Covina Municipal Code Art. III CATV Consumer Protection

This article shall be known as and may be referred to as the "city of Covina multichannel video provider consumer protection ordinance."

(Ord. 03-1893 § 2, 2003; Ord. 94-1784, 1994)

It is the intention of the city council, by this article, to enact a Consumer protection ordinance applicable to all multichannel video providers within the city of Covina.

(Ord. 03-1893 § 2, 2003; Ord. 94-1784, 1994)

A. No person shall violate the terms and provisions of the Cable Television and Video Provider Customer Service and Information Act, Government Code Section 53054, et seq. All multichannel video providers within the city shall comply with all of the terms and provisions of said Act. In the event of the failure of any multichannel video provider to distribute the annual notice required by Section 53055.1 of the Government Code, the city manager shall give written notice thereof to said provider to comply within 60 days, and upon failure of said operator or provider to so comply, a penalty in the sum of $500.00 for each year in which the notice is not distributed shall be imposed by the finance director. The penalties shall be due and owing immediately upon notice of its disposition and, in the case of a franchisee of the city, may be collected at the same time franchise fees are collected. Nonpayment of the penalty shall be grounds for termination of said franchise or a nonfranchisee multichannel video provider's business license.

B. The annual notice as used herein, and as required by said Act, shall be given at least 60 days after the effective date of the ordinance enacting this section and, thereafter, on or about the first day of January of each year. The notice given to the city of Covina shall be delivered to the city manager and shall include a verbatim copy of the customer service standards established by each multichannel video provider within the city.

(Ord. 03-1893 § 2, 2003; Ord. 94-1784, 1994)

No person shall violate the terms and provisions of the Video Customer Service Act, Government Code Section 53088, et seq. In the event any person, including the city of Covina, should claim that a multichannel video provider, as defined in Section 53088.1 of said Act and this article, is not complying with the terms and provisions of said Act or this article, or any person should have a dispute with said multichannel video provider under the provisions of said Act, written notice thereof may be filed with the city clerk.

A. Any person having a dispute with a multichannel video provider or having a complaint that the multichannel video provider is not complying with the terms and provisions of said Act shall reduce the complaint or dispute to writing and present same to the city clerk before the city clerk is required to act thereon. Upon receipt of said written notice, the city clerk shall, within 10 days, make a tentative determination of whether the matter set forth in the notice is within the terms and provisions of said Act.

B. If the city clerk should determine that the matter set forth in said notice is not within the terms and provisions of said Act within said 10 days, said city clerk shall return the written notice to the person providing the same with a written explanation of why the same is not covered under said Act.

C. If the city clerk determines that the notice appears to be under the terms and provisions of said Act, he or she shall give the multichannel video provider written notice of any alleged material breaches of the consumer service standards or said Act and allow the multichannel video provider at least 30 days from receipt of the notice to remedy the specified breach.

D. If, in the opinion of the city manager, or his or her designee, said breach is material and not remedied within said 30 days, said city manager or designee shall give the video operator a 10-day written notice of the penalties assessed for said breach as provided in Section 53088.2(o) of the Government Code of the State of California.

E. Pursuant to said Section 53088.2(o) and (p) of the Government Code, the city manager, or his or her designee, is hereby authorized to impose the penalties therein set forth on or 30 days after final reading of the ordinance codified in this article by the city council. The penalties shall not exceed the amounts therein set forth and shall be assessed in accordance with the terms and provisions of Section 53088.2. In the event any multichannel video provider should fail to pay said penalty when assessed, on written notice to the multichannel video provider the same may be grounds for the revocation of the multichannel video provider's franchise or business license. However, any monetary penalty assessed under the provisions of this section shall be reduced dollar-for-dollar to the extent any liquidated damages or penalty provision of any applicable franchise document imposes a monetary obligation upon the multichannel video provider for customer service failures, and no other monetary damages may be imposed in such a case.

F. Any person directly affected by any ruling or determination of the city clerk or the city manager or his or her designee may, by written notice filed within 10 days of receipt of written notice of the decision complained of, appeal said decision to the city council. The city clerk shall thereafter schedule a public hearing on said appeal before the city council within 60 days of the receipt of said appeal.

(Ord. 03-1893 § 2, 2003; Ord. 94-1784, 1994)

In addition to the provisions of any franchise documents pertaining to consumer protection the following consumer protection standards are adopted and, where inconsistent with the franchise documents, shall govern:

A. For the purpose of this article the following definitions shall apply:

"Company"

shall mean any multichannel video provider operating within the city of Covina.

