[Renewal of Municipal Consent to Comcast of New Jersey II,
LLC, was adopted 9-19-2023 by Ord. No. 23-3293. Prior consent agreement:
Ord. No. 2396.]
For the purpose of this Ordinance, the following terms, phrases,
words and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein. Such
meaning or definition of terms is supplemental to those definitions
of the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") regulations, 47 C.F.R.
§ 76.1 et seq., and the Cable Communications Policy Act,
47 U.S.C. Section 521 et seq., as amended, and the Cable Television
Act, N.J.S.A. 48:5A-1 et seq., and shall in no way be construed to
broaden, alter or conflict with the federal and state definitions:
(a)
"Municipality" is the City of Summit, a municipal corporation of
the State of New Jersey, having its City Hall located at 512 Springfield
Avenue, Summit, in the County of Union and the State of New Jersey.
(b)
"Company" is the grantee of rights under this Ordinance and is known
as Comcast of New Jersey II, LLC.
(c)
"Act" or "Cable Television Act" is Chapter 186 of the General Laws
of New Jersey, and subsequent amendments thereto, N.J.S.A. 48:5A-1,
et seq.
(d)
"FCC" is the Federal Communications Commission.
(e)
"Board" or "BPU" is the Board of Public Utilities, State of New Jersey.
(f)
"OCTV" is the Office of Cable Television of the Board.
(g)
"Application" is the Company's Application for Renewal of Municipal
Consent.
(h)
"Primary Service Area" consists of the area of the Municipality currently
served with existing plant as set forth in the map annexed to the
Company's Application for Municipal Consent.
(i)
"Commitments" shall mean the commitments, terms and undertakings
on the part of the Company, set forth in this Ordinance, and in the
documents incorporated herewith by reference, pursuant to Article
Fourteen.
A public hearing concerning the consent herein granted to the
company was held after proper public notice pursuant to the terms
and conditions of the Act. Said hearing having been held and fully
open to the public, and the municipality having received all comments
regarding the qualifications of the company to receive this consent,
the Municipality hereby finds that the Company possesses the necessary
legal, technical, character, financial and other qualifications and
that the Company's operating and construction arrangements are
adequate and feasible.
The Municipality hereby grants to the company its non-exclusive
consent to place in, upon, along, across, above, over and under the
highways, streets, alleys, sidewalks, public ways, and public places
in the municipality poles, wires, cables, and fixtures necessary for
the maintenance and operation in the municipality of a cable television
system. The non-exclusive municipal consent granted herein shall expire
10 years from the date of the expiration of the Existing Certificate
of Approval issued by the Board.
In the event that the Municipality finds that the Company has
not substantially complied with the material terms and conditions
of this Ordinance, the Municipality shall have the right to petition
the OCTV, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 58:5A-47, for appropriate action, including
modification and/or termination of the Certificate of Approval, provided,
however, that the Municipality shall first give the Company written
notice of all alleged instances of non-compliance and an opportunity
to cure same within 90 days of that notification.
Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Act, N.J.S.A. 48:5A-30(d),
the Company shall, during each year of operation under the consent
granted herein, pay to the Municipality no later than the last day
of January of each calendar year, 3.5% of the gross revenues, as defined
in N.J.S.A. 48:5A-3x, derived from cable television charges and fees
paid by subscribers for cable television service in the Municipality
or any higher amount required by the Act or otherwise allowable by
law.
The consent granted under this Ordinance for the issuance of
the Franchise shall apply to the entirety of the Municipality and
any property hereafter annexed.
The Company shall be required to proffer service to any residence
or business along any public right-of-way in the Primary Service Area,
as set forth in the Company's Application. Any extension of physical
plant beyond the Primary Service Area shall be governed by the Company's
Line Extension Policy, as set forth in the Company's Application.
Restoration: In the event that the Company or any of its agents
disturbs any pavement, street surface, sidewalk, or other surface
in the natural topography, the Company shall, at its sole expense,
restore and replace such places or things so disturbed in as good
or better a condition as existed prior to the commencement of said
work.
Relocation: If at any time during the period of this consent,
the Municipality shall alter or change the grade of any street, alley
or other way or place, the Company, upon reasonable notice by the
Municipality, shall remove, re-lay or relocate its equipment, at the
sole expense of the Company.
Temporary Removal of Cables: The Company shall temporarily move
or remove appropriate parts of its facilities to allow for the moving
of buildings and machinery, or in other similar circumstances. The
expense shall be borne by the party requesting such action, except
when requested by the municipality, in which case the Company shall
bear the cost.
