(A) Administration of franchise. The city will have continuing regulatory authority over cable systems, cable services, and franchise compliance. The city may delegate any and all regulatory authority to the commission. A grantee must fully cooperate with the commission in the exercise of regulatory authority delegated by the city.
(B) Franchise fee.
(1) A grantee must pay to the city a franchise fee in the amount established in the franchise agreement, provided that the city must impose identical franchise fee obligations (including the percentage and gross revenue definition) on all cable service providers in the city.
(2) Each franchise fee payment must be accompanied by a report certified by an authorized representative of the grantee, in form reasonably acceptable to city, detailing the computation of the payment. All amounts paid must be subject to audit and recomputation by the city for the statutorily-allowed period applicable to assertion of contract claims, and acceptance of any payment must not be construed as an accord that the amount paid is in fact the correct amount.
(3) A grantee may designate that portion of a subscriber’s bill attributable to the franchise fee as a separate line item on the bill.
(C) Access to records.
(1) The city may, upon reasonable notice and during normal business hours, and subject to the privacy provisions of 47 U.S.C. §§ 521 et seq., inspect at a mutually convenient location any records of system operations maintained by a grantee that relate to a grantee’s compliance with its franchise, including specifically the grantee’s gross revenue records. A grantee may identify and label documents as “confidential trade secret” in accordance with § 115.04(B).
(2) A grantee must prepare and furnish to the city such reports as city may reasonably request with respect to operation of the system and provision of cable services in the city.
(Ord. 711, passed 2-11-2019)