[1]
Editor's Note: Prior ordinance history includes portions
of Ordinance No. 526.
[Ord. No. 662 § 1]
The Borough hereby grants to Service Electric Cable TV of Hunterdon,
Inc. ("SECTVH") renewal of its nonexclusive municipal consent to place
in, upon, across, above, over and under highways, streets, alleys,
sidewalks, easements, public ways and public places in the Borough,
poles, wires, cables, underground conduits, manholes and other television
conductors, fixtures, apparatus and equipment as may be necessary
for the construction, operation and maintenance in the Borough of
a cable television and communications system.
[Ord. No. 662 § 2]
For the purpose of this chapter, 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") rules and regulations,
47 C.F.R. Subsection 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 or BOROUGH – Shall mean the Borough of Frenchtown,
County of Hunterdon, State of New Jersey.
b.
COMPANY – Shall mean the grantee of rights under this chapter
and is known as Service Electric Cable TV of Hunterdon, Inc. ("SECTVH").
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 – Shall mean the Federal Communications Commission.
e.
BOARD or BPU – Shall mean the Board of Public Utilities, State
of New Jersey.
f.
OFFICE or OCTV – Shall mean the Office of Cable Television
of the Board.
g.
BASIC CABLE SERVICE – Shall mean the lowest level of which
includes the retransmission of local television broadcast signals
as defined by the FCC.
h.
APPLICATION – Shall mean SECTVH's Application for Municipal
Consent.
i.
PRIMARY SERVICE AREA ("PSA") – Shall mean and consist of the
area of the Borough currently served with existing plant as set forth
in the map annexed to the SECTVH's Application for Municipal
Consent.
[Ord. No. 662 § 3]
Public hearings conducted by the Borough, concerning the renewal
of municipal consent herein granted to the Company were held after
proper public notice pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Act
and the regulations of the Board adopted pursuant thereto. Said hearings,
having been fully open to the public, and the Borough, having received
at said public hearings all comments regarding the qualifications
of the Company to receive this renewal of municipal consent, the Borough
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.
[Ord. No. 662 § 4]
a.
The nonexclusive municipal consent granted herein shall extend for
15 years from the date of the issuance of a renewal certificate of
approval by the Board.
b.
If there exists a period of time following the expiration of the
Borough's original consent granted under the prior Section A163-1,
et seq., Frenchtown's Cable Television Ordinance, until such
time that a decision is made by municipal governing body relative
to the renewal of said consent, the Company shall petition the Board
for a certificate of approval authorizing continued operation during
any such period.
c.
In the event that the municipality shall find that the Company has
not substantially complied with the material terms and conditions
of this chapter with respect to matters under the exclusive control
of the Company, the municipality shall have the right to petition
the OCTV, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 48:5A-47, for appropriate action, including
modification and/or termination of the certificate of approval; provided
however, that the municipality shall first have given the Company
written notice of all alleged instances of non-compliance and provide
an opportunity to cure noncompliance within 90 days of such notice
or such additional period as may be appropriate where the cause of
the noncompliance is beyond the reasonable control of the Company.
d.
Notification of impending transfer. SECTVH shall give the municipality
30 days' notice of any impending transfer of the franchise to
any other entity, person, or otherwise.
[Ord. No. 662 § 5]
a.
Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Act, the Company shall,
during each year of operation under the consent granted herein, pay
to the Borough 2% of the gross revenues from all recurring charges
in the nature of subscription fees paid by subscribers for cable television
reception service in the Borough or any higher amount permitted by
the Act or otherwise allowable by law, whichever is greater.
b.
In the event that applicable law hereafter permits a larger franchise
fee to be collected, but does not fix the amount thereof, the municipality
and SECTVH shall negotiate in good faith with respect to the amount
thereof, which amount shall be due and payable from the date that
the franchise fee was increased by said law.
[Ord. No. 662 § 6]
The consent granted under this chapter to the renewal of the
franchise shall apply to the entirety of the Borough and any property
subsequently annexed hereto.
[Ord. No. 662 § 7]
a.
The Company shall be required to proffer service along any public
right-of-way to any person's residence or business located in
all areas of the franchise territory as described on Initial Wiring
Map attached hereto as Schedule A.[1], at tariffed rates for standard and non-standard installations.
Any additional line extension of the system shall be in accordance
with OCTV Line Extension Policy ("LEP"). For purposes of the LEP,
the minimum density of homes per mile shall be 16. To the extent not
inconsistent with applicable Federal or State law, SECTVH installation
charges and line extension policy is as set forth in its application.
