Article II — Definitions

Unless the contrary is stated or clearly appears from the context, the definitions set forth in this section shall govern the construction of the words and phrases used in this chapter.

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

"Broadcast signal" means a television or audio signal originating from a broadcast facility licensed by the FCC that is transmitted over the air to a wide geographic audience, is intended for reception by the general public, and is received by a cable communications system off-the-air, by satellite, or by microwave.

"Cable communications system," "cable system" or "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 the city, but such term does not include:

A facility that serves only subscribers in one or more multiple dwelling units under common ownership, control or management, unless such facility uses any public street or right-of-way;

A facility of a common carrier which is subject, in whole or in part, to the provisions of Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, except that such facility shall be considered a cable system to the extent such facility is used in the transmission of video and/or audio programming directly to subscribers; or

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

"Cablecast signal" means a nonbroadcast signal that originates within the facilities of the cable communications system, including local origination programming and community access programming.

"Cable service" means:

The one-way transmission to subscribers of video and/or audio programming or other programming service; and

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

"Channel" means a portion of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum which is used in a cable system and which is capable of delivering a television channel as defined by the FCC.

"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 connection is physically made to a utility pole or undergrounding of cables is initiated after preliminary engineering (strand mapping) and after all necessary permits and authorizations have been obtained.

"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 one ormore subscribers.

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

"Community access channel" means such channel capacity on the cable communications system as from time to time may be allocated to public, educational or governmental programming, together with such facilities and equipment as are made available for the use of such channel capacity.

"Completion of construction" means that point in time when all distribution facilities of the cable communications system required by a franchise have been installed and are in an operational state.

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

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

"Franchise" means the nonexclusive rights granted pursuant to this chapter to install, construct, operate and maintain a cable communications system along the public streets and rights-of-way within all or a specified area of the city. Any such authorization, in whatever form granted, shall be in lieu of any license or permit required for the privilege of transacting and carrying on a business within the city as required by other chapters of this code.

"Franchise fee" means any tax, fee or assessment of any kind imposed by the city on the grantee or any of its cable subscribers, or both, solely because of their status as such. The term "franchise fee" does not include:

Any tax, fee, or assessment of general applicability;

Capital costs which are required by the franchise to be incurred by the grantee for community access facilities;

Requirements or charges incidental to the awarding or enforcing of the franchise, including payments for bonds, security funds, letters of credit, insurance, indemnification, penalties or liquidated damages; or

Any fee imposed under Title 17, United States Code.

"Grantee" means any person receiving a franchise pursuant to this chapter and such person's lawful successor, transferee or assignee.

"Gross revenues" means all compensation received by the grantee from subscribers in the city as the result of the use of the public streets and rights-of-way in the city for the operation of its cable communications system, provided that there shall be deducted from gross revenues as so determined: (a) refunds made in connection with such operations; and (b) bad debts written off by the grantee in the usual and ordinary course of business, in each case to the extent that the revenue with respect thereto has been included in the determination of gross revenues.

Gross revenues shall not include: (a) amounts received in the nature of refundable security deposits; (b) revenue received by the grantee from the provision of services or the sale, rental or servicing of equipment or merchandise not required for the delivery of the grantee's cable service through its cable communications system in the city; (c) sales, excise, or other taxes collected for direct pass-through to federal, state or local authorities, including copyright and franchise fees.

In computing gross revenues for each calendar quarter from sources other than subscribers of the grantee's cable service located within the city, including, but not limited to, revenues derived from the sale of advertising or the lease of channel capacity by the grantee on its cable communications system, the aggregate of the revenues received by the grantee from such other sources during such calendar quarter shall be multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which shall be the arithmetic average of the number of subscribers in the city as of the first and last day of such calendar quarter and the denominator of which shall be the arithmetic average of the number of subscribers within all areas to which the grantee provides its cable service by the same physical cable system as of the first and last day of such calendar quarter. The result obtained thereby shall be included in the determination of the grantee's gross revenues for purposes of computing the franchise fee due the city for such calendar quarter.

"Initial service area" means the area of the city which will receive cable service initially, as set forth in the grantee's franchise. If not stated otherwise in the franchise, the initial service area shall consist of the entire city.

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

"Monitoring" means observing a communication signal, or the absence of a signal, where the observer is neither of the communicating parties, whether the signal is observed by visual or electronic means for any purpose whatsoever. Monitoring shall not include individually addressed sweeps of the cable communications system solely for the purpose of detecting unauthorized connections to the system nor system-wide, nonindividually addressed sweeps of the system for purposes of verifying system integrity, controlling return path transmissions, or billing for pay cable.

"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 intended for reception by the general public.

"Pay cable service" means the delivery to subscribers, over the cable communications system, of video and/or audio signals for a fee or charge to subscribers over and above the charge for basic cable service, or a per-program, per-channel, or other subscription basis.

"Programmer" means a person 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.

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

"Residential subscriber" means a person occupying a dwelling unit who receives cable service and is billed directly by the grantee on an individual subscriber basis.

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

"Service area" means the entire geographic area within the city in which the grantee is authorized to provide cable service under the terms of its franchise. Unless otherwise specified in the franchise, a grantee's service area shall include any new or additional territory which is annexed to the city immediately

upon completion of annexation, provided that the city shall give the grantee prompt written notice thereof and shall identify the area which has been so annexed.

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

(Prior code § 15002)