Lakeport Municipal Code Art. III Construction, Installation and Service

A. Within thirty days after acceptance of any license the licensee shall proceed with due diligence to obtain all necessary permits and authorizations which are required in the conduct of its business, including, but not limited to, any utility joint use attachment agreements, microwave carrier license, and any other permits, licenses and authorizations to be granted by duly constituted regulatory agencies having jurisdiction over the operation of CATV systems, or their associated microwave transmission facilities.

B. Within ninety days after obtaining all necessary permits, licenses, and authorizations, licensee shall commence construction and installation of the CATV system.

C. Within one hundred eighty days after the commencement of construction and installation of the system, licensee shall proceed to render service to subscribers, and the completion of the construction and installation shall be pursued with reasonable diligence thereafter, so that all channels represented by licensee to be ultimately available to subscribers, shall in fact be available to all subscribers within the city within one year from the issuance and acceptance of the license.

D. Failure on the part of the licensee to commence and diligently pursue each of the foregoing requirements and to complete each of the matters set forth herein within the time provided, shall be grounds for termination of such license.

E. The city council in its discretion may extend the time for the commencement and completion of construction and installation for an additional period.

(Ord. 465 Art. 3 § 1, 1971)

A. Any poles, wires, cable lines, conduits or other properties of the licensee to be constructed or installed in streets, shall be so constructed or installed only at such locations and in such manner as shall be approved by the director of public works and shall conform to all applicable laws including the city's encroachment ordinance.

B. The licensee shall not install or erect any facilities or apparatus in or on other public property, places, or rights-of-way, or within any privately owned area within the city which has not yet become a public street, but is designated or delineated as a proposed public street on any tentative subdivision map approved by the city except those installed or erected upon existing or future public utility facilities, without obtaining the prior written approval of the director of public works and the owner-subdivider.

C. In those areas and portions of the city where the transmission or distribution facilities of both the public utility providing telephone service and those of the utility providing electric service are underground or hereafter may be placed underground, then the licensee immediately upon written request by the director of public works, shall likewise construct, or reconstruct, operate and maintain all of its transmission and distribution facilities underground. For the purpose of this subsection, "underground" includes a partial underground system, e.g., streamlining. Amplifiers in licensee's transmission and distribution lines may be in appropriate housings upon the surface of the ground as approved by the director of public works. The city shall not, in any manner, be responsible for any costs incurred by any licensee in placing his property underground.

(Ord. 465 Art. 3 § 2, 1971)

A. In the event that the use of any part of the CATV system is discontinued for any reason for a continuous period of six months, or in the event such system or property has been installed in any street or public place without complying with the requirements of this chapter, or the license has been terminated, cancelled or has expired, the licensee shall promptly, upon being given ten days' notice, remove from the streets or public places all such property and poles of such system other than any which the director of public works may permit to be abandoned in place. In the event of such removal, the licensee shall promptly restore the street or other area from which such property has been removed, to a condition satisfactory to the director of public works.

B. Any property of the licensee remaining in place six months after the termination, forfeiture or expiration of the license, shall be considered permanently abandoned. The director of public works may extend such time not to exceed an additional thirty days.

C. Any property of the licensee to be abandoned in place shall be abandoned in such manner as the director of public works shall prescribe. Subject to the provisions of any utility joint use attachment agreement upon permanent abandonment of the property, the licensee shall submit to the director of public works an instrument in writing, to be approved by the city council, transferring to the city the ownership of such property. Any mortgage or security interest existing with regard to any abandoned property shall not prevent the city from removing said property, and the cost of such removal shall constitute a first lien on the property and any other mortgage or security interest shall be subordinate to said lien. The licensee in creating a mortgage or security interest in all instances, shall clearly state that such interest is subject to all the provisions of this chapter and is specifically subject to this provision with regard to abandoned property.

(Ord. 465 Art. 3 § 3, 1971)

The licensee shall, at its expense, protect, support, temporarily disconnect, relocate in the same street or other public place, or remove from the street or other public place, any property of the licensee when required by the director of public works by reason of traffic conditions, public safety, street vacation, freeway and street construction, change or establishment of street grade, installation of sewers, signal lines, and tracks or drains, water pipes, power lines or any other type of structures or improvements by public agencies; provided, however, that the licensee shall in all cases have the privileges and be subject to the obligations to abandon any property of the licensee in place, as provided in this chapter.

(Ord. 465 Art. 3 § 4, 1971)

Upon failure of the licensee to commence, pursue, or complete any work required by law or by the provisions of this chapter or by its license to be done in any street or other public place, within the time prescribed, and to the satisfaction of the director of public works, the director of public works may, at his option, cause such work to be done and the licensee shall pay to the city the cost thereof in the itemized amounts reported by the director or public works to the licensees within thirty days after receipt of such itemized report.

