El Cerrito Municipal Code Art. 5 State-franchised Video Service Providers

A. Assembly Bill 2987 (Nunez), formally called the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 (the "Act"), became effective on January 1, 2007.

B. The Act establishes a state franchising system administered by the public utilities commission for video service providers.

C. The intent of this article is to exercise the city's regulatory authority pursuant to the Act and other state and federal law.

(Ord. 2008-1 § 2 (part), 2008: Ord. 2005-6 § 1 (part), 2006.)

A. Pursuant to California Public Utilities Code Section 5900, video service providers that have been issued a state franchise pursuant to California Public Utilities Code Section 5840 must comply with the provisions of Sections 53055, 53055.1, 53055.2, and 53088.2 of the California Government Code, and any other customer service standards pertaining to the provision of video service established by federal law or regulation and any laws subsequently enacted by the California Legislature (the "customer service standards").

B. The customer service standards also include California Penal Code Section 637.5 and the privacy standards contained in the Federal Cable Act, at 47 U.S.C. Section 551, et seq.

C. The city shall enforce the customer service standards within the city's jurisdiction, pursuant to California Public Utilities Code Section 5900(c).

D. Prior to imposing the penalties provided by this section, the city shall notify video service providers in writing of any material breach of these customer service standards. The video service provider shall have thirty days from the receipt of the notice to remedy the specified material breach.

E. A material breach of the customer service standards is punishable by a penalty of five hundred dollars for each day of each material breach, not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars for each occurrence of a material breach.

F. If a subsequent material breach of the same standard occurs within twelve months, the repeat material breach is punishable by a penalty of one thousand dollars for each day of each material breach, not to exceed three thousand dollars for each occurrence of the material breach.

G. If a third or further material breach of the same standard occurs within twelve months of the first breach, the repeat material breach or breaches are punishable by a penalty of two thousand five hundred dollars for each day of each material breach, not to exceed seven thousand five hundred dollars for each occurrence of the material breach.

H. Acts or omissions of a video service provider that result in breaches of two or more different customer service standards will be treated and penalized as separate material breaches of each violated standard.

I. This section shall not apply to any video service provider providing video services pursuant to a franchise agreement with the city.

(Ord. 2008-1 § 2 (part), 2008.)

A. Pursuant to California Public Utilities Code Section 5870(n), the city hereby establishes a public, educational, and governmental (PEG) access fee.

B. Video service providers that have been issued a state franchise pursuant to California Public Utilities Code Section 5840, shall designate a sufficient amount of capacity on their networks to allow the provision of the same number of PEG channels as are provided by the incumbent cable operator, as defined in California Public Utilities Code Section 5830(j). Notwithstanding the foregoing, such video service providers shall provide an additional PEG channel when the nonduplicated locally produced video programming televised on a given channel exceeds fifty-six hours per week as measured on a quarterly basis.

C. Video service providers that have been issued a state franchise must pay to the city a PEG access fee of one percent of the video service provider's gross revenues to support PEG channels consistent with federal law. The fee shall be remitted to the city quarterly, within forty-five days after the close of each quarter, at the same time as the video service provider remits its franchise fee pursuant to California Public Utilities Code Section 5860(h).

D. If the video service provider does not pay the PEG access fee when due, the video service provider shall pay interest at a rate per year equal to the prime interest rate published from time to time in the Wall Street Journal, plus one percentage point, from the date such amount was due, to and including the date of payment.

E. Pursuant to California Public Utilities Code Section 5860(i), the video service provider must keep records of its gross revenues for at least four years after those revenues are recognized in its books. The city may review the business records of the video service provider to ensure that the PEG access fee is being paid properly. If an audit of the video service provider indicates that the PEG access fee has been underpaid by more than five percent, the video service provider must pay the reasonable and actual costs of the audit, plus the interest as set forth in subsection D of this section.

F. This section shall not apply to any video service provider providing video services pursuant to a franchise agreement with the city.

G. Notwithstanding subdivision (n) of Public Utilities Code Section 5870, upon the expiration of any state franchise, without any action of the city council, this section shall be deemed to have been automatically reauthorized unless the state franchise holder has given the city council and city manager written notice sixty days prior to the expiration of its state franchise that this section will expire pursuant to the terms of subdivision (n) of Public Utilities Code Section 5870.

(Ord. 2008-1 § 2 (part), 2008.)

(Ord. No. 2017-03, § 2, 4-4-2017)