Pismo Beach Municipal Code Art. XIV State Video Franchises

A. Franchise fees. A state video franchise holder operating in the city shall pay to the city a franchise fee that is equal to five percent of the gross revenues of that state video franchise holder. The term "gross revenues" shall be defined as set forth in Public Utilities Code Section 5860. Each state video franchise holder shall remit the franchise fee to the city quarterly, within forty-five days after the end of the quarter for that calendar quarter. Each payment shall be accompanied by a summary explaining the basis for the calculation of the franchise fee. If the state video franchise holder does not pay the franchise fee when due, the state video franchise holder shall pay a late payment charge at a rate per year equal to the highest prime lending rate during the period of delinquency, plus one percent. If the state video franchise holder has overpaid the franchise fee, it may deduct the overpayment from its next quarterly payment.

B. Audit authority. Not more than once annually, the city may examine and perform an audit of the business records of a holder of a state video franchise to the extent reasonably necessary to ensure compliance with all applicable statutes and regulations related to the computation and payment of franchise fees. A state video franchise holder shall keep all business records reflecting any gross revenues, even if there is a change in ownership, for at least four years after those revenues are recognized by the state video franchise holder on its books and records. If the examination discloses that the state video franchise holder has underpaid franchise fees by more than five percent during the examination period, the state video franchise holder shall pay all of the reasonable and actual costs of the examination in addition to the underpaid franchise fees and interest imposed under subsection A. above. If the examination discloses that the state video franchise holder has not underpaid franchise fees, the city shall pay all of the reasonable and actual costs of the examination. In every other instance, each party shall bear its own costs of the examination.

C. Customer service penalties under state video franchises.

1. The holder of a state video franchise shall comply with all applicable state and federal customer service and protection standards pertaining to the provision of video service.

2. The city shall monitor the compliance of state video franchise holders with respect to state and federal customer service and protection standards. The city will provide to the state video franchise holder written notice of any material breaches of applicable customer service and protection standards, and will allow the state video franchise holder thirty days from receipt of the notice to remedy the specified material breach. A material breach for the purposes of assessing penalties shall be deemed to have occurred for each day within the city, following the expiration of the thirty-day time period specified herein, that any material breach has not been remedied by the video service provider, irrespective of the number of customers or subscribers affected. Material breaches not remedied within the thirty-day time period will be subject to the following monetary penalties to be imposed by the city in accordance with state law:

a. For the first occurrence of a violation, a monetary penalty of five hundred dollars shall be imposed for each day the violation remains in effect, not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars for each occurrence of a material breach of applicable customer service and protection standards.

b. For a second violation of the same nature within twelve months, a monetary penalty of one thousand dollars shall be imposed for each day the violation remains in effect, not to exceed three thousand dollars for each occurrence of a material breach of applicable customer service and protection standards.

c. For a third or further violation of the same nature within twelve months, a monetary penalty of two thousand five hundred dollars shall be imposed for each day the violation remains in effect, not to exceed seven thousand five hundred dollars for each occurrence of a material breach of applicable customer service and protection standards.

3. A state video franchise holder may appeal a monetary penalty assessed by the city within sixty days. After relevant evidence and testimony is received, and staff reports are submitted, the city council will vote to either uphold or vacate the monetary penalty. Except as otherwise provided in Public Utilities Code Section 5900, the city council's decision on the imposition of a monetary penalty shall be final.

D. City response to state video franchise applications.

1. Applicants for state video franchises within the boundaries of the city must concurrently provide to the city complete copies of any application or amendments to applications filed with the California Public Utilities Commission. One complete copy must be provided to the city clerk.

2. The city will provide any appropriate comments to the California Public Utilities Commission regarding an application or an amendment to an application for a state video franchise.

E. PEG channel capacity. A state video franchise holder that uses the public rights-of-way shall designate sufficient capacity on its network to enable the carriage of at least three public, educational, or governmental (PEG) access channels.

