§ A226-5. Regulation of franchise.

A. 

Regulatory authority. The City shall exercise appropriate regulatory authority under the provisions of this ordinance and applicable law. This authority shall be vested in the City Council and administered through the City Administrator or his designee in order to provide day-to-day administration and enforcement of the provisions of this ordinance and any franchise granted hereunder and to carry out the City's responsibilities with regard to cable communications.

B. 

Supervision of the franchise.

(1) 

The City shall have the following regulatory responsibility.

(a) 

Administration and enforcement of the provisions of this ordinance and any franchise granted hereunder.

(b) 

Award, renewal, extension or termination of a franchise pursuant to the provisions of this ordinance, the franchise and other applicable law.

(c) 

Consent prior to sale or transfer of any franchise granted hereunder, which shall not be unreasonably withheld.

(d) 

Performance evaluation.

(e) 

Rate regulation, If applicable.

(2) 

The City also reserves the right to perform the following functions:

(a) 

Develop objectives and coordinate activities related to the operation of government channels, if applicable.

(b) 

Provide technical, programming and operational support to public agency users, such as City departments, schools and health care institutions, if applicable.

(c) 

Approve procedures and nontechnical standards for institutional operations and services, use of dedicated access channels and sharing of public facilities, if applicable.

(d) 

Analyze plans for expansion, interconnection and growth of cable services.

(e) 

Analyze the possibility of integrating cable communications with other City, state or regional telecommunications networks.

(f) 

Formulate and recommend long-range telecommunications policy for the City, and determine the future cable-related needs and interests of the community.

(g) 

Provide the administrative effort necessary for the conduct of performance evaluations and any other activities required for the administration of the franchise.

(h) 

Monitor the grantee's process for handling customer complaints and periodically inspect, upon reasonable advance written notice, and analyze the records related to such complaints in accordance with any franchise entered into.

(i) 

Receive applications for rate increases, if applicable, and provide staff assistance in the analysis and recommendations thereto.

(j) 

Monitor the grantee's adherence to operational standards, service requirements and line extension policies and advise the grantee, to writing, of any deficiency which may require cure under the franchise or this ordinance.

(k) 

Assure compliance with applicable laws and ordinances.

(l) 

Arrange for certified professional engineering tests and analysis of equipment and equipment performance as needed to ensure compliance with this ordinance and the franchise.

(m) 

Assure continuity in service.

(n) 

Receive for examination all data and reports required by this ordinance.

(o) 

Make Cable Television Advisory Committee appointments.

(3) 

Responsibilities of the Cable Television Advisory Committee. The responsibilities of the cable Television Advisory Committee, if such a committee is appointed by the City Council, shall include but not be limited to the following:

(a) 

Monitor and advise the City Council and City administration of the provisions of the City's Cable Television Ordinance and related documents.

(b) 

Serve as advisory body for the public access and educational access channels of cable television and any institutional networks that may be developed.

(c) 

Conduct performance evaluations in association with the City Council and the City administration.

(d) 

Advise the City government of objectives to be obtained in the City's cable system based upon its continued evaluation of the City's cable television franchise, cable technology and the future cable-related needs and interests of the community.

(e) 

Prepare an annual report to the Council.

(f) 

Cooperate with the City and the grantee in fulfilling its responsibilities herein.

C. 

Rates and charges.

(1) 

Subject to applicable law, the grantee shall establish rates that are nondiscriminatory within the same general class of subscribers in the franchise area for all services. Nothing contained herein shall prohibit the grantee from offering discounts to commercial and multiple-family dwelling subscribers billed on a bulk basis, promotional discounts, or reduced installation rates for subscribers who have multiple services.

(2) 

To the extent that the Cable Act, rules of the FCC, or other applicable law may now, or as the same may hereafter be amended to, authorize the City to regulate the rates for any particular service tiers, service packages, equipment or any other services provided by the grantee, the City shall have the right to exercise rate regulation to the full extent authorized or to refrain from exercising such regulation for any period of time at the sole discretion of the City. In such event, the City shall provide written notice to the grantee of its intent to do so, providing citation to the applicable provision of the law.

(3) 

The grantee shall have the authority and the right, in accordance with federal law, to itemize on its billing statements any federal, state or City taxes, franchise fees or charges, however designated, of the FCC or other governmental regulatory body, including copyright payments, directly imposed on subscribers or on the grantee.

(4) 

The grantee may, at its own discretion, waive, reduce or suspend connection fees for specific or indeterminate periods and/or the monthly service from time to time at its discretion.

D. 

Performance evaluation.

(1) 

The City and the grantee shall, at the option of the City, hold scheduled performance evaluation sessions once every year. All such evaluation sessions shall be open to the public. The City shall provide 20 business days' advance written notice to the grantee of its intent to conduct such an evaluation session, so that grantee has appropriate time to gather information. The City shall postpone the evaluation session for a reasonable amount of time in the event grantee provides a written request for an extension of time to gather information.

(2) 

All evaluation sessions shall be open to the public and announced in a newspaper of general circulation in accordance with public notice, as provided in accordance with applicable law. If possible, the grantee shall notify subscribers of all such evaluation sessions by announcement on a designated channel on the cable system between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. for five consecutive days preceding each session.

(3) 

Topics which may be discussed at any scheduled evaluation session may include but not be limited to cable system performance, the grantee compliance with this ordinance and the franchise, customer service and complaint response, subscriber privacy, services provided, programming offered, service rate structures, franchise fees, penalties, free or discounted services, applications of new technologies, judicial and FCC filings and line extensions.

(4) 

During the review and evaluation by the City, the grantee shall fully cooperate with the City and shall provide information to the City relating to the topics outlined in Subsection D(3) as requested by the City.

E. 

Schedule of liquidated damages. For the violation of specified provisions of this ordinance and a franchise granted pursuant to it, the City Council shall act so as to notify the grantee, in writing, of the violation, and the grantee shall be allowed 60 days, or such other longer amount of time as the City may specify, to correct such violation. The City may impose such liquidated damages as may be agreed to by the City and the grantee, as set forth in the franchise agreement.