Trimming of Trees: During the exercise of its rights and privileges
under this consent ordinance, the Company shall have authority to
trim trees upon and overhanging streets, alleys, sidewalks or other
public places of the municipality so as to prevent the branches of
such trees from coming in contact with the wires and cable of the
Company. Such trimming shall be only to the extent necessary to maintain
proper clearance of the Company's wire and cables.
In providing service to its customers, the Company shall comply
with N.J.A.C. 14:18-1, et seq., and all applicable state and federal
statutes and regulations. The Company shall additionally strive to
meet or exceed all voluntary and industry standards in the delivery
of customer service and shall be prepared to report on same to the
Municipality upon written request of a duly authorized representative
of the municipality.
(a)
The Company shall continue to comply fully with all applicable State
and Federal statutes and regulations regarding credits for outages,
the reporting of same to the Board and the notification of same to
customers.
(b)
The Company shall continue to fully comply with all applicable State
and Federal statutes and regulations regarding the availability of
devices for the hearing impaired and the notification of same to customers.
(c)
The Company shall use every reasonable effort to meet or exceed voluntary
standards for telephone accessibility developed by the National Cable
Television Association.
(d)
The company shall use every reasonable effort to meet or exceed applicable
FCC customer service regulations.
The Office of Cable Television is hereby designated as the Complaint
Officer for the Municipality pursuant to N.J.S.A. 48:5A-26(b). All
complaints shall be received and processed in accordance with N.J.A.C.
14:17-6.5. The Municipality shall have the right to request copies
of records and reports pertaining to complaints by municipal customers
from the OCTV.
During the term of the Franchise, and any renewal thereof, the
Company shall maintain a local business office or agent in accordance
with N.J.A.C. 14:18-5.1, for the purpose of receiving, investigating
and resolving all local complaints regarding the quality of service,
equipment malfunctions, and similar matters. Such business office
shall have a publicly listed toll-free telephone number and remain
open during standard business hours, and in no event (excepting emergent
circumstances) less than 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
During the term of the Franchise, the Company shall provide
to the Municipality a bond in the amount of $25,000. Such bond shall
be to ensure the faithful performance of all undertakings of the Company
as represented in its Application, incorporated herein.
The rates and charges of the Company shall remain subject to
regulation to the extent permitted by State and Federal law.
(a)
The Company shall continue to provide a system-wide public access
channel maintained by the Company. Qualified individuals and organizations
may utilize public access for the purpose of cablecasting non-commercial
access programming in conformance with the Company's published
public access rules.
(b)
The Company shall continue to provide a system-wide leased access
channel maintained by the Company for the purpose of cablecasting
commercial access programming in conformance with the Company's
guideline and applicable state and federal statutes and regulations.
(c)
The Company shall continue to provide a shared local access channel
(currently channel 36) to be maintained by the Company and operated
by the City's access or PEG designee (so long as that organization
or its successor continues to be the City's access or PEG designee),
for the purpose of local governmental and educational access programming
in conformance with the Company's guidelines and applicable state
and federal statutes and regulations. This shared access channel shall
be made available by the Company as long as programming content is
made available for the channel. In the event that the channel is abandoned
and is not used for any access programming, the Company's obligation
to continue to provide the channel to the City shall cease.
(a)
In transmitting its television signals to subscribers in the Municipality,
the Company shall employ a state of the art system and introduce reasonable
upgrades and enhancements to provide signal quality that is at least
as good as that customarily provided under prevailing industry standards,
and the Company shall comply with all requirements imposed by Federal
Regulations, and (to the extent not preempted by federal law) all
State regulations relating to technical standards for the transmission
of television signals, transmission quality, or facilities and equipment.
(b)
The Company shall keep the Municipality informed of, and shall notify
the Municipality of alterations in channel allocation for public,
educational, and/or governmental access channels in accordance with
N.J.A.C. 14:18-3.17(c).
(c)
The Company shall continue to provide two digital local access channels
dedicated to City for the City's exclusive use to provide either
public, educational, or governmental ("PEG") access programming. A
digital converter or cable card is required to view these channels.
(d)
The foregoing digital PEG access channels shall be transmitted without
material signal degradation and shall be transmitted with a signal
quality that is at least equal to that of other channels that the
Company transmits on the same programming tier. Additionally, the
Company shall designate a representative responsible for receiving
and addressing comments or complaints with respect to the quality
of PEG channel transmissions.
(e)
The Company shall maintain a return line from Summit High School
that will enable programming content which is originated at the high
school to then be transmitted by the Company for cablecast on one
of the access channels.
