Chino Hills Municipal Code Art. I General Provisions

This chapter shall be known as the City of Chino Hills Cable Television Ordinance.

(Ord. 140 § 1 (part), 2000)

This chapter is enacted by the city of Chino Hills under its authority as recognized by the Cable Act, and also separately by its police power authority and its authority and right to control the use of and encroachment upon the public right-of-way within the city.

(Ord. 140 § 1 (part), 2000)

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words and abbreviations shall have the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future tense, and words in singular number include the plural number. Words not defined herein shall be given the meaning set forth in the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 ("Cable Act"), 47 USC Section 521 et seq. and as hereinafter may be amended, and if not defined therein, their common and ordinary meaning.

"Access corporation" means a nonprofit, public corporation established or authorized by the city, whose duties shall include the management and operation of the PEG Access Channels.

"Affiliate" means any person directly or indirectly controlling, controlled by or under common control of grantee.

"Application" or "proposal" means a formal response by a qualified cable company in accordance with the city specifications to provide cable services to residents, businesses, industries, and institutions within the city, which has been submitted to and received by the city.

"Cable act" means the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, 47 USC Section 521 et seq. and as hereinafter may amended.

"Cable service" means the transmission on a cable system of any signals, including, but not limited to, video, audio, data, other programming, programming related services, or subscriber interaction. As defined here, "cable service" is intended to encompass at least those services included within the Cable Act definition of cable service (47 USC Section 522(6)) as it existed at the time this ordinance was enacted.

"Cable system" means a facility, consisting of a set of closed transmission paths and associated signal generation, reception, and control equipment that has an intended primary function of receiving and distributing video programming to multiple subscribers within the city. Such term does not include:

1. A facility that serves solely to retransmit the television signals of one or more television broadcast stations; or

2. A facility that serves subscribers without using any public right-of-way; or

3. A facility that operates under any other telecommunications franchise issued by the city.

"City manager" means the City Manager of the city of Chino Hills, or his or her designee.

"Completion of construction" means the point in time when all transmission equipment, facilities and construction work is installed and completed, and that all appropriate tests have been completed such that applicable performance standards pertaining to or dependant upon such construction is verified. The term "completion of construction" does not include marketing and installation of subscriber service.

"Control" means the possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct, or to cause the direction of, the management and policies of a specified person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract or otherwise.

"Distribution facilities" means cable equipment which is not specific to a subscriber, including trunk and distribution lines, but excluding drop lines to specific locations.

"Drop" means the cable and related equipment connecting the system's plant to equipment at the subscriber's premises.

"Educational channel" means a channel which designates educational institutions as the primary programmer(s).

"FCC" means the Federal Communications Commission or its designated representative(s).

"Franchise" means the right to construct, operate and maintain a cable television system in designated locations within the city pursuant to the terms and conditions of this chapter, the franchise agreement, any resolution approving the transfer of the franchise, any rate order of the city, and any agreement or contract between the city and grantee.

"Franchise agreement" means an ordinance granting a franchise pursuant to the terms of this chapter. Any conflict between the terms of this chapter and the franchise agreement shall be resolved in favor of the franchise agreement.

"Franchise area" means the geographic area within the city designated in a franchise where grantee may operate a cable system, as defined in the franchise agreement.

"Government channel" means a channel which designates a local government agency or agencies as the primary programmer(s).

"Grantee" means any person to whom a valid franchise is granted by the city under this chapter, and the lawful successor, transferee or assignee of said person.

