[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of
the Town of Indian Head 1-4-1988 by Ord. No. 12-1-87. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
A.
The Town Council of the Town of Indian Head shall
have the authority to grant exclusive right and privilege for a specified
period to a franchise to erect buildings and to construct, maintain
and operate towers, cable and related equipment for the interception
and distribution of television, radio and other signals and to sell
services related thereto to the town and the inhabitants thereof.
B.
The granting of the franchise shall be done by agreement
by the Town of Indian Head in a form approved by the Town Attorney.
C.
The territorial area covered by the franchise consists
of the present and future territorial limits of the town.
D.
The "franchise holder," as referred to herein, is
defined as the person, company or legal entity to whom the CATV franchise
is awarded.
A.
The franchise holder shall have the right to enter
into appropriate agreements with telephone and power companies and
other suppliers of public utilities and services for the purpose of
attaching distribution cables and associated equipment to poles or
towers or through underground conduits and trenches provided by such
companies.
B.
All transmission and distribution structures, lines
and equipment erected by the franchise holder within the town shall
be so located as to cause minimum interference with the proper use
of streets, alleys and other public ways and places and to cause minimum
interference with the rights and reasonable convenience of property
owners who join any of the said streets, alleys or other public ways
and places.
C.
In case of disturbance of any street, sidewalk, alley,
public way or paved area, the franchise holder shall, at its own cost
and expense and in a manner approved by the appropriate governmental
authority, replace and restore such street, sidewalk, alley, public
way or paved area in as good a condition as before the work involving
such disturbance was done.
D.
If, at any time during the period of the franchise,
the town shall lawfully elect to alter or change the grade of any
street, sidewalk, alley or other public way, the franchise holder,
upon reasonable notice by the town, shall remove, relay and relocate
its poles, wires, cables, underground conduits, manholes and other
fixtures, at its own expense.
E.
Any poles or other fixtures placed in any public way
by the franchise holder shall be placed in such a manner as not to
interfere with the usual travel on such public way.
F.
The franchise holder shall, on the request of any
person holding a building moving permit issued by the town, temporarily
raise or lower its wires to permit the moving of buildings. The expense
of such temporary removal or raising or lowering of wires shall be
paid by the person requesting the same, and the franchise holder shall
have the authority to require such payment in advance.
G.
The franchise holder shall have the authority to trim
trees upon and overhanging streets, alleys, sidewalks and public ways
and places of the town so as to prevent the branches of such trees
from coming in contact with the wires and cables of the franchise
holder, except that, at the option of the town, such trimming may
be done by it or under its supervision and direction, at the expense
of the franchise holder. Any trimming in a public right-of-way shall
be subject to applicable state and local regulations.
H.
In all sections of the town where the cables, wires
or other like facilities of public utilities are or are hereafter
placed underground, the franchise holder shall place its cables, wires
or other like facilities underground to the maximum extent that existing
technology reasonably permits the franchise holder to do so. In addition,
the franchise holder shall remove its overhead cables, wires or other
like facilities and replace them with underground facilities when
other utilities are required to do so within the Town of Indian Head.
The franchise holder shall be subject to all
ordinances in force or that may be hereafter enacted.
A.
The franchise holder shall hold the town harmless
from any and all claims or damages as a result of this franchise,
including damages arising out of the construction, maintenance and
operations of the CATV system authorized herein.
B.
Before starting construction, the franchise holder
shall insure the town and the franchise holder with regard to all
damages mentioned above. The amounts of such insurance to be carried
for liability due to property damage shall be $1,000,000 as to any
one occurrence; and against liability due to injury to or death of
person, $1,000,000 as to any one occurrence. Said insurance is to
be provided by a recognized insurance company authorized to do business
in Maryland.
A.
The franchise holder shall, during the term of this
franchise, operate facilities capable of developing a regular service,
as provided in a franchise agreement. The television signals shall
be of high-quality color and monochrome, as transmitted, and will
be consistent with the present state of the art. The town may require
that one channel be reserved for television signals originated within
the town. Locally originated signals will be offered on this channel
on a regular basis, beginning no later than one year after the granting
of a franchise agreement. Special television and other services may
also be provided on other channels of the proposed CATV system to
customers equipped and authorized to use these additional services.
B.
The franchise holder shall maintain an office within
the territorial limits of the town. Said office shall have regular
business hours, have a listed telephone and be so operated that complaints
and requests for repairs or adjustments may be received at any reasonable
time. The franchise holder shall provide maintenance service sufficient
to attend to these complaints and requests within a reasonable period
of time. The franchise holder shall provide data upon request to the
town at quarterly intervals on the quality of signals and maintenance
service provided.
C.
The franchise holder shall furnish service to public,
private and parochial school locations within the town for educational
purposes, upon request by the town and upon agreement to the payment
by the school system of the actual cost of such installations for
materials and labor. Such service will thenceforth be provided by
the franchise holder at no monthly service charge to the town or to
the school system. The franchise holder shall furnish, upon request
of the Town Council, one connection each to the town Police, Fire
and Rescue Departments and to the Town Office, without charge for
installation and without charge for continuing monthly service.