(f)
The Company shall maintain the return line currently installed at
the City municipal building so that, throughout the term of the Franchise,
the City shall have the ability to originate access programming content
from the City municipal building. In the event that the current TV
36 studio is relocated, and such relocation affects the City's
ability to continue to originate programming from the City municipal
building, the Company shall be responsible for modifying the return
line so that programming may continue to be originated from the City
municipal building.
(g)
In the event the current TV-36 studio facility is moved/relocated
to another location within the City, the Company shall, at its own
cost and expense, relocate or install and maintain facilities necessary
to enable TV-36 to transmit programming from its new location.
(h)
The Company shall continue to provide standard installation and basic
cable television service at no cost to one outlet in each municipal
building, including but not limited to the police station, fire station(s),
emergency management facility, public library, schools (including
private schools), municipal golf course, community pool, and Department
of Public Works buildings, provided the facility is located within
200 feet of active cable distribution plant. Each additional outlet
installed, if any, shall be paid for on a materials, equipment and
plus labor basis by the Municipality or school. Monthly basic service
charges shall be waived on all additional outlets. Conversion of non-Company
authorized outlets to Company standards, including wiring, equipment
and installation charges shall be paid by the Municipality or school.
(i)
The Company shall continue to provide one free non-networked high
speed Internet connection and service (one outlet at each location)
at public library buildings and all public and private schools. Connections
are to be located in areas accessible to student and community use
and cannot be restricted to administrative use. All facilities must
be located within 200 feet of active cable plant.
(j)
During the term of the Franchise, the Company shall continue to make
available to Overlook Hospital signals transmitting the PEG access
content that is carried on each of the public access channels referred
to above. If Overlook Hospital determines that it wants to carry the
PEG signals on its internal television system, Comcast will not be
responsible for any equipment or system modifications that may be
required by Overlook Hospital. Comcast's sole responsibility
under this paragraph is to make the signal available as it does currently.
(k)
The Company recognizes that the Municipality has made a significant
investment to upgrade the audio-visual equipment in the Common Council
Chamber. These upgrades are compatible with high-definition technology.
Council meetings are currently broadcast on Channel 36. The Company
agrees that within two years of NJBPU's adoption of the Certificate
of approval and by written request of the municipality, the Company
shall make the necessary upgrades to its infrastructure so that Channel
36 may be broadcast in high definition.
(l)
In the event that the current channel designation for TV-36 is changed
by the Company (i.e., the channel is transferred to a new channel
number), the Company shall reimburse the Municipality and TV-36 for
reasonable administrative costs associated with notifying persons
of the channel re-designation and the re-branding of TV-36 content
and materials. The total amount to be paid by Comcast shall not to
exceed the sum of $5,000.
(m)
Although Comcast shall not be required to adhere to service quality
standards in excess of those required by State and federal laws, in
response to specific and reasonable requests from the Municipality
regarding signal quality issues in particular areas of the Municipality,
Comcast shall evaluate the signal quality issues and advise the Municipality
of the results of its evaluation.
(n)
The Company shall cause any and all construction plans relating to
work on any extension of plant or work which could have a significant
impact on public works within the Municipality to be filed with the
Municipality. Nothing herein shall create any right or obligation
with respect to construction work that is inconsistent with any regulation
or with the Board's regulatory authority.
(o)
A Company representative shall meet at least annually with the Municipality's
advisory committee, or other designee, upon reasonable written request,
to review all matters relating to cable television in the Municipality,
including, but not limited to, customer service standards.
The Company shall comply with the Emergency Alert System ("EAS")
rules in accordance with applicable State and Federal law.
The Company shall at all times maintain a comprehensive general
liability insurance policy with a single limit amount of $1,000,000
covering liability for any death, personal injury, property damages
or other liability arising out of its construction and operation of
the cable television system, and an excess liability (or "umbrella")
policy in the amount of $5,000,000.
All of the statements and commitments contained in the Application
or annexed thereto and incorporated therein, and any amendment thereto,
except as modified herein, are binding upon the Company as terms and
conditions of this consent. The Application and other relevant writings
submitted by the Company shall be annexed hereto and made a part hereof
by reference provided same do not conflict with applicable State or
Federal law.
If any article, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase
or portion of this Ordinance is for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional
by any court or agency of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall
be deemed a separate, distinct and independent provision, and its
validity or unconstitutionality shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of the Ordinance.
Nothing in this Ordinance or in any prior document is or was
intended to confer third-party beneficiary status on any member of
the public to enforce the terms of such Ordinance or document.
This Ordinance shall take effect immediately upon issuance of
a Renewal Certificate of Approval from the Board.
All Ordinances or parts thereof that are inconsistent with the
provisions of this Ordinance shall be and the same are hereby repealed.