"Customer service representative"

shall mean the representative of said company that is designated and trained to assist multichannel video provider customers with all matters pertaining to the provision of service.

"Consumer" or "customer"

shall mean that person to whom company provides multichannel video services within the city of Covina.

"Systems"

shall mean the multichannel video provider's transmission equipment and method that delivers multichannel video services within the city of Covina.

"Multichannel video provider"

shall mean any person, company, or service, which provides one or more channels of video programming to a residence, including a home, condominium, or apartment where some fee is paid, whether directly or as included in dues or rental charges, for that service, whether or not public rights-of-way are utilized in the delivery of the video programming. A "multichannel video provider" shall include, but not be limited to, providers of cable television, master antenna television, satellite master antenna television, direct broadcast satellite, multipoint distribution services, and other providers of video programming, whatever their technology. A "multichannel video provider" shall not include a landlord providing only broadcast video programming to a single-family home or other residential dwelling consisting of four units or fewer.

"Standard"

installations shall mean those aerial installations that are up to 125 feet in length from the existing distribution system and that do not require separate permits or pole attachment rearrangements.

B. Each multichannel video provider within the city of Covina shall comply with the following consumer standards:

1. Require that a customer service representative will be available to respond to customer's or PEG channel programmer's telephone inquiries Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Holidays are excluded. These designated times constitute minimum normal business hours as determined by city as permitted by state and federal law, and the multichannel video provider's customer service center shall also be open during these hours. The multichannel video provider shall provide telephone availability to its subscribers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. After normal business hours an answering service or an automated response system must be provided. Inquiries received after normal business hours must be responded to by a trained company representative on the next business day.

2. Under normal operating conditions, telephone answering time by a customer service representative, including wait time and the time required to transfer the call, shall not exceed 30 seconds. The number of routine rings shall be limited to four or fewer. Under normal conditions customer callers shall receive a busy signal less than three percent of the time. This standard shall be met no less than 90 percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis and in accordance to a methodology proposed by multichannel video provider and approved by the city. The city shall have an absolute right, upon three days' written notice, to inspect any and all telephone response and monitoring information as necessary for the city to assure that the multichannel video provider is meeting its requirements.

3. Under normal operating conditions, each of the following standards will be met no less than 90 percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis in accordance to methodology proposed by multichannel video provider and approved by the city:

a. Standard installations will be performed within seven business days after an order has been placed.

b. Excluding those situations reasonably beyond the control of the multichannel video provider (which include natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages, telephone network outages and severe or unusual weather conditions), the multichannel video provider will respond to service interruptions, defined as three or more signal outages affecting more than one channel in a single zip code area, promptly and in no event later than four hours after notification.

Other service problems will be responded to by the close of business on the next working day of the multichannel video provider.

c. The in-home appointment window alternatives for installations and service calls shall not be longer than four hours. The customer may choose the appointment window most convenient for them. In 90 percent of cases, multichannel video provider shall respond on same-day basis to service calls for repair of a nonworking converter or remote control device if the call is received by 3:00 p.m.

d. If, at any time an installer or technician is running late and will not arrive within the prescribed window, an attempt to contact the customer will be made and the appointment rescheduled as necessary at a time which is convenient for the customer.

4. Multichannel video provider billing statements shall be clear, concise and understandable: bills will be fully itemized, with itemizations including, but not limited to, basic and premium service charges and equipment charges and bills will also clearly delineate all activity during the billing period, including optional charges, rebates and credits. Multichannel video provider shall consult with the city on any changes to company's statement and will consider the city's suggestions for modifications.

5. No customer shall have their service disconnected unless there has been compliance with the provisions of Government Code Section 53088, et seq.

6. In 90 percent of cases, refund checks will be issued within 30 days; but, in no event, later than 45 days following the resolution of the request and the return of the equipment supplied by the multichannel video provider if service is terminated.

7. Multichannel video provider will cooperate with the city's annual customer service and local programming survey.

8. Customers will be notified a minimum of 30 days in advance of any rate or channel realignment change, changes in products and services offered, billing and complaint procedures and service maintenance policies, as provided in Government Code Section 53088.2(h).

9. Multichannel video provider shall maintain records of the number of service interruptions longer than 30 minutes (on subscriber and institutional networks); service requests, complaints and service calls; their breakdown and resolution and comparison on a year-to-date and previous-quarter/last-year basis. The records shall be in a format developed by multichannel video provider and shall be available for inspection by the city.