1. PEG access channels shall be for the exclusive use of the city or its designees to provide public, educational, or governmental programming.

2. The PEG access channels shall be used only for noncommercial purposes. Notwithstanding the foregoing sentence, advertising, underwriting, or sponsorship recognition may be carried on the PEG access channels for the purpose of funding PEG-related activities.

3. The PEG access channels shall be carried on the basic service tier. The PEG signal shall be receivable by all subscribers, whether they receive digital or analog service, or a combination thereof, without the need for any equipment other than the equipment necessary to receive the lowest cost tier of service. The PEG access capacity provided shall be of similar quality and functionality to that offered by commercial channels on the lowest cost tier of service unless the signal is provided to the state cable franchise holder at a lower quality or with less functionality.

4. To the extent feasible, the PEG access channels shall not be separated numerically from other channels carried on the basic service tier, and the channel numbers for the PEG access channels shall be the same channel numbers used by the incumbent cable operator unless prohibited by federal law.

5. After the initial designation of PEG access channel numbers, the channel numbers shall not be changed without the prior written consent of the city, unless the change is required by federal law.

6. Each PEG access channel shall be capable of carrying a National Television System Committee (NTSC) television signal.

F. PEG support fee and payments. In accordance with Public Utilities Code Section 5870(n), state video franchise holders shall pay to city a PEG support fee in the amount of one percent of gross revenues. State franchise holders shall remit PEG support fees in the same manner as franchise fees as set forth in subsection A. above. The PEG support fee may be shown as a separate line item on the regular bill of each subscriber.

G. Emergency alert system and emergency overrides. A state video franchise holder must comply with the emergency alert system requirements of the Federal Communications Commission in order that emergency messages may be distributed over the holder's network.

H. Interconnection. Where technically feasible, a state video franchise holder and incumbent cable operator shall negotiate in good faith to interconnect their networks for the purpose of providing PEG access channel programming. Interconnection may be accomplished by direct cable, microwave link, satellite, or other reasonable method of connection. State video franchise holders and incumbent cable operators shall provide interconnection of the PEG access channels on reasonable terms and conditions and may not withhold the interconnection. If a state video franchise holder and an incumbent cable operator cannot reach a mutually acceptable interconnection agreement, the city may require the incumbent cable operator to allow the state video franchise holder to interconnect its network with the incumbent's network at a technically feasible point on the state video franchise holder's network as identified by the state video franchise holder. If no technically feasible point for interconnection is available, the state video franchise holder shall make an interconnection available to the channel originator and shall provide the facilities necessary for the interconnection. The cost of any interconnection shall be borne by the state video franchise holder requesting the interconnection unless otherwise agreed to by the parties.

I. The city's interpretation of Section 5870(n) of the Public Utilities Code is that the one percent fee to support PEG channel facilities authorized by that code section does not expire upon the expiration of any particular state franchise holder. However, to the extent any court or reviewing authority finds otherwise, the city hereby reauthorizes the fee set forth in this section on state-franchised video service providers operating within the city, to support public, educational, and governmental access channel facilities, which fee shall remain unchanged and in full effect as to all state-franchised video service providers operating within the city. The city hereby reauthorizes the fee on any additional state franchised video service providers that are or will be operating in the City of Pismo Beach to support public, educational, and governmental access channel facilities, upon the expiration of that state franchise, which fee shall remain unchanged and in full effect. Notwithstanding Public Utilities Code Section 5870(n), upon the expiration of any state video franchise, without any further action of the city council, this section shall be deemed to have been automatically reauthorized, unless the state franchise holder has given the city manager and the city council written notice ninety days prior to the expiration of its state franchise that the state franchise holder believes the section will expire concurrently with the expiration of its state franchise pursuant to the terms of Public Utilities Code Section 5870(n).

(Ord. O-2017-006 § 1, 2017: Ord. O-2014-001 § 1, 2014)