A. Provision of PEG channels.
1. Licensees to provide. Licensees shall each provide three (3) channels at no charge to the Village for non-commercial PEG access on the basic service tier of the cable system. Such channels shall be available twenty-four (24) hours per day throughout the term of the applicable franchise agreement. Licensees shall provide public access studio facilities and equipment as provided in the franchise agreement.
2. Initial channel assignment. The initial assignment of PEG channels to specific channel numbers on the basic service tier shall be established by mutual agreement between the Village and the licensee within ninety (90) days after the effective date; and no change to any PEG channel assignment existing as of the effective date shall be made by a licensee until after such time as the initial channel assignment is established pursuant to this section.
3. Relocation. Subsequent to the initial channel assignment, if a PEG channel relocation is necessitated by a licensee, each licensee agrees to give the Village at least forty-five (45) days prior notice whenever possible, but in no case less than thirty (30) days prior notice, and a licensee shall reimburse the Village for its reasonable and documented costs as provided in its franchise agreement in connection with the change for items such as changing stationery, changing logos, changing advertising materials and generally notifying subscribers and potential subscribers of the change. The aforesaid shall not apply to changes that are beyond a licensee's control, such as a television station under federal law requiring carriage on a channel currently used by a PEG channel.
4. Rules and procedures for use of PEG access channels. The Village shall be responsible for establishing and enforcing rules for the non-commercial use of educational and governmental channels and to promote the use and viewership of the channels. Licensees shall be responsible for enforcing rules for the non-commercial use of public access on a first-come, non-discriminatory basis as provided in the franchise agreement.
5. Editorial control. A licensee shall not exercise any editorial control over any use of PEG channels, nor shall a licensee or its affiliates incur any criminal or civil liability pursuant to the federal, state or local laws of libel, slander, obscenity, incitement, invasions of privacy, false or misleading advertising, or other similar laws for any programs carried on any PEG channel.
B. Allocation and use of PEG channels.
1. By Village. The educational and governmental access channels are, and shall be, operated by the Village, and the Village may at any time allocate or reallocate the usage of the PEG channels among and between different uses and Users. This expressly may include Village requiring several different persons to share or jointly use a given PEG channel or, conversely, allowing one (1) or more persons currently sharing such a channel to have a channel on which they are the sole user. The Village will notify licensees of any such reallocation for informational purposes.
2. By licensees. Village shall adopt rules and procedures as to when and how licensees may use the PEG channels for the provision of video programming if the PEG channels are not being used for their respective purposes pursuant to Section 611(d) of the Cable Act, 47 U.S.C. § 531. Licensees shall use the PEG channels solely in accordance with such rules and procedures and, except for the PEG channels being used by them, shall have no responsibility or control with respect to the programming of such channels.
C. PEG signal quality. Provided PEG signal feeds are delivered by the Village to the designated signal input point without material degradation (e.g., “broadcast quality”), the PEG channel delivery system from the designated signal input point shall meet the same technical standards as the remainder of the cable system set forth in the applicable franchise agreement.
D. Origination point. Each licensee shall coordinate with the Village regarding public, educational and governmental programming in the manner provided in its franchise agreement.
E. PEG capital payments for equipment and facilities. Each licensee shall coordinate with the Village regarding PEG access capital pursuant to Section 622(g)(2)(C) of the Cable Act (47 U. S. C. § 542(g)(2)(C)), in the manner provided in its franchise agreement. Licensees and Village shall agree that the capital obligations set forth in this section are not “franchise fees” within the meaning of 47 U.S.C. § 542.
F. Encouragement of PEG access cablecasting. Each licensee shall list all PEG channels on their print and cablecast electronic program guides in a form comparable to listings for PEG channels in other communities where the licensee provides service, or as otherwise agreed by the Village and the licensee.
G. Leased access. Each licensee shall make available suitable channel capacity for leased access by third parties not affiliated with the licensee to the extent from time to time required by federal law and regulations. Licensees shall have the sole responsibility for all operating aspects and for the fixing of rates and conditions for leased access use.
(MC-10-2007, Added, 07/10/2007)