A. 
The Borough shall exercise appropriate regulatory authority under the provisions of this chapter and applicable law. This authority shall be vested in the Borough Council and administered through the Borough Manager or their designee in order to provide day-to-day administration and enforcement of the provisions of this chapter and any franchise granted hereunder, and to carry out the Borough's responsibilities with regard to cable communications.
[Amended 4-21-2021 by Ord. No. 1032]
B. 
The Borough reserves the right to exercise the maximum plenary authority, as may at any time be lawfully permissible, to regulate the cable communications system, the franchise and the grantee. Should applicable legislative, judicial or regulatory authorities at any time permit regulation not presently permitted to the Borough, the Borough may without the approval of the grantee engage in any such additional regulation as may then be permissible, whether or not contemplated by this chapter, including, without limitation, regulation regarding franchise fees, taxes, programming, rates charged to subscribers and users, consumer protection, or any other similar or dissimilar matter.
A. 
The Borough shall have the following regulatory responsibility:
(1) 
Administration and enforcement of the provisions of this chapter and any franchise granted hereunder.
(2) 
Award, renewal, extension or termination of a franchise pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, the franchise, and other applicable law.
(3) 
Consent prior to sale or transfer of any franchise granted hereunder.
(4) 
Performance evaluation.
(5) 
Rate regulation, if applicable, per § 233-21.
B. 
The Borough also reserves the right to perform the following functions and all other functions allowed by law present or future:
(1) 
Develop objectives and coordinate activities related to the operation of government channels.
(2) 
Approve procedures and standards for public, government and educational access and operations and services, including the use of dedicated channels and sharing of public facilities.
(3) 
Analyze plans for expansion, interconnection and growth of cable services.
(4) 
Analyze the possibility of integrating cable communications with other Borough, state or regional telecommunications networks.
(5) 
Formulate and recommend long-range telecommunications policy for the Borough, and determine the future cable-related needs and interests of the community.
(6) 
Provide the administrative effort necessary for the conduct of performance evaluations, and any other activities required for the administration of the franchise.
(7) 
Monitor grantee's process for handling citizen complaints and periodically inspect and analyze the records related to such complaints.
(8) 
Receive applications for rate increases if applicable and provide staff assistance in the analysis and recommendations thereto.
(9) 
Monitor grantee's adherence to operational standards, service requirements and line extension policies.
(10) 
Assure compliance with applicable laws and ordinances.
(11) 
Arrange tests and analysis of equipment and performance, as needed to ensure compliance with this chapter and the franchise.
(12) 
Assure continuity in service.
(13) 
Receive for examination all data and reports required by this chapter.
A. 
Grantee shall file with the Borough schedules which shall describe all services offered, all rates and charges of any kind, and all terms and conditions relating thereto, on the effective date of the franchise and 60 days prior to any change. No rates or charges shall be effective except as they appear on a schedule so filed. Grantee shall notify subscribers in writing at least 30 days prior to the implementation of any change in services offered, rates charges, or terms and conditions related thereto. The grantee's written notice shall include a comparison of old and new rates and charges and shall be included in the customer's bill. A complete schedule of grantee's rates shall be mailed to subscribers annually.
B. 
Grantee shall establish rates that are nondiscriminatory within the same general class of subscribers which must be applied fairly and uniformly to all subscribers in the franchise area for all services. Nothing contained herein shall prohibit the grantee from offering: 1) discounts to commercial and multiple-family dwelling subscribers billed on a bulk basis; 2) promotional discounts; or 3) reduced rates for subscribers who have multiple services. Grantee's charges and rates for all services shall be itemized on subscriber's monthly bills.
A. 
The Borough and the grantee shall, at the discretion of the Borough, hold scheduled performance evaluation sessions annually. All such evaluation sessions shall be open to the public.
B. 
Special evaluation sessions may be held at any time during the term of the franchise at the request of the Borough.
C. 
All evaluation sessions shall be open to the public and announced in a newspaper of general circulation. Grantee shall notify subscribers of all such evaluation sessions by announcement on the designated local government channel on the system between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. for five consecutive days preceding each session.
D. 
Topics which may be discussed at any scheduled or special evaluation session may include, but not be limited to, system performance and construction, grantee compliance with this chapter and the franchise, customer service and complaint response, subscriber privacy, services provided, programming offered, service rate structures, franchise fees, services offered under the franchise, applications of new technologies, judicial and FCC filings, and line extensions.
E. 
During the review and evaluation by the Borough, the grantee shall fully cooperate with the Borough and shall provide such current and historical information and documents as the Borough may need to reasonably perform its regulatory duties.