Pacifica Municipal Code Art. 2 Scope of Franchises

(a) A nonexclusive franchise to install, construct, operate, and maintain a cable television system on streets within the City may be granted by the Council to any person who offers to furnish and provide such system under and pursuant to the terms and provisions of this chapter. No cable television system shall be installed or operated within the City except pursuant to a franchise issued pursuant to the provisions this chapter.

No provision of this chapter may be deemed or construed as to require the granting of a franchise when, in the opinion of the Council, it is in the public interest to restrict the number of grantees to one or more.

(b) When and in the event the grantee of any franchise granted pursuant to this chapter uses, in its distribution system, cable television channels furnished to the grantee by a telephone company pursuant to a tariff or contract on file with a regulatory body having jurisdiction, and grantee makes no use of the streets independent of such telephone company-furnished facilities, the grantee shall be required to comply with all of the provisions of this chapter as a "licensee," and, in such event, whenever the term "grantee" is used in this chapter, it shall be deemed to mean and include "licensee."

(§ 2, Ord. 461-86, eff. May 14, 1986)

(a) Required services. The cable television system permitted to be installed and operated pursuant to this chapter shall:

(1) Be operationally capable of relaying to subscriber terminals at least those television and radio broadcast signals, the carriage of which by the grantee is now or hereafter required by the Federal Communications Commission;

(2) Distribute in color all television signals which it receives in color;

(3) Have the capacity to receive and distribute signals from satellites;

(4) Provide channels for public, educational, and governmental use. The number of such channels shall be set forth in a separate ordinance or resolution granting, renewing, or regulating each franchise in an agreement between the grantor and grantee;

(5) Have a minimum capacity of fifty-four (54) channels or such lesser number as is specified in an ordinance or agreement granting a franchise;

(6) Have equipment capable of providing standby power for the cable system for a minimum of two (2) hours or as otherwise specified in an ordinance or agreement granting a franchise;

(7) Meet any technical standard or guideline established for cable television by the Federal Communications Commission; and

(8) Meet any higher standard or additional requirement which may be established by the request for proposals, applications, or franchise agreements, or amendments thereto, so long as such standards are agreed upon by the grantor and grantee.

(b) Optional services. The cable television system permitted to be installed and operated pursuant to this chapter may also engage in providing other services as provided by the franchise agreement.

(c) Public, educational, and governmental services.

(1) With respect to the access channels required pursuant subsection (4) of subsection (a) of this section, the grantee shall provide such facilities, equipment, and technical services or training as may be set forth in an agreement between the grantor and grantee.

(2) Provided the system passes the following facilities, the grantee shall provide free a 150 foot drop and basic service, including all subscriber services which contain public, educational, or governmental access programming or local origination programming:

(i) Public schools; and

(ii) An agreed upon number of buildings owned and controlled by the City used for public purposes and not for residential use.

(d) Compatibility and connectibility.

(1) It is the policy of the City that all cable television systems franchised pursuant to this chapter, insofar as financially and technically feasible, shall be compatible one with another, and with systems of cities within the County, or with systems in adjacent unincorporated or incorporated areas.

(2) Wherever it is financially and technically feasible, the City may require the grantee to so construct, operate, and modify the system so as to be able to tie the system into all other systems within and adjacent to the City.

(e) Uses permitted. Any franchise granted pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall authorize and permit the grantee to engage in the business of operating and providing a cable television system in the City; and, for that purpose, to erect, install, construct, repair, replace, construct, maintain, and retain in, on, over, under, upon, across, and along any street such poles, wires, cables, conductors, ducts, conduit, vaults, pedestals, manholes, amplifiers, and appliances, attachments, and other property as may be necessary and appurtenant to the cable television system; and, in addition, so to use, operate, and provide similar facilities or properties rented or leased from other persons, firms, or corporations, including, but not limited to, any public utility or other grantee franchised or permitted to do business in the City.

(f) Use of utility poles: Permission. No franchise issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed to expressly or impliedly authorize the grantee to utilize poles owned by a person other than the grantee without the express written consent of the owner.

(g) Additional requirements and standards. Additional requirements and standards may be established by the application, the request for proposals, and by the franchise agreement.