"Gross revenues" means any and all revenue (including without limitation revenue, payments, cash, credits, real property, personal property, or any form of consideration) which is received, whether directly or indirectly, by grantee, its affiliates, or any other person in which grantee has a financial interest, from or in connection with the operation of the subject cable system, or any part of such system. Such revenue shall include but not be limited to the following:

1. Any and all fees charged to subscribers for cable service including without limitation fees for any and all basic service, optional service, tier service, audio service, commercial service, premium service, pay television service, pay-per-view service and related per-event service, or for the distribution of any other cable service over the cable system;

2. Any and all fees charged to subscribers for installation, disconnection, reconnection, change in service and similar fees;

3. Any and all fees charged to subscribers for converters, remote controls, modems or other equipment leased, rented or sold to subscribers in connection with the delivery of cable services;

4. Any and all fees charged to subscribers for service charges and/or late fees attributable to delinquent accounts;

5. Any and all revenue collected by grantee from its subscribers for direct payment to a third party as a cost of doing business (including without limitation possessory interest tax, copyright fees, program license fees and subscriber payments for PEG access);

6. Any and all revenue received from service related activities (as defined herein) including without limitation any and all revenue received from leased access programmers and other users, or the use, license or lease of studio rental and production equipment, or the sale, exchange or cablecast of any programming developed on or for community service channels or institutional users, or the sale of advertising or the lease of channel capacity on a cable system, without deduction for any commission paid to an advertising agency in connection with the sale of advertising on a cable system;

7. Any and all revenue of any person which is derived directly or indirectly from or in connection with the operation of a cable system, including but not limited to revenue or compensation which is paid by any of the following: (a) the subscribers or users of such cable system, or (b) the advertisers on such cable system, or (c) any other party; and is paid to any of the following: (a) the suppliers of programming on such cable system, or (b) home shopping services in connection with the sales of products or services derived from programming transmitted over such cable system, to the extent such revenue represents payment, in whole or in part, for the use of a channel on the system; or (c) leased access programmers for programming transmitted over such cable system; and

8. Refundable Deposits. Gross revenues shall not include any tax of general applicability imposed upon grantee by the city, state, federal or any other governmental entity and required to be collected by grantee and passed through to the taxing entity, provided such taxes are identified as a separate line item on subscriber statements. The franchise fee shall be included in gross revenue.

In computing gross revenues from sources other than subscribers, including but not limited to revenue from the sale of advertising, lists of the names and addresses of grantee's subscribers, home shopping services, guide sales, or the lease of channel capacity over its cable system, which revenue is attributable both to the operation of grantee's cable system inside the city and in areas outside the city, the aggregate revenue received by grantee from such other sources shall first be multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which shall be the number of grantee's subscribers in the city as of the last day of the relevant billing period and the denominator of which shall be the number of subscribers within all relevant areas served by grantee for that specific service as of the last day of such period, and then assessed for franchise fees.

"Normal operating conditions" means those service conditions that are within the control of grantee. Those conditions that are ordinarily within the control of grantee include, but are not limited to, special promotions, rate increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods, and maintenance or upgrade of the cable system. Those conditions that are not in control of grantee include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages, telephone network outages, and severe or unusual weather conditions.

"Person" means a natural person, legal entity or other entity, including without limitation, a corporation, trust, partnership, company, business, firm, joint venture, governmental entity, or any other association.

"Public right-of-way" means any of the following that are controlled, used or dedicated for use by the public and located within the city's jurisdictional limits: streets, roadways, highways, avenues, lanes, alleys, sidewalks, rights-of-way and similar public property within which grantee may place its facilities for operating a cable system.

"Service interruption" means the loss or impairment of the cable services on one or more channels or frequency bands of the cable system used in connection with the provision of cable services to any subscriber.

"Service-related activity" means any activity or function for which grantee receives revenue from any user or person other than a subscriber and which is directly associated with the operation of the cable system, or the production or distribution of any cable service or other communications services over the cable system, provided that such revenues are derived from cable services or other communications services transmitted over or used in connection with the cable system serving the city. "Service-related activity" includes, but is not limited to, revenues from advertising sales, home shopping commissions, the sales of products or services, program guide payments, payments from the lessors or purchasers of leased access channel capacity, payments for studio and other facilities or equipment rentals, billing services, audience promotions, and the installation, lease, rental or sale of equipment.

"State Franchisee" means any holder of a State-issued video franchise operating in the city, as defined in Public Utilities Code Section 5830(p).

"Subscriber" means any person authorized to receive or transmit for any purpose cable services offered by grantee.

(Ord. 140 § 1 (part), 2000)

(Ord. No. 227, § 1, 8-25-2009)