Lincoln Municipal Code Art. III System Capability and Standards

Each licensee shall construct, install and maintain its CATV system in a manner consistent and in compliance with all applicable laws, ordinances, construction standards, governmental requirements, and technical standards. In any event, the CATV system shall not endanger or interfere with the safety of persons or property within the city.

(Ord. 747B §3(part), 2003)

(a) Every CATV System licensed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall provide up to five video channels for public, educational and governmental (PEG) access pursuant to the provisions of the Communications Act §611 (47 U.S.C. 531) to customers whose signal, from inception through delivery, passes through any equipment or device which is located on city property. The PEG channels shall be assigned by the city in its sole discretion as public, educational or governmental. PEG channels may, in the city's sole discretion and to the extent permitted by law, be utilized for intranet purposes, provided, however, that the city shall not sell or lease capacity on the PEG channels except to other governmental agencies (including schools). PEG channel(s) shall be active on the CATV system within 60 days of receiving notice from the city to activate such channel.

(b) The city may operate the PEG channels directly or contract with outside entities (including the licensee) to do so. All PEG channels shall be carried by the licensee on its least expensive tier of services, including its basic tier or lifeline services.

(c) In the event that the licensee is providing services beyond the corporate limits of the city, it shall limit the distribution of the PEG channels to the city unless the city authorizes wider distribution. The city may designate one or more of the PEG channels to be shared with other governmental entities for regional programming purposes. The licensee shall provide regional interconnection of its CATV system to adjoining or neighboring jurisdictions within the region and shall carry such PEG content originating in regional systems or other cable television systems within the city as the city may designate. Provided, however, that the licensee shall not be bound by these interconnection requirements if interconnection is impractical or infeasible due to the refusal of other cable operators to share equitably in the cost of interconnection. Any denial of interconnection by a licensee shall be subject to the reasonable review and reversal of the city council.

(d) The licensee shall be responsible for providing and maintaining at least two programming sources for each PEG channel, at locations within the city designated by the city manager.

(e) The licensee shall not gain any ownership rights to any of the content required to be carried over the PEG channels by this section by reason of the requirement to carry or broadcast such content.

(Ord. 747B §3(part), 2003)

Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to limit the authority of the licensee to make payments in support of the use of the CATV system for public, educational and/or governmental purposes. However, such payments are expressly not a requirement of any license granted hereunder and shall in no event be considered in the calculation of license fees pursuant to this chapter.

(Ord. 747B §3(part), 2003)

Use of facilities of the licensee for public, educational and governmental access on the CATV system pursuant to Section 5.36.310 of this chapter shall be made available, without rental, deposits, or any other charge whatsoever, for use 24 hours per day, seven days a week in connection with the production of public, educational and/or governmental access programming cablecast upon the CATV system. A licensee shall:

(1) Allow all persons and entities desiring to cablecast public, educational and/or governmental access programming to produce programming upon and electronically interface directly with the CATV system of licensee so as to effectively cablecast the public, educational and/or governmental access programming, or, in the alternative;

(2) Establish such reasonable rules and procedures, designed to promote the utilization of such public, educational and/or governmental access programming and subject to the approval of the city council, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, whereby the licensee shall accept and cablecast such public, educational and/or governmental access programming upon the cable television system as shall be provided to the licensee by such persons and entities.

(3) Make all reasonable efforts to coordinate the cablecasting of public, educational and/or governmental access programming upon the cable television system at the same time and upon the same channel designations as such programming is cablecast upon other cable television systems with the city.

(Ord. 747B §3(part), 2003)

(a) A licensee shall provide a connection of its basic tier of video service (including, without limitation, all PEG channels) to every local governmental facility (whether county, city, school district, or special district) without cost to the government owner or operator of the facility. This requirement shall apply to any newly-constructed or newly-acquired facility during the term of the license, and licensee shall provide connections to such newly-constructed or acquired facilities within 90 days of a notice to do so from the city. The service required by this section shall be provided without cost during the entire term of the license. Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the licensee from agreeing to provide additional services and connections to those same facilities.

(b) In the event that licensee shall build a network capable of providing high speed access to the Internet or other nonvideo services, licensee shall, to the extent permitted by law, provide such services to every local governmental facility in the city without cost to the government owner or operator of the facility. This requirement shall apply to any newly-constructed or newly-acquired facility during the term of the license, and licensee shall provide connections to such newly-constructed or acquired facilities within 90 days of a notice to do so from the city. The service shall be provided without cost during the entire term of the license. Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the licensee from agreeing to provide additional services and connections to those same facilities.

(Ord. 747B §3(part), 2003)

Except as prohibited or regulated by state or federal law, the city shall have the right, free of charge, to make additional use, for public purposes only, of any poles, conduit, or similar facilities erected, controlled or maintained exclusively by or for the licensee on any city property, provided that such use does not interfere with the use of the same by the licensee.

(Ord. 747B §3(part), 2003)