(§ 2, Ord. 461-86, eff. May 14, 1986)

(a) A grantee shall furnish each subscriber, at the time service is installed, written instructions which clearly set forth procedures for placing a service call. Such instructions shall also include the name, business address, and business telephone number of any office designated by the City Manager to receive service calls on behalf of the City, along with notice that the subscriber may call or write the City for information regarding the terms and conditions of the cable franchise agreement and this chapter if the grantee fails to respond to the subscriber's request for service or adjustment within the periods required in this section. The instructions shall also include information regarding service response time, service interruptions, customer rebates for service interruptions, and notifications as required in this section.

(b) A grantee shall provide service response within twenty-four (24) hours if the grantee receives notice of two (2) or more related system interruptions or notice of five (5) or more related cases of degraded signal within such period. In all other circumstances, the grantee shall provide service response by the next business day.

(c) A grantee may interrupt system service after 6:00 a.m. and before 11:00 p.m. only upon necessary cause for the shortest time possible. When reasonably possible, a grantee shall publish notice of system interruptions. Services may be interrupted between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. for routine testing, maintenance, and repair without notification.

(d) Except for circumstances beyond the grantee's control, such as acts of God, and except in circumstances where prior approval has been obtained from the City, in the event full basic or any pay service to any subscriber or user is interrupted for more than twenty-four (24) consecutive hours, or a degraded signal persists for more than forty-eight (48) consecutive hours, and the interruption or degraded signal is under control of the grantee, a grantee, at the subscriber's request, shall rebate a pro rata percentage of the monthly fee to such subscribers or users for each twenty-four (24) hour period of interrupted or degraded service. For the purposes of calculating the amount of rebate, any service interruption or degraded signal shall be deemed to run from the time the grantee receives notice of the interrupted or degraded signal from any subscriber.

(e) Except in circumstances beyond the grantee's control, such as acts of God, riots, civil disturbances, or strikes against a grantee, in providing services under the franchise the grantee shall:

(1) Limit overall system interruptions to a minimum time duration by locating and correcting malfunctions promptly, but in no event longer than twenty-four (24) hours after occurrence, irrespective of holidays or other nonbusiness hours;

(2) Establish a comprehensive procedure of receiving, recording, and resolving customer complaints. Such procedure shall be designed so that any subscriber may register a complaint by the use of local telephone service in the subscriber's area. Notice of such procedures shall be provided to subscribers as set forth in subsection (a) of this section and shall also be delivered annually to subscribers or published once each year in a newspaper of general circulation in the franchise area in the grantee's discretion. Such notice shall also state that written complaints may be directed to the City Manager. Upon the request of the City Manager or other designee, in response to five (5) or more related subscriber complaints within a thirty (30) day period, the grantee, within ten (10) days after the request of the City Manager, shall make a demonstration reasonably satisfactory to the City Manager or other designee that a signal is being delivered which is of sufficient strength and quality meet the standards set forth in the Guidelines or Rules and Regulations of the Federal Communications Commission;

(3) Render efficient service, making repairs as provided in this section;

(4) Maintain an office in the City, which office shall be open least during all the usual business hours, with its telephone listed in directories of the telephone company serving the City, and be so operated that complaints and requests for adjustments may be received at any time, day or night, seven (7) days a week;

(5) Be responsible for all subscriber complaints, maintain a written record or log listing the date of customer complaints, identifying the subscriber, describing the nature of the complaint, and when and what action was taken by the grantee in response thereto. Records of complaints shall be kept at the grantee's local office for five (5) years and shall be available for inspection during regular business hours by the City Manager upon reasonable notice. After five (5) years the grantee shall have the option to either send such records to the grantor or continue to keep such records at its local office;

(6) Remove, at the request of a subscriber, any program service for which a separate program charge to the subscriber is made within thirty (30) days after the request of a subscriber;

(7) Correct an error in billing within sixty (60) days after a written request by a subscriber for such correction;

(8) Repair or correct a degraded signal within ten (10) days after a request from a subscriber setting forth the need for such repair or correction provided the cause of such degraded signal is from the grantee's equipment;

(9) Not eliminate or interrupt service to a subscriber (except as set forth in subsection (e) of this section) without the consent of a subscriber provided such subscriber has paid all fees, charges, or rates due to the grantee within thirty (30) days after billing or other notice that such fees, charges, or rates are due. The grantee shall promptly make a credit or refund of any amount charged to a subscriber and collected by the grantee when such an amount represents an erroneous amount billed to a subscriber when such error arises out of an act or omission of the grantee or its agents or contractors; and

(10) Repair or replace a converter or other equipment required for the receipt of cable communications service within fifteen (15) days after the grantee determines that such converter or other equipment does not provide the services for which the subscriber is being billed.

