A.
Concurrently with the activation of a cable system in
the Borough, the grantee shall provide all services to subscribers as described
in the franchise agreement.
(1)
The system shall carry the broad categories of programming,
pursuant to the Cable Act [47 U.S.C. § 544(b)]. The grantee shall
notify the Borough and all subscribers at least 30 days prior to implementing
any change in the selection of programs or services offered on any tiers or
prior to adding or deleting any channels or changing the channel number for
any station. The grantee shall endeavor to ensure diversity of programming
regarding the community's needs.
(2)
The grantee, upon request, shall provide and maintain
on such channels as the franchise agreement may direct the following access
services:
(a)
"Government access channel," which shall be a specifically
designated channel for governmental use by the Borough and shall be managed,
scheduled and programmed exclusively by the Borough or shared with other local
governmental entities at the discretion of the Borough.
(b)
"Educational channel," which shall be a specifically
designated channel for use by local, public and private school authorities
and shall be managed, scheduled and programmed exclusively by them.
(c)
"Public access channel," which shall be a specifically
designated channel available on a nondiscriminatory basis to residents of
the Borough.
(d)
Additional access channels, or PEG channels, will be
made available when all existing such channels simultaneously carry nonduplicative,
locally produced access programming, none of which is character-generated,
continuously during the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. for a period of
90 consecutive days.
(e)
Grantee shall not exercise any editorial control over
any programming provided over such channels. The cost and expense of facilities
or staff to produce and develop access programming for retransmission by the
grantee shall be borne by the Borough or the parties involved.
(3)
The grantee shall comply with all obscenity and indecency
regulations as adopted by the FCC.
B.
Emergency override. The grantee shall, without charge,
provide, service and maintain public emergency transmission facilities, as
provided in the Cable Act [47 U.S.C. § 544(g)].
A.
Parental control devices. The grantee shall provide to
subscribers, as part of its literature, information concerning the availability
of a parental control device for use by a subscriber. The parental control
device described shall be made available to all subscribers upon request.
B.
Reconnection. Grantee shall restore service to customers
wishing restoration of service, provided customer shall first satisfy any
previous obligations owed.
C.
Free disconnection. Subscribers shall have the right
to have basic subscriber television service disconnected without charge. A
refund of unused service charges shall be paid to the customer within 60 days
from the date of termination of service.
D.
Billing. Grantee may require subscribers to pay for services
more than one month in advance. All bills shall be itemized by level of service.
E.
Delinquent accounts. Grantee shall use its best efforts
to collect on delinquent subscriber accounts. Nothing contained in the franchise
shall be deemed to restrict or prohibit the grantee from pursuing such legal
remedies to collect past due debts owed to it by subscribers, including reasonable
costs and expenses incurred in pursuing such remedies, including but not limited
to collection fees, attorney's fees and trip charges.
A.
The grantee shall adopt and abide by any and all customer
service standards for cable operators issued by the FCC, including, but not
limited to, the standards appearing at 47 CFR § 76.309, as amended,
which are hereby adopted by the Borough. The standards issued by the FCC are
the minimum standards for customer service under this chapter, and additional
standards may be set forth in the franchise agreement or otherwise adopted
by the Borough.
B.
The grantee shall prepare and file with the Borough copies
of all of its rules and regulations in connection with the handling of inquiries,
requests and complaints. The grantee shall, by appropriate means, such as
a card or brochure, furnish information concerning the procedures for making
inquiries or complaints, including the name, address and local telephone number
of the employee or employees or agent to whom such inquiries or complaints
are to be addressed.
C.
The grantee shall keep record of service trouble calls
(i.e., complaint or service concern that generates a work order or service
response) in connection with the system. Such records shall identify the subject
matter of the contact, the date it was received, the resolution of the matter
in question or the action taken by the grantee in connection with the contact.
These records shall be retained for 12 months after the year they were generated
and made available for review by the Borough upon request. Such information
made available to the Borough must comply with of the privacy clause of the
Cable Act (47 U.S.C. § 551).
D.
The grantee shall repair or replace without charge all
defective equipment provided by it to the subscriber; provided, however, that
the grantee may charge a subscriber for service to or replacement of any equipment
rendered inoperable or damaged due to negligence of such subscriber.
E.
Hearing impaired. Grantee shall, upon request of subscriber,
install equipment designed to enhance reception of programming with encoded
signals for the hearing impaired.
F.
Credit for service interruption. Grantee shall, upon
request of subscriber, give a credit for 24 hours of free cable service for
every service outage lasting more than six hours in any twenty-four-hour period,
or 1/30 of the monthly bill. For this purpose, a "service outage" is defined
as the loss of picture or sound on one or more channels.
A.
It shall be the right of all subscribers to receive continuous,
uninterrupted service insofar as their financial and other obligations to
the grantee are honored.
B.
In the event that a grantee elects to rebuild, modify
or sell its system, or the Borough gives notice of intent to revoke or fails
to renew its franchise, the grantee shall cooperate with the Borough or new
grantee or operator in maintaining continuity of service to all subscribers.
During such period, grantee shall be entitled to the revenues for any period
during which it operates the system.
C.
Abandonment of system. In the event the grantee willfully
fails to operate the system for a continuous forty-eight-hour period without
prior approval of the Borough or without just cause, the Borough may, at its
option, operate the system or designate an operator until such time as grantee
restores service under conditions acceptable to the Borough or a permanent
operator is selected. If the Borough is required to fulfill this obligation
for the grantee, the grantee shall reimburse the Borough for all reasonable
costs or damages in excess of revenues from the system received by the Borough
that are the result of the grantee's failure to perform, and grantee
should be obligated to continue to provide headend programming services until
the Borough is able to obtain equivalent headend service from another source.