D.
Before starting construction of the CATV system, the
franchise holder shall demonstrate to the town that the franchise
holder is sufficiently well financed to ensure the completion of the
initial system and to defray any operating losses that may be anticipated
in the initial operation of the system. Failure of the franchise holder
to meet this requirement shall constitute grounds for forfeiture of
the franchise.
E.
In the case of any emergency or disaster, the franchise
holder shall, upon the request of the town, make every effort to make
available its facilities to the town or any governmental agency designated
by the town for emergency use during the emergency or disaster period.
The franchise holder should provide a voice and a television signal
on the local-origination channel to permit emergency signals to be
distributed under the control of the town. The cost of such connection
means is to be paid by the franchise holder, and the cost of any camera,
microphone or other signal-generation equipment dedicated to emergency
use is to be paid by the town.
F.
The franchise holder shall construct the initial CATV
system so as to offer services to all dwelling units within the territorial
limits of Indian Head within nine months after the date of granting
the franchise. However, the franchise holder shall offer service to
all residents connected to a CATV system at the time of the granting
of a franchise within six months from the date of the granting of
a franchise. Failure of the franchise holder to meet this requirement
shall constitute grounds for forfeiture of the franchise. Within one
year of the date of the franchise, the franchise holder shall complete
construction of the system so as to include all requirements described
in this chapter.
(1)
The franchise holder may extend CATV service to any
subscriber outside the corporate limits of the town after the initial
system is constructed within the corporate limits of the town if the
franchise holder is current in its connection of subscribers within
the area covered by the initial system. "Current" shall mean no subscriber
waiting more than five days for initial connection.
(2)
After the initial nine-month system start-up period,
any citizen requesting CATV service, in writing, shall be provided
with such service within 10 working days. The franchise holder will
be assessed liquidated damages to the citizen requesting the service
of one-month free service for each day over 10 working days that the
service is not provided.
A.
The franchise holder shall charge reasonable fees
and shall file a copy of such schedule of fees with the town.
B.
A "connection" shall be construed to mean an entrance
into any private residence, apartment house, multifamily dwelling,
place of business or governmental building, entering the building
in a manner similar to the provision of electric or telephone services.
In the event that the distance from the right-of-way to the building
exceeds 250 feet or if the franchise holder should be requested to
provide other than the usual entrance, the franchise holder shall
negotiate with the subscriber to provide such service at a reasonable
connection charge.
[Amended 6-2-1997 by Ord. No. 5-3-97]
The franchise holder shall pay to the Town of
Indian Head a franchise fee in the amount of 5% of gross revenue from
all CATV service and connection charges paid by subscribers served
from the town system, starting with the date that the first subscribers
are connected. Payment of said fee, together with an accounting of
the subscribers and services rendered each subscriber, shall be provided
for in the franchise agreement.
The franchise holder shall not engage, within
the area served by the CATV system to be constructed under the franchise,
in the retail sale, service, rental, leasing or repair of home television
receivers and in the sale of parts for such receivers.
The franchise rights and privileges herein described
shall not be assignable, except as herein provided, without the consent
of the town.
The head end, earth station or other signal-reception
equipment for the interception of television and radio signals for
the Town of Indian Head shall be located within the corporate limits
of the Town of Indian Head, unless the franchise holder shall request
and receive approval of the town to locate the head end elsewhere.
A.
The franchise holder shall provide the town with copies
of all major Federal Communications Commission statements concerning
the number and type of television channels that may be carried on
a CATV system and on any other rules and regulations of major significance
to the operation of a CATV system, within 30 days of publication,
that may be affected by the Federal Communications Commission subsequent
to the granting of this franchise.
B.
Any modifications of the regulations of the Federal
Communications Commission that affect the franchise or the operation
of a cable television system shall be incorporated into the franchise.
If the franchise holder shall fail to perform
any provision of this chapter or the franchise agreement or to make
any payments as provided in this chapter within 90 days after having
been given written notice by the town to so perform or to make such
payments, the town may give the franchise holder written notice cancelling
and terminating the franchise and contract.
The franchise, when approved by the Town Council
and made effective in the manner prescribed by law, if accepted by
the apparent successful franchise awardee by signed acceptance within
30 days of the date upon which the same may become effective as prescribed
by law, shall have the force and effect of a contract binding upon
the franchise holder and the town.
[Added 3-3-2008 by Ord. No. 2-2-08]
A.
To be acceptable for filing, each application of a
type listed in Subsection B of this section shall be accompanied by
a nonrefundable filing fee of $5,000, payable to the Town, to cover
costs incidental to the awarding or enforcement of the franchise,
as appropriate.
C.
To the extent consistent with applicable law:
(1)
The Town may require, in addition to the application
fee provided for in Subsections A and B of this section, the franchisee,
or, where applicable, a transferor or transferee, to reimburse the
Town for its reasonable out-of-pocket expenses in considering the
application, including consultants' fees.
(2)
No payments made under this section shall be considered
a franchise fee, but shall be deemed to fall within one or more of
the exceptions in 47 U.S.C. § 542(G)(2).