(f) The grantor shall promptly forward to the grantee any and all complaints or inquiries received by the grantor so that the grantee may resolve such complaints as provided in this section.

(8) Except as otherwise set forth in subsection (e) of this section, the grantee shall resolve all complaints about service within thirty (30) days after the receipt thereof from a subscriber or referral thereof by the grantor. The second failure to comply with the requirements of this section within any twelve (12) month period, and any subsequent failure within such twelve (12) month period, may subject the grantee to liquidated damages pursuant to the procedures set forth in Section 7-1.303 of Article 3 of this chapter.

(h) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) "Complaint" shall mean a written or telephone communication from a subscriber to either the grantee or grantor that specifies that the grantee has not provided one or more of the services set forth in this Section 7-1.203.

(2) "Degraded signal" shall mean a signal on any channel, regardless of the point of origin of such signal, which fails to meet the technical standards or guidelines prescribed for a Class 1 television broadcast signal as set forth in the Guidelines or Rules and Regulations of the Federal Communications Commission, unless the originating signal does meet such standards.

(3) "Interruption of service" shall mean no picture or sound at the television set of a subscriber due to a technical problem with the cable television system.

(§ 2, Ord. 461-86, eff. May 14, 1986)

(a) Existing trunk lines. A grantee, upon request, shall extend cable television services to individual residences at the standard rate provided such connections do not require a line drop exceeding 150 feet. A grantee shall extend cable television services to any isolated residence requiring more than a standard 150 foot drop at a premium installation rate if such service has been requested by the resident directly or through the City Manager or other designee. The premium installation rate charged shall be the actual cost of time and materials for the distance exceeding the cost of a drop of 150 feet, except that the grantee will contribute an amount equal to the construction and other costs per mile multiplied by a number whose numerator equals the actual number of potential subscribers per 1,320 cable bearing strand feet of its trunks or distribution cable and whose denominator equals fifteen (15) subscribers. The grantee may request an advance payment for such installation. If any additional residences are subsequently connected, within a period of five (5) years, to the system using the same cable extension, upon a request by the initial subscribers, there shall be a prorated return of such extension fee from funds collected from subsequent hookups to the same extension in accordance with a reimbursement agreement. The extension of lines shall be underground or aerial pursuant to the provisions of Section 7-1.504 of Article 5 of this chapter.

(b) Trunk line extensions.

(1) Grantee options. The grantee shall have the option to extend at any time the grantee's basic trunk line facilities to any portion of the franchise area provided the City Manager or other designee has been notified of such extension.

(2) Mandatory extensions. The grantee shall extend its cable television services to any section in its franchise area having an average density of at least fifty (50) residences per mile from an existing trunk line.

(c) Exceptions. No provision of this chapter shall require a grantee to extend in any twelve (12) month period trunk and/or distribution lines to more than twenty-five (25%) percent of that portion of the franchise area not having cable on April 14, 1986. Upon a petition by the grantee, if the Council shall make the finding that any expansion required by this chapter would result in unreasonable economic hardship to the grantee, the Council shall either defer or indefinitely suspend such expansion or order such expansion to proceed conditioned upon the prepayment of prorated charges for additional special construction expenses or upon the establishment of higher service rates to compensate for higher construction expenses. The City Clerk shall publish a notice of any such hearing, setting forth a time and place when and where any person having any interest therein may appear before the Council and be heard, at least ten (10) days prior to the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation within the City. The City Clerk shall also cause a copy of such notice to be mailed to the grantee at least ten (10) days prior to the hearing.

(§ 2, Ord. 461-86, eff. May 14, 1986)