Chino Municipal Code Art. I General Provisions

The city finds that the development of cable television and communications systems has the potential of having great benefit and impact upon the people of Chino. Because of the complex and rapidly changing technology associated with cable television, the city further finds that the public convenience, safety and general welfare can best be served by establishing regulatory powers which should be vested in the city or such persons as the city shall designate. It is the intent of the ordinance codified in this chapter and subsequent amendments, to provide for and specify the means to attain the best possible public interest and public purpose in these matters and any franchise issued pursuant to the ordinance codified in this chapter shall be deemed to include this finding as an integral part thereof.

(Ord. 84-37 § 1, 1984.)

The ordinance codified in this chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "city of Chino Cable Television Franchise Ordinance."

(Ord. 84-37 § 2, 1984.)

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, 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. The word "shall" is mandatory and "may" is permissive. Words not defined shall be given their common and ordinary meaning.

1. "Additional subscriber service" means any service not included in "basic cable service," or "basic subscriber radio service or "institutional service," including, but not limited to, pay-cable.

2. "Agency subscriber" means a subscriber who receives a service in a government or public agency, school or nonprofit corporation.

3. "Basic subscriber radio service" means the provision to all subscribers of such audio programs as the retransmission of broadcast FM radio signals, the retransmission of shortwave, weather, news, time and other similar audio information and the transmission of cablecast audio signals all provided to subscribers at a monthly rate.

4. "Basic cable service" means any service tier which includes the retransmission of local television broadcast signals.

5. "Broadcast signal" means a television or radio signal that is transmitted over the air to a wide geographic audience and is received by a cable communications system off the air or by microwave.

6. "Cable communications system" or "system," also referred to as "cable television system," "cable system," "CATV system," or "community antenna TV system," means a facility, consisting of a set of closed-transmission paths and associated signal generation, reception and control equipment that is designed to provide cable service which includes video programming and which is provided to multiple subscribers within a community, but such term does not include:

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

b. A facility that serves only subscribers in one or more multiple unit dwellings under common ownership, control, or management, unless such facility or facilities uses any public right-of-way;

c. A facility of a common carrier, except that such facility shall be considered a cable system to the extent such facility is used in the transmission of video programming directly to subscribers; or

d. Any facilities of any electric utility used solely for operating its electric utility systems.

7. "Cable service" means the total of the following:

a. The one-way transmission to subscribers of video programming or other programming service; and

b. Subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for the selection of such video programming or other programming service.

8. "Cablecast signal" means a nonbroadcast signal that originates within the facilities of the cable communications system.

9. "Cable-mile" means a linear mile of strand-bearing cable as measured on the street or easement from pole to pole or pedestal to pedestal.

10. "Channel" or "cable channel" shall mean a portion of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum which is capable of delivering a television channel as defined by the Federal Communications Commission.

11. "Class IV channel" means a signaling path provided by a cable communications system to transmit signals of any type from a subscriber terminal to another point in the cable television system.

12. "Closed-circuit" or "institutional service" means such video, audio, data and other services provided to institutional users on an individual requirement, private channel basis. These may include, but not be limited to, two-way video, audio or digital signals among institutions, or from institutions to residential subscribers.

13. "Commence construction" means that time and date when construction of the cable communications system is considered to have commenced, which shall be when the first strand or cable is connected to a utility pole, or the first undergrounding of cables is initiated, after preliminary engineering (strand mapping) and after all necessary permits and authorizations have been obtained.

14. "Commence operation" means that time and date when operation of the cable communications system is considered to have commenced which shall be when sufficient distribution facilities have been installed so as to permit the offering of full service to at least ten percent of the dwelling units located within the service area.

15. "Commercial subscriber" means a subscriber who receives a service in a place of business, where the service may be utilized in connection with a business, trade or profession.

16. "Commercial use channel" means the channel(s) available for commercial use as defined by applicable law and specified in the franchise agreement.

17. "Converter" means an electronic device which converts signal carriers from one form to another.

18. "Council" means the governing body of the city.

19. "FCC" means the Federal Communications Commission and any legally appointed or elected successor.

20. "Franchise" means an initial authorization, or renewal thereof, issued by a franchising authority, whether such authorization is designated as a franchise, permit, license, resolution, contract, certificate, agreement. or otherwise, which authorizes the construction or operation of a cable system.

21. "Franchise agreement" means a franchise awarded under this chapter, accepted on the part of the grantee, containing the specific provisions of the franchise granted, including referenced specifications, franchise applications, and other related material, including the franchise requirements, and other related ordinance by appropriate ordinance amendment.

