For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations, whether capitalized or not, shall have the meaning given herein. Words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number. Words not defined shall be given their common and ordinary meaning.
"Approval" or "consent" or "agree" or derivations of said words or words of similar import mean, unless otherwise expressly provided in this chapter or the grantee's franchise, the prior approval, consent or agreement of the person holding the right to approve, consent or agree with respect to the matter in question, and "require" or "judgment" or "satisfy" or derivations of said words or words of similar import mean the requirement, judgment or satisfaction of the person who may make a requirement or exercise judgment or who must be satisfied, which approval, consent, agreement, requirement, judgment or satisfaction shall, unless otherwise expressly provided in this chapter or the grantee's franchise, not be unreasonably withheld by the person holding the right to approve, consent or agree or make a requirement or judgment or who must be satisfied.
"Basic cable service" means the lowest priced level of service which includes the retransmission of local television broadcast signals (as authorized) and educational and governmental access channels.
"Cable service" means the one-way transmission to subscribers of video programming or other programming services and subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for the selection of such video programming or other programming service.
"Cable system" or "system", means a system of antennas, cables, wires, lines, fiber optic cables, towers, waveguides or other conductors, converters, pedestals, equipment or facilities, used for distributing video programming to home subscribers, and/or producing, receiving, amplifying, storing, processing, or distributing audio, video, digital or other forms of signals.
"Channel" or "cable channel" means a portion of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum which is used in a cable system and which is capable of delivering either one National Television Standards Committee ("NTSC") video signal, a number of audio, digital or other nonvideo signals, or some combination of such signals.
"City" means the city of Visalia.
"Council" means the city council of Visalia.
"Educational and governmental ("EG") access programming" means programming created, produced, or acquired by representatives of the educational community acting in their official capacity, or programming created, produced, or acquired by representatives of the city acting in their governmental capacity. Grantee shall not exercise any editorial control over EG access programming except as otherwise required by law.
"Franchise" means an initial authorization, or renewal thereof, issued hereunder which authorizes the construction or operation of a cable system.
"Grantee" means any person receiving a franchise pursuant to this chapter and under the granting franchise ordinance or agreement, and its successors, transferees or assignees, and further including any lessees, licensees, or permittees, of whatsoever kind and nature, except city and any public school district located in the city.
"Grantor" means the city as represented by the city council or any delegate acting within the scope of its jurisdiction and authority.
"Gross revenues" means any and all cash, credits, property of any kind or nature, compensation, or other consideration, received directly or indirectly by the grantee, its affiliates, subsidiaries, parent and any person in which the grantee has a financial interest, or from any source whatsoever, arising from or attributable to the sale or exchange of cable services by the grantee. Gross revenues shall include but not be limited to basic service monthly fees, pay tiers, premium channels, pay-per-view fees, leased channel fees, converter rental or sales, advertising revenue, any other payments by subscribers or users of the grantee's cable system directly or indirectly made to or received by any person who has contracted to provide cable service on the cable system, and such other revenues as agreed to in the franchise agreement. Gross revenues shall not include: (1) the amount of any refunds, credits, or other payments made to subscribers or users; (2) any taxes on cable service furnished by the grantee imposed directly on any subscribers or users by any municipal corporation, political subdivision, state or other governmental unit and collected by the grantee for the governmental unit; (3) the sale or transfer of tangible property (except as otherwise permitted in this definition); (4) the sale or transfer of the franchise; (5) the issuance, sale, or transfer of corporate stocks, bonds, or other securities; (6) nonforfeited equipment deposits; (7) uncollected bad debt; and (8) such other revenues expressly excluded in the franchise agreement. Gross revenues of the grantee shall not be reduced for any purposes other than provided herein.
"Installation" means the connection of the system from feeder cable to subscribers' terminals.
"Local origination programming" means programming, created, produced, purchased, or otherwise acquired by grantee for distribution to subscribers. The selection, creation, production, purchase, or other acquisition of local origination programming shall be exclusively within the editorial discretion of grantee.
"Other programming service" means information that a cable operator makes available to all subscribers generally.
"Person" means an individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, corporation or governmental entity.
"Public property" means any real property owned by the city other than a street.
"Service area" or "franchise area" means the entire geographic area within the city designated in a franchise agreement to receive cable service.
"State" means the state of California.
"Street" means the surface of and the space above and below any public street, road, highway, freeway, lane, path, public way, alley, court, sidewalk, boulevard, parkway, drive or any easement or right-of- way now or hereafter held by the city, or dedicated for use by the city, use by the general public, or use compatible with cable system operations.
"Video programming" means programming provided by, or generally considered comparable to programming provided by, a television broadcast station. (Ord. 9527 § 1 (part), 1995: prior code § 3801)