[1]
Editor's Note: Schedule A, referred to herein may be
found on file in the office of the Borough Clerk attached to Ordinance
No. 662.
b.
The Company has modified its application as regards its line drop
policy to reflect that the company shall extend its plant from public
rights-of-way to all residences and businesses within 300 aerial or
underground feet of the operator's existing plant at no cost
beyond the normal installation rate. SECTVH shall also extend its
plant at the cost of $1 per foot after the first 300 feet of installation
to subscribers from public roads. SECTVH will also extend its plant
along private roads under the same conditions as set forth above.
In the event that the density of homes along a private road does not
meet the threshold under the company's line extension policy,
the property owner(s) shall share the cost of the line extension.
Property owners seeking such extensions shall be responsible for obtaining
and providing easements at their own expense to be given to the Company,
where necessary to provide such extension of service.
[Ord. No. 662 § 8]
a.
Restoration. In the event that the Company or its agents shall disturb
any pavement, street surfaces, sidewalks, driveways, or other surface
in the nature topography, the Company shall, at its sole expense,
restore and replace such places or things so disturbed in as good
a condition as existed prior to the commencement of said work.
b.
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 expense of
the Company.
c.
Temporary Removal of Cables. The Company shall, upon request of the
municipality at the Company's expense, temporarily raise, lower,
or remove its lines in order to facilitate the moving of buildings
or machinery or in other like circumstances. Whenever the request
is made by, for, or on behalf of private parties, the cost will be
borne by those same parties.
d.
Removal or Trimming of Trees. During the exercise of its rights and
privileges under this franchise, the Company shall have the 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.
[Ord. No. 662 § 9]
In providing services 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, including, but not limited to technical
standards for the transmission of television signals, transmission
quality or facilities and equipment. The Company shall strive to meet
or exceed all voluntary company and industry standards in the delivery
of customer service and shall be prepared to report on it to the community
upon written request of the Borough.
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 regulatory agencies and notification of same
to customers. Every effort shall be made by SECTVH to repair service
outages within six hours of their being reported and the Company being
permitted to undertake such repair. SECTVH shall reimburse each affected
subscriber for the period of any outage as required by N.J.A.C. 14:18-3.5
and any other Board of Public Utility Rules requiring and/or prescribing
the formula for outage credits.
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 reasonable effort to meet or exceed voluntary
standards for telephone accessibility developed by the National Cable
Television Association (NCTA) except as they may be modified by the
Office.
d.
Nothing herein shall impair the right of any subscriber or the municipality
to express any comment with respect to telephone accessibility to
the Complaint Officer, or impair the right of the Complaint Officer
to take any action that is permitted under law.
e.
SECTVH shall provide a toll free telephone number for customer calls,
said number to be included on all monthly bills. All equipment provided
by SECTVH shall be serviced, repaired or replaced by SECTVH through
service calls made directly to the individual subscriber's location
if required by the nature of the call or in another mutually agreed
upon manner.
f.
SECTVH shall notify the municipality or its designee at least 30
days in advance of any proposed rate increase and shall publish all
its rates for all subscriber services to each customer in the manner
consistent with the requirements of the Office.
g.
SECTVH shall give due consideration to programming preferences expressed
by customers. Further, SECTVH shall provide subscribers in the Borough
with at least the same broad categories of programming, in approximately
the same quality, as are now provided and which appear in the application.
h.
SECTVH will endeavor at all times to keep rates reasonably comparable
to other area systems on a cost-per-channel basis, and the rates charged
to the subscribers of Frenchtown Borough shall not be higher than
the rates charged to any other subscriber of SECTVH within its other
franchised municipalities.
i.
SECTVH shall provide reasonable notice informing subscribers of telephone
numbers, addresses and procedures in order to keep them informed of
all cable television services available from SECTVH.
j.
SECTVH shall comply with any State law or regulation, and shall use
its best efforts to comply with any guideline with respect to maintaining
space for a Statewide interconnect channel.
[Ord. No. 662 § 10]
The Office of Cable Television is hereby designed 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 Borough customers
from the OCTV.
[Ord. No. 662 § 11]
a.
During the term of this franchise, and any renewal thereof, the Company
shall maintain a local business office or agent for the purpose of
receiving, investigating and resolving all complaints regarding the
quality of service, equipment malfunctions and similar matters.
b.
Such local business office shall be open during normal business hours
and in no event less than 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Telephone response for such purposes as mentioned herein will be provided
by the Company's employees, representatives or agents 24 hours
per day.
c.
