Santa Clara County Municipal Code § B10-23 Definitions

(a) The definitions set forth in this article shall govern the application and interpretation of this chapter.

(b) When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future tense; words in the plural number include the singular number; and words in the singular number include the plural number; and the masculine gender includes the feminine gender.

(c) Subject to the provisions of Section A1-23 of the County Ordinance Code, the words "shall" and "will" are mandatory, and "may" is permissive.

(d) Words not defined in this chapter shall have the same meaning as in Title VI of Title 47 of the United States Code in effect on the effective date of the ordinance enacting this chapter, and, if not defined therein, their common and ordinary meaning.

(e) References to governmental entities (whether persons or entities) refer to those entities or their successors in authority.

(f) If specific provisions of law referred to herein are renumbered, then the reference shall be read to refer to the renumbered provision.

(g) Unless otherwise specified, references to "applicable laws" shall be interpreted broadly to cover government actions, however nominated, and include laws, ordinances and regulations now in force or hereinafter enacted or amended.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Access," "PEG access," or "PEG use" refers to the availability of a cable system or OVS for public, education or government use (including Institutional Network use) by various agencies, institutions, organizations, groups, and individuals, including the County and its designated access providers, to acquire, create, and distribute programming not under a franchisee's editorial control, including, but not limited to the access or use described in Sections B10-25 through B10-27 below.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Public access" or "public use" means access where organizations, groups, or individual members of the general public are the designated programmers or users having editorial control over their communications.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Education access" or "education use" means access where schools are the designated programmers or users having editorial control over their communications.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Government access" or "government use" means access where government institutions or their designees are the designated programmers or users having editorial control over their communications.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Affiliate" means a person that owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with, another person.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Basic service" means any service tier regularly provided on a cable communications system to all subscribers which includes the retransmission of local television broadcast signals.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Cable Act" means the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, 47 U.S.C. § 521 et seq., as amended by the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, as further amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Cable communications system" refers to open video systems (OVS) and cable systems.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Cable service" shall have the same meaning as in Title VI of Title 47 of the United States Code, as amended from time to time.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Cable 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 County, but such term does not include:

(a) A facility that serves only to retransmit the television signals of one or more television broadcast stations;

(b) A facility that serves subscribers without using, or without connecting to a facility that uses, any public right-of-way within the County;

(c) A facility of a common carrier which is subject, in whole or in part, to the provisions of Title II (Common Carriers) of the Federal 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 programming directly to subscribers, unless the extent of such use is solely to provide interactive on-demand services;

(d) Any facilities of any electric utility used solely for operating its electric utility systems; or

(e) An OVS that complies with Section 653 of the Cable Act.

Any reference to a cable system includes the cable system as a whole, or any part thereof, including all pedestals, equipment cabinets, electronic equipment and devices appurtenant to the cable system.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Channel" means a portion of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum which is used in a cable system or OVS and which is capable of delivering a standard NTSC broadcast video programming service whether in an analog or digital format. The definition does not restrict the use of any channel to the transmission of analog television signals.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"County" means the County of Santa Clara and all departments, divisions, and agencies thereof; except that, when used to describe a geographic area, the term refers to the boundaries of the County of Santa Clara, California, as they exist now or may exist in the future.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"County Executive" shall mean the County Executive of the County of Santa Clara and designees of the County Executive of the County of Santa Clara.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Construction, operation or repair" and similar formulations of that term means the named actions interpreted broadly, encompassing, among other things, installation, extension, maintenance, replacement of components, relocation, undergrounding, grading, site preparation, adjusting, testing, make-ready, excavation, the management of the cable system and its operations and work performed in connection with the same (including but not limited to restoration of property affected by the construction, operation or repair of the cable system).

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"FCC" means the Federal Communications Commission.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Franchise" refers to an authorization granted by the County to the operator of a cable communications system giving the operator the non-exclusive right to occupy the space, or use facilities upon, across, beneath, or over public rights-of-way in the County, to provide specified services within a franchise area. A permit is not a franchise.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Franchise area" means the area of the County that a franchisee is authorized to serve by the terms of its franchise ordinance or by operation of law.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Franchisee" refers to a person holding a cable communications system franchise granted by the County.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Gross revenues" means any and all revenue, of any kind, nature or form, derived from the provision of cable service within the franchise area. The term encompasses revenue sources existing as of the effective date of this chapter and revenue sources that may develop in the future.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Operator" when used with reference to a cable communications system, refers to a person or group of persons (a) who directly or through one or more affiliates provides cable service over a cable communications system and directly or through one or more affiliates owns a significant interest in such system; or (b) who otherwise controls or is responsible for, through any arrangement, the management and operation of such a cable communications system.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"OVS" means an open video system. A reference to an OVS includes pedestals, equipment enclosures (such as equipment cabinets), amplifiers, power guards, nodes, cables, fiber optics and other equipment necessary to operate the OVS, or installed in conjunction with the OVS.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"OVS agreement" means a franchise entered into in accordance with the provisions of this chapter between the County and an OVS franchisee setting forth the terms and conditions under which the OVS franchise will be exercised.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Person," unless it otherwise appears from the context as used, means and includes any person, individual, firm, organization, corporation, partnership, association, limited liability company, joint stock or other company, business or other trust, public agency, school district, the State of California, its political subdivisions and/or instrumentalities, or any other legal entity, but not the County.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Public property" means any property that is owned or under the control of the County that is not a public right-of-way, including but not limited to, buildings, parks, structures such as utility poles and light poles, conduits, or similar facilities or property whether or not located in a public right-of-way.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Public rights-of-way" means the surface of and the space above and below any street, road, highway, freeway, bridge, lane, path, alley, court, sidewalk, parkway, parkstrip, drive, or right-of-way or easement primarily dedicated to travel by the public now or hereafter existing within the County which may be properly used, and that the County may authorize the use of, for the purpose of installing, maintaining, and operating a cable communications system; and any other rights-of-way and easements that a franchisee is entitled by state or federal law to use by virtue of the grant of a franchise.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"School" means any publicly funded charter school or public primary and secondary schools accredited by the State of California.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"Subscriber" means the County or any person within the County who is lawfully receiving, for any purpose or reason, any cable service via a cable communications system, whether or not a fee is paid for such service.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)

"User" means a person or the County utilizing a channel, capacity or equipment and facilities of a cable communications system for purposes of producing or transmitting material, as contrasted with the receipt thereof in the capacity of a subscriber.

(Ord. No. NS-905, § 2, 12-13-05)