(A) The operator shall provide, upon request, one connection to its cable system free of installation charge to all designated City of Lawrence facilities, including the public library, and to all schools within the City and shall provide without charge those services specified in the franchise agreement. If the connection requires the extension of the operator’s cable system by more than 150 feet from the operator’s existing system, the operator may charge that portion of the extension costs required to extend the existing system beyond 150 feet from the existing system. The operator shall provide a governmental access channel using headed and system processing hardware and techniques which will result in no significant deterioration in signal quality in terms of carrier to noise (C/N), chroma delay, depth of modulation, frequency stability or other system distortions as compared to the processing quality utilized on the operator’s own entertainment channels.
(B) The operator shall install and maintain its cable system (including cable, equipment and devices) so that the signal transmitted to each subscriber at all outlets and on all channels, including the governmental channel, shall be of adequate strength and quality to produce, without causing cross modulation in the cable or interfering with other electrical or electronic systems, pictures and sound as good as can be reasonably accomplished using proven technology generally used by the cable industry for comparable systems.
(C) Except as preempted by federal or state law from doing so, the City of Lawrence reserves the right to enforce Federal Communications Commission technical standards regarding cable systems. Compliance with the regulations of the Federal Communications Commission regarding signals transmitted, including at a minimum the technical standards set forth in 47 C.F.R. § 76.601, as amended from time to time, shall constitute compliance with division (A) above so long as the regulations exist.
(D) The operator shall provide at least one channel to be allocated in accordance with the franchise agreement for governmental access. The operator shall interconnect its system with all other systems operating under a franchise granted by the City of Lawrence so that the channel designated for governmental access shall be transmitted on all systems simultaneously and on the same channel. This obligation includes the provision of all devices required to accomplish the interconnection.
(E) To the extent that an operator is providing programming for educational or governmental access channels which another operator is required to carry by interconnection, the interconnecting operator shall reimburse the operator for a portion of its costs on a per subscriber basis in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the Mayor or on the terms as the affected operators may agree.
(F) The Mayor may promulgate rules and procedures for the use of channels, facilities, equipment and other support designated for governmental access. The Mayor may promulgate rules and procedures under which the operator is permitted to use the channel capacity for the provision of other services if the channel capacity is not being used for designated purposes. The operator shall not exercise any editorial control over any governmental use channel except as federal law expressly provides otherwise and shall have no legal liability for obscenity in accordance with the Act. The operator shall provide to the City of Lawrence copies of any written and published policies concerning indecent programming on leased access channels.
Penalty, see § 1-1-2-3