The telephone number and address of the local office shall be listed
in applicable telephone directories and in correspondence from the
Company to the customer. The telephone number for the local office
shall utilize an exchange that is a non-toll call for Borough residents.
[Ord. No. 662 § 12]
During the life of the franchise the Company shall give to the
municipality a bond in the amount of $25,000. Such bond shall be to
insure the faithful performance of all undertakings of the Company
as represented in its application for municipal consent incorporated
herein. The municipality reserves the right by resolution to require
a reasonable increase in the amount of said bond, subject to review
by the OCTV and approval by the Board.
[Ord. No. 662 § 13]
The rates of the Company shall be subject to regulation as permitted
by Federal and State law. If applicable law is hereafter amended to
permit the exercise of regulatory power over rates by municipalities,
the municipality reserves the right to exercise the maximum power
permitted by law at such time said law becomes effective.
[Ord. No. 662 § 14]
The Company shall continue to provide the installation of one
outlet and basic monthly service to public buildings within the Borough,
including the Municipal Building, Fire Station, Borough Elementary
School and First Aid Station.
[Ord. No. 662 § 15]
a.
Upgrade Commitments.
1.
Service Electric will upgrade the cable system in Frenchtown Borough.
2.
The upgrade is to cover all homes in the Borough that are passed
by the current cable system (customer and non-customer homes alike).
3.
Design of the system upgrade will be done in early 2009.
4.
Construction of the upgrade would begin in the second half of 2009
and is to be completed within two years of the receipt of all permits
and authorizations; except for any delays beyond the control of Service
Electric.
5.
System upgrade to include:
6.
The upgrade will allow for deployment of the following advanced services:
7.
With this upgrade, Service Electric will be able to make available
to the residents of Frenchtown Borough all the advanced services offered
in the larger urban areas of its system in New Jersey.
b.
Service Electric representatives shall appear upon reasonable written
request of the Borough, at a public hearing of the governing body
or before the Borough's Cable Television Advisory Committee,
to discuss matters pertaining to the provision of cable service to
residents of the Borough and other related issues as the Borough and
Company may see fit.
[Ord. No. 662 § 16]
In the event that the Borough determines that it is necessary
and feasible for it to contract with the Company for the purpose of
providing two-way or interconnection services, the Company shall be
required to apply to the BPU for approval to enter into and establish
the terms and conditions of such contract. All costs for such application
to the BPU shall be borne by the Borough.
[Ord. No. 662 § 17]
a.
The Company shall be required to fully comply with all applicable
Federal and State statutes and regulations rules and regulations governing
the implementation, operation and testing of the Emergency Alert System
(EAS).
b.
The Company shall in no way be held liable for any injury suffered
by the municipality or any other person, during an emergency, if for
any reason the municipality is unable to make full use of the cable
television system as contemplated herein.
[Ord. No. 662 § 18]
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 $3,000,000. The municipality shall be named
as an additional insured under said policy.
[Ord. No. 662 § 19]
All of the commitments and statements contained in the application
and any amendment thereto submitted in writing to the municipality
by the Company, except as modified herein, are binding upon the Company
as terms and conditions of this municipal consent. The application
and any other relevant writings submitted by the Company shall be
considered a part of this chapter and made a part hereof by reference
as long as it does not conflict with State or Federal law. All ordinances
or parts of ordinances or other agreements between the Borough and
the Company that are in conflict with the provisions of this agreement
are hereby declared invalid and superseded.
[Ord. No. 662 § 20]
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion
of this chapter is for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional
by any court or Federal or State 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 chapter.
[Ord. No. 662 § 21]
Should any of the Federal or State statutes, regulations or
pronouncements applicable to the regulation of cable television be
modified in any way, such modifications, to the extent that they embody
required terms and conditions and meaningfully can be incorporated
into this chapter, shall be so incorporated, consistent with any applicable
effective dates specified in such modification. To the extent that
any such modification places limits on permissible terms and conditions
and any provision of this chapter becomes invalid by virtue of such
modification, the preceding subsection 21-1.20 shall apply.
[Ord. No. 662 § 22]
Any prior Ordinance of this Borough granting consents to the
Company or any of its predecessors is hereby repealed in its entirety
as of the effective date of this chapter. Furthermore, all resolutions
and ordinances regarding such consents within the Borough are repealed
as of the effective date of this chapter.
[Ord. No. 662 § 23]
This chapter shall take effect upon the publication thereof,
the municipality receiving notification from SECTVH that it accepts
the provisions of this chapter and the issuance of a renewal certificate
of approval from the BPU.
