(a) No franchise granted hereunder shall be sold, transferred, leased, assigned or disposed of, including, but not limited to, transfer by force or voluntary sale, merger, consolidation, receivership or other means, nor shall the control of a grantee be changed, without the prior consent of the City, which consent will not be unreasonably withheld. The City may require additional financial guarantees, security pledges and/or assurances that the new grantees' customer service will be equivalent to that of a prior grantee.
(b) A grantee shall immediately provide written notification to the City of any actual change in, transfer of, or acquisition by any other party of, control of said grantee. The word “control,” as used herein, is not limited to major stockholders, but includes actual working control in whatever manner exercised. A rebuttable presumption that a transfer of control has occurred shall arise upon the disposal by a grantee, directly or indirectly, by gift, assignment, voluntary sale, merger, consolidation or otherwise, of fifty percent or more, at one time, of the ownership or controlling interest in the system, or fifty percent cumulatively, over the term of the franchise, of such interests, to a corporation, partnership, limited partnership, trust or association, or to a person or group of persons acting in concert.
(c) Every change, transfer or acquisition of control of a grantee shall make the franchise subject to cancellation, unless and until the City shall have consented thereto, which consent will not be unreasonably withheld. For the purpose of determining whether it shall consent to such change, transfer or acquisition of control, the City may inquire into the legal, financial and technical qualifications of the prospective controlling party, and the grantee shall assist the City in any such inquiry.
(d) The City agrees that any financial institution having a pledge of the franchise or its assets for the advancement of money for the construction and/or operation of the franchise shall have the right to notify the City that it, or its designees satisfactory to the City, will take control and operate the cable television system. Further, said financial institution shall also submit a plan for such operation that will insure continued service and compliance with all franchise obligations during the term the financial institution exercises control over the system. The financial institution shall not exercise control over the system for a period exceeding one year, unless extended by the City at its discretion, and, during said period of time, it shall have the right to petition for transfer of the franchise to another grantee. If the City finds that such transfer, after considering the legal, financial, character, technical and other public interest qualifications of the applicant, is satisfactory, the City will transfer and assign the rights and obligations of such franchise as are in the public interest. The consent of the City to such transfer shall not be unreasonably withheld.
(e) The consent or approval of the City to any transfer of a grantee shall not constitute a waiver or release of the rights of the City in and to the streets, and any transfer shall, by its terms, be expressly subject to the terms and conditions of this chapter and the franchise.
(f) Any approval by the City of transfer of ownership or control shall be contingent upon an assignee's becoming a signatory to the franchise agreement, or, in the case of transfer of control, the new controlling party will certify that it will continue under the same terms and conditions as are set forth in this chapter and the franchise agreement.
(Ord. 95-17. Passed 9-18-95.)