(A) The municipality, to the full extent that it may do so, hereby grants to the company, in accordance with the terms, conditions and provisions of this chapter, the right, privilege and franchise to establish, construct, operate and maintain the system in, upon, over and under the public right-of-way and within easements or other rights to use municipal property which are effective for the purposes of the grant. However, nothing herein shall be construed to include the use of municipally-owned utility poles without receiving reasonable rental therefor, and as used in this paragraph, reasonable rental shall be not more than the highest rate paid by any public utility operative in the municipality. Upon acceptance of the grant hereunder, the company agrees to extend the system to and offer the services of the system to all potential subscribers within the municipality subject to the provisions of §§ 116.01 through 116.03, 116.20 and 116.21; to acquire by lease, license, purchase or other right-to-use equipment, facilities and improvements, and land constituting all or part of the system, to connect subscribers to the system; and to repair, replace, enlarge and extend the system.
(1) Grantee is hereby authorized to extend the cable system as necessary, as desirable, or as required, pursuant to the terms of this agreement within the municipality. Whenever grantee shall receive requests for service from at least 5 subscribers within 660 cable-bearing strand feet (1/8 cable mile) of its trunk or distribution cable, it shall extend its cable system to such subscribers at no cost to said subscribers for such extension. The 660 feet or any multiple thereof shall be measured in extension length of grantee’s trunk and feeder cable required for service located within the public right-of-way or an easement grantee may obtain.
(2) No subscriber shall be refused service arbitrarily. However, for a subscriber who is more than 150 feet of distance from distribution cable to connection of service to subscriber, or a density of less than 5 subscribers per 660 cable-bearing strand feet of trunk or distribution cable, cable service may be made available on the basis of a capital contribution in aid of construction, including costs of material, labor and easements. For the purpose of determining the amount of capital contribution in aid of construction to be borne by grantee and subscriber(s) in the area in which cable service may be expanded, grantee shall provide 132 feet of trunk and/or feeder cable per subscriber, which is the number of feet of trunk and/or feeder which would be provided under the formula set forth in herein. Potential subscriber(s) will bear the remainder of the construction and other costs.
(3) On or before January 31 of each year, grantee shall furnish a written report and map to the municipality showing the location of the cable system within the municipality as of the preceding January 1.
(4) Grantee shall offer all residential services at uniform rates and classifications, provided rates within classifications are uniform.
(B) The term of the grant shall be 10 years. The term shall begin on the effective date set forth in § 116.05 of this chapter.
(C) The grant shall not be exclusive. The municipality may make the same grant or a different grant to the company or to any other person during the term of the grant. However, the municipality will not authorize or permit another system to operate within the franchise area on terms or conditions more favorable or less burdensome to such system operator than those applied to the company pursuant to this chapter. If any such franchise is granted on terms more favorable to the grantee thereof than those contained herein, then the company shall have the right to comply with all the terms of such other franchise in lieu of compliance herewith. Additionally, if the municipality authorizes another system to operate within the franchise area, it shall do so on the condition that such system reimburse and hold harmless the company from and against all costs and expenses incurred in strengthening poles, replacing poles, rearranging attachments, placing underground facilities, and all other costs, including those of the company, the municipality and any utilities.
(Ord. 1416, passed 5-25-1993)