(Ord. 465 Art. 3 § 5, 1971)

The CATV system shall be installed and maintained in accordance with the highest and best-accepted standards of the industry to the effect that subscribers shall receive the highest possible service. In determining the satisfactory extent of such standard, the following, among others, shall be considered:

A. That the system be installed using all band equipment capable of passing the entire VHF and FM spectrum, and that it have the further capability of converting UHF for distribution to subscribers of the VHF band; provided, however, that licensee shall not convert the UHF signal of any nonprofit translator organization without its written agreement;

B. That the system, as installed, be capable of passing standard color TV signals without the introduction of material degradation on color fidelity and intelligence;

C. That the system and all equipment be designed and rated for twenty-four-hour-per-day continuous operation;

D. That the system provides a nominal signal level of 1,200 microvolts at 75 ohms at the input terminals of each TV receiver;

E. That the system signal-to-noise ratio is not less than 44 decibels;

F. That hum modulation of the picture signal is less than five percent;

G. That the system use components having a VSWR of 1.4 or less;

H. The operation standards set forth in this section shall be modified to the extent necessary to reflect the signal level available at the respective system antenna sites and normal signal loss experienced in the distribution system assuming that the distribution system is at the time of installation installed and maintained with the highest and best acceptable standards of the industry and is at all times properly maintained.

I. Licensee shall maintain a good and sufficient quality in its transmission of TV signals; in the event that the quality control is deficient, or below standard, then and in such event, it shall, pursuant to Section 5.16.100 of this chapter and this subsection, be the subject for forfeiture of the license, or, upon hearing pursuant to notice of setting and at the discretion of the city council licensee may be required to prorate service charges for the time proper signal is not provided, if such failure extends beyond a period of twenty-four hours, and the same is caused by improper or negligent operation or maintenance. For the purpose hereof, said council may require the attendance at any such hearing of representatives of the licensee.

J. The licensee shall provide eight stations as a minimum service to subscribers. All of the said minimum number of stations shall be operable and in use by subscribers within one year from the date of issuance of any licenses hereunder unless otherwise restricted or regulated by the Federal Communications Commission.

(Ord. 465 Art. 4 § 4, 1971; Ord. 475 § 1(part), 1972)

The licensee shall maintain an office in the city, and at a location which subscribers may call without incurring added message or toll charges, so that CATV maintenance service shall be promptly available to subscribers.

(Ord. 465 Art. 4 § 5, 1971)

No person, firm or corporation in the city shall be refused service; provided, however, that the licensee shall not be required to provide service to any subscriber who does not pay the applicable connection fee or monthly service charge.

(Ord. 465 Art. '4 § 6, 1971)

A. Before providing antenna service to any subscriber, the licensee shall, if subscriber contracts are required by licensee, obtain a signed contract from the subscriber containing a provision substantially as follows:

Subscriber understands that in providing antenna service (Licensee) is making use of public rights of way within the city of Lakeport, and that the continued use of these public rights of way is in no way guaranteed. In the event the continued use of such rights of way is denied to Licensee for any reason, Licensee will make every reasonable effort to provide service over alternate routes. Subscriber agrees he will make no claim nor undertake any action against the City of Lakeport, its officers, or its employees, if the service to be provided by Licensee hereunder is interrupted or discontinued.

B. The form of the licensee's contract with its subscribers shall be subject to approval of the city with respect to the inclusion of this section.

(Ord. 465 Art. 4 S7, 1971)

A. Licensee may make a charge to subscribers for installation or connection to its CATV system and fixed monthly charges.

B. Modification to rates or charges, or both, may be made by licensee.

C. No service or schedule of monthly rates or charges therefor shall be made or provided unless the same are first filed with the city clerk.

(Ord. 465 Art. 1 § 4, 1971; Ord. 569 § 1, 1978)

The licensee or any of his employees, during their course of employment, shall not engage in the business of selling or leasing television or other receivers which make use of signals transmitted by its system, nor shall the licensee or any of his employees, during the course of their employment, engage in the repair of such receivers or the sale of parts for the same.

(Ord. 465 Art. 6 § 3, 1971)

A. Whenever any portion of the territory covered by this license shall be annexed to, or otherwise become a part of any municipal corporation or of any other city or any other agency or political subdivision of the state, the city's rights hereunder shall inure to the benefit of such other public body and its appropriate officers.

B. In the event that any territory shall be hereafter annexed to the city, then and in such event this chapter shall apply to such annexed territory and such changes as may become necessary in such annexed territory shall be made solely at the expense of the licensee, and said annexed territory shall become entitled to all of the rights and privileges herein provided for subscribers within the present territorial limits of the city.

(Ord. 465 Art. 6 § 5, 1971)

No person, firm or corporation shall make any unauthorized connection, whether physically, electrically, acoustically, inductively, or otherwise, with any part of a licensed CATV system within the incorporated area of this city for the purpose of taking or receiving television signals, radio signals, pictures, programs or sound; also, no person, without the consent of the owner, shall tamper with, remove or injure any cables, wires or equipment used for distribution of television signals, radio signals, pictures, programs or sound; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to the wiring or facilities necessary to the addition of additional television sets in a dwelling house.

(Ord. 465 Art. 6 § 2, 1971)

Any violation of subsection A of Section 5.16.020 or Section 5.16.330 or 5.16.350 of this chapter constitutes a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding three hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than thirty days, or both.

(Ord. 465 Art. 6 § 4, 1971)