable service, may, in addition, charge any subscriber the differential between the cost of aerial and underground installation of the to the subscriber. This provision shall not apply where undergrounding is required by municipality’s ordinance or policy. If municipality’s ordinance or policy requires a new subscriber to have underground cable service, company may charge its normal installation fee.
(v) Bond.
(1)
shall provide
no later than 30 days after the acceptance of this
, a performance bond from a security company meeting the standards of § 806.10 in the amount $20,000 in form reasonably acceptable to municipality as security for the faithful performance by company of the provisions of this agreement, and compliance with all orders, permits and directions of any agency of municipality having jurisdiction over its acts or defaults under this franchise, and the payment of company of any claims, liquidated damages, liens or taxes due municipality which arise by reason of the construction, operation, maintenance or repair of the
or provision of
.
(2) The condition of such bond should be that if
fails to make timely payment to
or its designee of any amount or sum due under this
; or fails to make timely payment to municipality of any taxes due; or fails to repay to municipality within ten days of written notification that such repayment is due, any damages, costs or expenses which municipality shall be compelled to pay by reason of any act or default of company in connection with this franchise; or fails, after 30 days notice of such failure from municipality, to comply with any provisions of this franchise which municipality reasonably determines can be remedied by an expenditure of the money (including, without limitation, the assessment of liquidated damages), then municipality may demand and receive payment under such bond.
(3) In lieu of providing a bond,
may provide a guarantee from an entity acceptable to
substantially in the form set forth in Appendix B.
(4) The rights reserved by
with respect to this section, are in addition to all other rights of municipality whether reserved by this
or authorized by law, and no action, proceeding or exercise of a right with respect to such articles shall affect any other rights municipality may have, except that municipality shall not be entitled to multiple remedies for the same violation.
(w) Notice. If or its affiliates contend that company (or an ) is permitted to provide any or non-cable service in on the basis of or as the result of this , in whole or in part, then company shall give written notice of same to municipality at least 60 days before offering any such services in municipality.
(x) Internet/
.
(1) A.
will not prevent subscribers utilizing the
for internet or
from:
1. Communicating with persons of the subscriber’s choice;
2. Sending and receiving information of the subscriber’s choice; and
3. Accessing and using web sites of the subscriber’s choice.
B. This section shall not extend to any communications, information or service which is not protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
(2)
and
have negotiated without reaching agreement with respect to so-called “open access” for internet service providers and certain related issues. The parties reserve their claims and contentions with respect to these issues.
(y) Liquidated damages. acknowledges that noncompliance with the customer service rules of the (such rules as currently in effect set forth in Appendix A) will harm subscribers and and the amounts of actual damages will be difficult or impossible to ascertain. Municipality may therefore assess the following liquidated damages against company for noncompliance with such customer service rules. Each day on which a violation of such FCC Rules occurs constitutes a separate offense, except that a violation by company of a quarterly standard shall constitute a single offense for such quarter.
(1) First noncompliance with a given standard - $2,000;
(2) Second noncompliance with a given standard within four consecutive calendar quarters - $4,000;
(3) Third and subsequent noncompliances with a given standard within six consecutive calendar quarters - $6,000; and
(4) Liquidated damages shall be assessed in accordance with the procedures set forth in § 806.13.
(Ord. passed 9-5-2001)