(A) In order that subscribers may be alerted in the event of an impending, imminent, or actual natural, man-made, or disaster emergency, the franchisee shall insure that the cable system providing cable service to all or part of the city is designed so as to permit an authorized official of the community to override the audio portion of all channels, and simultaneously and without a separate or additional effort activate a channel blanking function on all channels by touch-tone phone (or functional equivalent) from any location. Moreover, the franchisee shall, in the case of a disaster emergency, make the entire cable system available without charge to the city or to any governmental or civil defense agency that the city shall designate.
(B) In addition to any other requirements listed in this chapter, a franchisee shall do the following:
(1) Cooperate with the city on the use and operation of the emergency alert override system; and
(2) Develop a plan, with the city's concurrence, on methods to provide continuity of cable service and response to service calls in the event of a natural, man-made, or disaster emergency.
(C) As one method of providing continuity of services in the event of a natural, man-made, or disaster emergency, a franchisee shall, unless exempted by the city, maintain equipment capable of providing automatic standby power for a minimum of two hours strategically placed in locations along the cable system trunk line in order to minimize the number of subscribers affected by interruption of service.
(Ord. 96-9, passed 2-26-1996)