Chapter 3.46 — VIDEO FRANCHISE FEES, CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND OTHER VIDEO-RELATED MATTERS

Pursuant to the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 ("Act") California Public Utilities Code 5800 et seq., effective January 1, 2007, the California Public Utilities Commission ("PUC") has been given exclusive authority to grant state video franchises ("state franchises"). Under the Act the city of Whittier (the "city") acquires certain rights and

responsibilities with respect to state video franchise holders. These include the receipt of a franchise fee and a fee for public, educational and government ("PEG") purposes, both based on a percentage of the gross revenues of state franchise holders, as well as the establishment and enforcement of penalties for violations of customer service rules.

(Ord. 2912 § 2 (part), 2008)

A.

Any state video franchise holder ("state franchisee") operating within the boundaries of the city of Whittier shall pay a fee to the city equal to five percent of the gross revenue of that state franchisee.

B.

Any state franchisee operating within the boundaries of the city of Whittier shall pay an additional fee to the city equal to one percent of the gross revenue of that state franchisee, which fee shall be used by the city for PEG purposes consistent with state and federal law.

C.

The city's PEG fee shall continue to apply to any new or existing franchisee operating in the city and shall automatically be reauthorized upon the expiration of any existing or future state video franchise(s) held by any state-franchised video service provider operating within the city. The PEG fee shall so renew until such time that the city council takes formal affirmative action to cease the renewals.

D.

Gross revenue, for the purposes of (a) and (b) above, shall be defined as set forth in California Public Utilities Code

E.

The fees established by this section shall be remitted quarterly to the Director of administrative services and must be received not later than 45 days after the end of the preceding calendar quarter. The fee payment shall be accompanied by a summary that describes all sources of the gross revenues upon which the fee is based, which summary must be verified by a responsible financial officer or employee of the video service provider.

(Ord. 2912 § 2 (part), 2008)

(Ord. No. 3079, § 2, 11-28-17)

Not more than once annually, the city may examine and perform an audit of the business records of a state franchisee to ensure compliance with the computation and payment of the fees in Section 3.46.020.

(Ord. 2912 § 2 (part), 2008)

A.

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

B.

The city manager, or his/her designee, shall monitor the compliance of state franchisee(s) with respect to state and federal customer service and protection standards. The city manager, or his/her designee, shall provide the state franchisee(s) written notice of any material breaches of applicable customer service standards, and shall allow the state franchisee(s) thirty days from the receipt of the notice to remedy the specified material breach. Material breaches not remedied within the thirty-day time period shall be subject to the following penalties by the city manager, or his/her designee.

For the first occurrence of the violation, a fine 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 violation.

For a second violation of the same nature within twelve months, a fine of one thousand dollars shall be imposed for each day the violation remains in effect, not to exceed three thousand dollars for each violation.

For a third or further violation of the same nature within twelve months, a fine 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 violation.

C.

A state franchisee may appeal a penalty assessment to the city council within sixty days. The city council's decision on the imposition of a penalty shall be final.

(Ord. 2912 § 2 (part), 2008)

(Ord. No. 3112, § 2, 2-25-20)

A.

Applicants seeking a state franchise within the boundaries of the city of Whittier must concurrently provide complete copies to the city of any application or amendments to applications filed with the PUC. One complete copy must be provided to the city manager.

B.

The city manager shall provide any appropriate comments to the PUC regarding an application or an amendment to an application for a state franchise.

(Ord. 2912 § 2 (part), 2008)

A state franchisee that uses the public rights-of-way shall designate sufficient capacity on its network to enable the carriage of at least three PEG access channels.

A.

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

B.

Advertising, underwriting, or sponsorship recognition may be carried on the PEG access channels for the purpose of funding PEG-related activities.

C.

The PEG access channels shall be carried on the basic service tier. If the technology used eliminates the basic service tier, then all PEG access channels shall be placed on the video service provider's system in a manner equivalent to local over-the-air broadcast stations.

D.

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.

E.

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.

F.

Each PEG access channel shall be capable of carrying a National Television System Committee (NTSC) television signal, as provided in Public Utilities Code Section 5870b.

(Ord. 2912 § 2 (part), 2008)

Where technically feasible, state franchisees 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 franchisees shall provide interconnection of the PEG access channels on reasonable terms and conditions and may not withhold the interconnection. If state franchisees cannot reach a mutually acceptable interconnection agreement, the city may require the incumbent state franchisee to allow the new state franchisee to interconnect its network with the incumbent's network at a technically feasible point on the new state franchisee's network as identified by the new state franchisee. If no technically feasible point for interconnection is available, the new state franchisee 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 franchisee requesting the interconnection unless otherwise agreed to by the parties.

(Ord. 2912 § 2 (part), 2008)

A state franchisee must comply with the emergency alert system requirements of the federal communications commission in order that emergency messages may be distributed over the state franchisee's network.

(Ord. 2912 § 2 (part), 2008)