10. Customers and local PEG channel programmers shall be afforded access to company's management structure including the system customer service manager and system general manager. System management staff will respond to PEG channel programmers and customer complaints or inquiries within one working day of the initial request. Customers will, at least annually, be informed of this option via written notice.

11. Multichannel video provider shall file all general customer communications with the city. Company's filing with the city shall at least be concurrent with its initial distribution to customers. General customer communications include, but are not limited to, marketing materials, rate increase correspondence, annual notification information required under state law, marketing promotions and service contract doorknob hangers.

12. Multichannel video provider will prepare and submit to the city a policy with respect to procedures for access to subscriber's property.

13. Although actual application of this section shall occur on a case-by-case basis as determined by the multichannel video provider, it shall be general policy that if the multichannel video provider personnel does not arrive for installation or service calls within a designated four-hour time frame agreed to by the consumer, the consumer may request and is entitled to one month's worth of the subscriber's total bill. If the multichannel video provider fails to provide such credit, and the request was made by the consumer within 60 days of the missed appointment, the city may request the multichannel video provider to issue the credit. The acceptance of the above service credit shall not prohibit the consumer from seeking additional remedies pursuant to applicable state law.

14. If the multichannel video provider does not mail a check for a refund (including applicable interest) to any consumer disconnecting service with an outstanding credit within the next billing cycle or 30 days, whichever is earlier, the consumer may request and it shall be the general policy of the company that the customer is entitled to receive a $10.00 payment except in special circumstances. In addition to the initial refund (and applicable interest) due, if the multichannel video provider fails to provide the $10.00 payment and the request was made by the consumer within 60 days after failure to receive the refund, the city may request the multichannel video provider to provide the $10.00 payment as well as any outstanding refund (and applicable interest) due.

15. It shall be the multichannel video provider's general policy that if the multichannel video provider cannot perform standard installations, within seven calendar days of request by a consumer, the consumer may request and is entitled to receive a $10.00 credit except in special circumstances. If the multichannel video provider fails to provide the $10.00 credit and the request was made by the consumer within 60 days of the installation request, the city may request the multichannel video provider to issue the credit.

16. The multichannel video provider shall provide an automatic credit to all consumers where there is an outage of all channels for a period of 24 consecutive hours or more which affects the entire city, regardless of the cause of the outage. The credit for such an outage shall equal, at a minimum, the value of 1/13 of each customer's monthly bill for the first 24 consecutive-hour period and prorated for each additional four-hour period or portion thereof that the outage continues. The multichannel video provider shall provide an automatic credit to all affected consumers when there is an outage of any premium service for a period of 25 consecutive hours or more which affects the entire city, regardless of the cause of the outage. The credit shall equal, at a minimum, the value of 1/13 of each consumer's monthly bill for the first 24 consecutive-hour period and prorated for each additional four-hour period or portion thereof that the outage continues.

17. Upon request of the consumer, it shall be the policy of the company that the multichannel video provider shall provide a credit to a consumer whenever an outage or outages of four or more hours in a 24-hour period has affected any of the nonpremium channels received by a consumer as part of their service. The credit shall equal the value of 1/13 of each consumer's monthly bill for the outages of four hours or greater duration occurring in a 24-hour period. In the event that a premium channel is affected by the outage, the credit shall equal the value of 1/13 of the consumer's monthly premium rate for each outage of four hours or greater duration occurring in a 24-hour period.

18. Consumers will be given at least 30 days' notice of any scrambling or descrambling of a channel(s), or rate changes that are within the company's control.

19. The multichannel video provider shall offer consumers the option to receive an A/B switch at the time of initial service installation for no additional installation cost, and shall provide consumers with written information as to how to use such a switch. The multichannel video provider may charge a reasonable price for said switch. Upon consumer request, the multichannel video provider shall provide an A/B switch after the initial installation of service. If the consumer requests installation of such a switch (to receive broadcast television without cable hookup), the company may charge reasonable fees for such installation and equipment.

20. If, in the opinion of the city manager, there has been a material violation of the terms and provisions of this section which has not been remedied despite notices to do so or the assessment of fees and fines, a written notice may be given to the multichannel video provider setting forth in detail the nature of the violation and proceedings commenced as provided in any franchise agreement documents or other documents for the revocation of any franchise and/or license to do business or permit.

(Ord. 03-1893 § 2, 2003; Ord. 94-1784, 1994)