(a)
-general. When requested by , shall provide on the in the basic tier of service (and in the lowest tier of service if different) the following public, educational and government channels, collectively known as “PEG channels.” Company shall not exercise any editorial control over the content provided on such PEG channels.
(1) One public access channel for use by members of the general public, to be administered and operated by
until
:
A. Designates an institution or institutions to administer such channel; and
B. Notifies
either that each such institution has in full force and effect a contract between
and the institution administering the public access channels) or that there need not be such a contract. This public access channel shall be shared by all municipalities and residents served by company in the
.
(2) One educational channel administered and operated by area K-12 public school districts or their designees, upon
having notified
either that each such institution has in full force and effect a contract between municipality and the institution administering the educational channel or that there need not be such a contract.
(3) One government channel (which may be administered and operated by
) on which the programming shall be provided by municipality, municipality’s designee, or such other units of state or local government as municipality may from time to time appoint.
(4) A sample of a contract with a
referenced in divisions (a)(2) and (a)(3) above as set forth in Appendix B.
(b) Initial
; allocation.
(1)
initially requests (and
shall provide):
A. The public access channel described in division (a) above;
B. A combined education/government channel to be operated and administered by the Grand Blanc Public Schools as the
and shared by several municipalities and school districts as set forth in Appendix D; and
C. A combined education/government channel to be operated and administered by the Holly Public Schools as the
and shared by several municipalities and school districts as set forth in Appendix D.
(2)
, on six months’ written notice to
may allocate or reallocate the administration and operation of the
among and between different uses and
. This expressly includes municipality requiring several different persons to share or jointly use a given PEG channel or conversely allowing one or more persons currently sharing such a channel to have a channel on which they are the sole user.
(c)
use.
(1)
may from time to time adopt and revise rules and procedures as to when and how
may use the
for the provision of video programming when the PEG channels are not being used for their respective purposes. Company will use the PEG channels solely in accordance with such rules and procedures and otherwise shall have no responsibility or control with respect to the operation of such channels except as provided by law.
(2) With municipality’s agreement,
may provide programming on any PEG channel which is underutilized, however the content of such programming shall be generally consistent with the nature of the PEG channel in question (for example, C-Span, C-Span 2, educational programming or the like to be provided on the shared PEG channel).
(d) Lines and facilities.
(1)
shall provide and maintain at its expense the lines and facilities necessary for it to receive PEG channel programming for simultaneous distribution on the
. This shall include company providing the lines, modulators and facilities (such as two-way activated
) necessary to provide live program origination capability from the studios (or other similar fixed signal origination point) for the
set forth in § I.C, II.C or III.C (whichever is applicable) of Appendix D (but not video production or playback equipment).
(2)
shall provide and maintain at its expense remote signal input points (meaning signal input points for PEG programming from locations that are used intermittently but repeatedly such as from a community center, high school auditorium, football field or the like) at the locations set forth in § I.D, II.D or III.D (whichever is applicable) of Appendix D.
(3)
may change the locations set forth in Appendix D, however, municipality (or third party, not
) shall bear the additional cost (if any) to company due to such change.
(e) Studio, van. shall continue to make available to and the on a non-exclusive shared basis the existing studio and existing mobile production van for the production and presentation of programming on the .
(1) The studio may be either:
A. Company’s current studio which is used both by
for its local origination programming and by the
(or persons creating programming for the PEG channels) throughout the
; or
B. A separate, stand-alone studio administered by a non-profit organization or local unit of government serving all or a portion of the
(including such a studio which is combined or associated with related non-profit or governmental activities and organizations, such as a theater, radio station or computer/internet training/hosting/production site).
(2) The studio shall be the former of the two options until otherwise elected by
and other municipalities in the
served by
who collectively have at least 50% of the cable subscribers in the Flint Metropolitan Area then being served by company.
(f) PEG access assistance. shall provide to grants for capital facilities for the on the dates and in the amounts set forth below where CAPITAL FACILITIES means those facilities that qualify as same under Federal Cable Act § 622(g)(2)(c); 47 U.S.C. § 542(g)(2)(c). Company will not directly or indirectly challenge any classification by municipality or a of an item as a capital facility if such classification is arguably correct. However, company reserves its rights regarding any third party challenge to a “capital facilities” classification by municipality or a PEG channel operator. Municipality shall allocate such grants among the PEG channel operators as it determines is in the public interest, may place such grants in an interest bearing account for such allocation in a subsequent year, or may direct company to pay the grant directly to the PEG channel operators as municipality determines is in the public interest. The grants and their timing are as follows:
(1) Within 30 days of the
, $22,500. This grant is for a suitcase studio and related equipment.
(2) Annual grants on September 1, 2001, and on September 1 of each successive year (until replaced by municipality’s electing grants pursuant to division (f)(3) below). The amount of the annual grant shall be the number of cable subscribers in
served by
on July 1 preceding the September 1 in question times $1.75 with the $1.75 figure to be adjusted annually starting with the September 1, 2002, grant for inflation computed according to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, Detroit 1982—1984 =100, with January, 2000, as the base point.
(3) If and when the separate stand alone studio described in division (e)(2) above is elected by
pursuant to division (e)(1) above or if municipality otherwise takes action with some or all municipalities in the
such that
no longer has to maintain a studio, van, personnel and their associated and related costs (for providing a public access channel) as generally described in this section, then (instead of the sums set forth in division (f)(2) above), company will pay municipality 0.5% of company’s
computed and paid quarterly in the same manner as which company pays
under § 806.08 of this chapter. Because such payment in parts offset operational costs (salaries and the like) which company would otherwise incur, any payments under this division (f)(3) may be used by municipality or
for operational costs associated with
as well as for “capital facilities”.
(4) For the purpose of computing the preceding grants, for multiple dwelling units or bulk service, the number of cable subscribers shall be the number of dwelling units (or other ultimate, individual customers) actually served.
(g) Separate checks. To assist in separating checks for capital facilities or PEG support from all payments to pursuant to division (f) above shall be by separate checks and shall not be combined with checks representing payments of franchise fees under § 806.08 of this chapter.
(h) Encouragement of public access channel. shall use reasonable efforts to publicize and promote the public access channel and to encourage members of the public to provide programming on the public access channel.
(i)
publicity. Company shall undertake the following publicity activities at its own expense:
(1)
shall make available at no charge to
or to
designated by municipality unsold advertising avails into which company inserts advertising, up to a maximum of three, 30-second spots per channel, per day, for spots promoting public, educational and government access programming.
(2)
shall list all public, educational, and governmental access channels on all print and cablecast electronic program guides, with individual, unique descriptions on each channel, such as “municipal channel”, “schools channel”, “schools/municipal channel”, “public access channel” and so on.
(3)
shall include written information about public, educational and governmental access programming and activities in its customer handbook, and in materials given to new subscribers.
(j) Municipal publicity. shall undertake the following publicity activities at its own expense:
(1) Describing the public access channel, shared schools/municipal channel (and such other
as may from time to time exist) at least yearly in any newsletter which
provides its residents;
(2) At least yearly similarly describing the contact person and procedures for persons to put programming on the public access channel, and the procedures for becoming qualified to use the studio, suitcase studios and mobile van; and
(3) Where appropriate, setting minimum programming (as opposed to bulletin board) and original programming requirements for
.
(Ord. passed 9-5-2001)