22. "Franchise fee" means the fee paid by the grantee to the grantor in consideration of the use of the public streets and rights-of-way.

23. "Grantee" means any person receiving a franchise pursuant to this chapter or its lawful successor, transferee or assignee, as may be permitted by the city council.

24. "Grantor" or "city" means the city, as represented by the city council or any delegate acting within the scope of its jurisdiction.

25. "Gross annual revenues" means the annual gross revenues received by the grantee from all sources of operations of the cable communications system, except that any sales, excise or other taxes collected for direct pass-through to local, state or federal government shall not be included.

26. "Initial service area" means the area of the city which will receive service initially, as set forth in the franchise agreement.

27. "Installation" means the connection of the system from feeder cable to subscribers' terminals, and the provision of service.

28. "Local origination channel" means any channel where the grantee is the primary designated programmer, and provides video programs to subscribers.

29. "Monitoring" means observing a communication signal, or the absence of a signal, where the observer is neither the subscriber nor the programmer, whether the signal is observed by visual or electronic means, for any purpose whatsoever; provided, monitoring shall not include systemwide, non-individually addressed sweeps of the system for purposes of verifying system integrity, controlling return paths, transmission or billing for pay services.

30. "Nonbroadcast signal" means a signal that is transmitted by a cable communications system and that is not involved in an over-the-air broadcast transmission path.

31. "Open channel" means any channel that can be received by all subscribers, without the necessity for special equipment.

32. "Pay cable" or "pay television" means the delivery to subscribers, over the cable communications system, of television signals for a fee or charge to subscribers over and above the charge for basic subscriber service, on a per program, per channel, or other subscription basis.

33. "Penetration" means the result expressed in percentage obtained by dividing the total number of potential subscribers in the franchise area into the number of subscribers receiving service.

34. "Person" means an individual, partnership, association, organization, corporation or any lawful successor, transferee or assignee of said individual, partnership, association, organization or corporation.

35. "Private channel," or "closed-circuit channel" means any channel which is available only to subscribers who are provided with special converter or terminal equipment to receive signals on that channel.

36. "Programmer" means a person or entity who or which produces or otherwise provides program material or information for transmission by video, audio, digital, or other signals, either live or from recorded tapes or other storage media, to subscribers, by means of the cable communications system.

37. "Public, educational or government access facilities" or "PEG access facilities" mean the total of the following:

a. Channel capacity designated for public, educational use; and

b. Facilities and equipment for the use of such channel capacity.

38. "Reasonable notice" shall be written notice addressed to the grantee at its principal office or such other office as the grantee has designated to the grantor as the address to which notice should be transmitted to it, which notice shall be certified and postmarked not less than four days prior to that day in which the party giving such notice shall commence any action which requires the giving of notice. In computing said four days, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays recognized by the grantor shall be excluded.

39. "Reasonable order" shall be written orders not excessive or extreme as to costs or time to comply, governed by sound thinking.

40. "Resident" means any person residing in the city as otherwise defined by applicable law.

41. "Residential subscriber" means a subscriber who received a service in an individual dwelling unit, where the service is not to be utilized in connection with a business, trade or profession.

42. "Sale" shall include any sale, exchange, barter or offer for sale.

43. "School" means any educational institution, including primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, both public and private.

44. "Section" means any section. subsection or provision of the ordinance codified in this chapter.

45. "Service area" means the entire geographic area within the franchise territory.

46. "Service tier" means a category of cable service or other services provided by a grantee for which a separate rate is charged by the grantee.

47. "State" means the state of California.

48. "Street" means and includes each of the following, which have been dedicated to the public or hereafter dedicated to the public and maintained under public authority or by others and located within the city limits: streets, roadways, highways, avenues, lanes, alleys, sidewalks, easements, rights-of-way and similar public property and areas that the grantor shall permit to be included within the definition of street from time to time.

49. "Subscriber" means any person, firm, corporation or other entity who or which elects to subscribe to, for any purpose, a service provided by the grantee by means of or in connection with the cable communications system.

50. "Substantially completed" means that sufficient distribution facilities have been installed by the grantee so as to permit the offering of full network service to at least ninety percent of the potential subscribers in the service area.

51. "Tapping" means observing a two-way communications signal exchange, where the observer is neither of the communicating parties, whether the exchange is observed by visual or electronic means, for any purpose whatsoever.

52. "Year" means the remaining portion of 1983. Thereafter, "year" means a full calendar year.

(Ord. 85-17 (part). 1985: Ord. 84-37 § 3, 1984.)