Chapter 4-12

CHAPTER 4-12: CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEMS

SECTIONS:

4-12-1: PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL AND GOVERNMENTAL ACCESS CORPORATION:

4-12-1 PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL AND GOVERNMENTAL ACCESS CORPORATION:

(A) Purpose: An independent, nonprofit public, educational and governmental access corporation shall be created as hereinafter provided to promote and develop maximum community involvement in and use of cable television for public, educational and governmental and other nonprofit purposes and to administer use of access channels.

(B) Control Of Channels: The access corporation shall control the use of the public, educational and governmental access channels, as specified in the cable television license. Copies of access rules shall be filed with the city clerk.

1. Foundation, corporate, governmental, other philanthropic grants and private donations; and

2. As provided in the cable television license.

(D) Incorporation And Board Of Directors: The access corporation shall be incorporated by citizens who shall be broadly representative of the city and its diverse cable access constituencies. Directors shall be selected by an electoral mechanism designed by the initial directors to assure broad based representation.

(E) Powers: The powers of the access corporation shall be as set forth in the articles of incorporation, bylaws and rules. They shall include the power to:

1. Conduct public informational and educational activities.

2. Allocate access channel space and time, and access channel interconnections for nonprofit uses on a reasonable, nondiscriminatory basis.

3. Provide assistance for nonprofit programming and other nonprofit uses of the access channels.

4. Acquire ownership of facilities and equipment and employ staff.

5. Ensure compliance by all access channel users with all applicable federal, state and local laws.

6. Other acts necessary and appropriate to carry out the purposes of the access corporation.

(F) Cable Television Licensee Responsibilities:

1. The licensee shall provide a channel for use by the licensor at no charge, and other governmental units which are in intergovernmental agreement with licensor as to the use of the access channel. The city shall have public safety and emergency audio and video override authority. Said authority may be exercised by the mayor, city manager or other designated city officials. Licensee shall provide advice, technical expertise, facilities and equipment and other services as specified in the license agreement as necessary for the use of said channel.

2. The licensee shall provide a channel for use by local educational institutions at no charge to those institutions. The license shall provide advice, technical expertise, facilities, equipment and other services as specified in the license agreement as necessary for the use of said channel.

3. The licensee shall provide a channel for use by the public. The licensee shall provide advice, technical expertise, facilities, equipment and other services as specified in the license agreement, as necessary for the use of said channel.

4. Where the license agreement provides that the public, educational and governmental channels may be combined in one channel, then the public, educational and governmental users shall each have the right to a maximum use of one-third (1/3) of available channel time, with any excess available channel time to be allocated for general informational purposes or as determined by the board of directors of the nonprofit access corporation. (Ord. 1755, 10-14-1985)

4-12-2 CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEMS

(A) DEFINITIONS

"Cable television system," "cable television," "system" or "cable system" means any facility, consisting of a set of closed transmission paths and associated signal generation, reception and control equipment that is designed to provide cable service that includes video programming and that is provided to multiple subscribers within a community. "Cable television system" does not include:

1. A facility that serves fewer than fifty (50) subscribers.

2. A facility that serves subscribers without using any public street, road or alley.

3. A facility that serves only to retransmit the television signals of one (1) or more television broadcast stations.

4. A facility of a common carrier that is subject, in whole or in part, to 47 U.S.C. Sections 201 through 276, except that the facility is considered a cable television system, other than for purposes of 47 U.S.C. Section 541(c), to the extent the facility is used in the transmission of video programming directly to subscribers, unless the extent of the use is solely to provide interactive on-demand services.

5. An open video system that complies with 47 U.S.C. Section 573.

6. A facility of an electric utility that is used solely for operating its electric utility system [Reference: ARS 9-505)]

(B) LICENSE REQUIRED TO OPERATE/ PROHIBITION

It shall be unlawful for any person to construct, install or operate a cable television system in the City, or to construct, install, or operate any equipment or facilities to operate a cable television system in the City, within any street, within any other public property of the City, or within any privately-owned area within the City which has not yet become a Public Street but is designated or delineated as a proposed Public Street on any preliminary subdivision map approved by the City, without a properly granted license awarded pursuant to the provisions of this section. A License may be granted by the City Council to any person, whether operating under an existing License or not, who offers to furnish and provide such Cable System under and pursuant to the terms and provisions of this Chapter.

1. The licensee shall pay to the City a percentage of licensee’s gross annual revenues (the "license fee") as required by any license agreement.

2. The payment of the license fee by the licensee to the City shall be made as required by any license agreement. The City will impose and the licensee shall pay interest at a rate of 1 1/2 percent per month commencing from the date payment should have been made as required by any license agreement, unless the payment is subject to a bonafide dispute, and continuing until the payment is made. Fractions of a month shall be considered to constitute a full month for the purpose of computing interest. In addition to interest which may be assessed under this subsection, if licensee fails to pay any license fee, licensee shall be subject to the following civil penalties:

(a) A licensee who fails or refuses to pay a license fee or any portion thereof within 30 days after written notice and demand by the City shall pay an additional penalty of 25 percent of the unpaid fee, unless licensee shows that the failure is due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect. If the City gives a notice and demand to the licensee, this penalty shall be in addition to the interest payment imposed in section 1 hereof.

(b) If the cause of failure to pay the licensee fee or any portion thereof is determined by the City to be due to civil fraud or evasion of the license fee, the licensee shall pay a penalty of 50 percent of the amount of deficiency. If the licensee’s failure to pay the license fee is due to civil fraud or evasion of the license fee, this penalty shall be paid in addition to the penalties imposed in sections 1,2 and 2(a) hereof.

(D) PROHIBITION OF INFORMATION

No licensee shall publish, furnish, provide, distribute or broadcast any publication, customer bill, or information containing any City of Prescott telephone numbers in relation to any cable services provided by the licensee. Any such publication, customer bill, information or broadcast or portion of such publication, information, or broadcast shall be limited to the printed statement "The City of Prescott is the licensing authority of the licensee for the purposes of using public rights of way but the City does not regulate rates or the delivery of services." Any such statement shall not be displayed less prominently or in smaller font than any other portion of such publication, customer billing, information, or broadcast.

(E) SEVERABILITY

If any provision of this section is held by any court or by any Federal or State agency of competent jurisdiction to be invalid as conflicting with any Federal or State law, rule or regulation now or hereafter in effect, or is held by such court or agency to be modified in any way in order to conform to the requirements of any such law, rule or regulation, such provision shall be considered a separate, distinct, and independent part of this article, and such holding shall not affect the validity and enforceability of all other provisions hereof. In the event that such law, rule or regulation is subsequently repealed, rescinded, amended or otherwise changed, so that the provision hereof which had been held invalid or modified is no longer in conflict with such law, rule or regulation, said provision shall thereupon return to full force and effect and shall thereafter be binding on grantor and grantee; provided, that the City shall give the licensee thirty (30) days’ written notice of such change before requiring compliance with said provision or such longer period of time as may be reasonably required for licensee to comply with such provision.

(F) PENALTIES

Except for the penalties provided in section 4-12-2(C)for penalties on fees, any person who violates any provisions of this Chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished as provided in section 1-3-1 of this code.