[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Board of the Village of
Sullivan 8-22-2006 (Title 9, Ch.
1, of the 2006 Code of Ordinances). Amendments noted where applicable.]
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms, phrases,
words, and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein.
When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present
tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular
number, and words in the singular number include the plural number.
The word "shall" is always mandatory and directory.
ANNUAL GROSS SUBSCRIBER RECEIPTS
All revenues received by the company from and in connection
with the provision of its basic cable service, including installation
and reconnection revenues. It does not include revenues derived from
leased channel revenues, premium services, advertising revenues, or
any other income derived from the system.
CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM
Hereinafter referred to also as "cable system" or "system,"
means a system of coaxial cables or other electrical conductors and
transmission equipment used or to be used primarily to receive television
or radio signals directly or indirectly off the air and transmit them
and other related services to subscribers for various fees.
GRANTEE
Shall be a person or entity to whom or which a franchise
under this chapter is granted by the Village, along with the lawful
successors or assigns of such person or entity.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company, or organization of any kind.
A. The Village has authority to grant to a grantee a nonexclusive franchise
for a period of 15 years from the effective date thereof, unless sooner
terminated pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, to install
and operate, above, over, and under the streets, alleys, easements
(including utility easements), public ways and public places as now
laid out or dedicated, and all extensions thereof and additions thereto,
a system of wires, cable, underground conduits, ducts, trenches, conductors,
amplifying equipment, manholes, fittings, and any and all other fixtures,
appliances, and appurtenances necessary for the installation, ownership,
maintenance, and operation in the Village of a cable television system
for the purpose of distribution of cable television and related services
to inhabitants within the limits of the Village. The rights are granted
herein by the Village after due consideration and approval by the
Village of the legal, character, financial, technical, and other qualifications
of the grantee and the adequacy and feasibility of its construction
arrangements, as part of a full public proceeding affording due process,
which included specific notice of the consideration of the grantee's
construction policy.
B. The Village may grant overlapping franchises in accordance with the
following procedures:
(1) Any applicant for grant of a franchise to provide cable television
service shall submit details of the applicant's background, financial
condition, subscriber rates, proposed system technical configuration
and operational design, construction timetable to complete service
to the initial service area, proposed practices pertaining to customer
service, and employment practices and policies. Existing grantees
operating in the Village are not required to provide the application
described herein. If an applicant proposes to serve an area in which
an existing grantee is authorized to serve, the applicant shall present
additional information to assist the Village in evaluating the effect
of an additional cable television operator.
(2) The application shall be submitted with proof of service of a copy
of its application upon all other grantees.
(3) The Village shall provide all existing grantees with an opportunity
to submit objections or request for clarification on an application
which affects such existing grantees and with an opportunity to be
heard and to make presentations pertaining to such application during
a public hearing.
(4) In evaluating an application, the Village shall consider the applicant's
legal, financial, technical and other qualifications, the adequacy
of its proposed system, the applicant's interest in obtaining a franchise,
and the public interest in receiving competitive cable services. The
Village shall investigate and balance the competing interests. An
overlapping franchise shall be granted only when justified by the
balance of interests.
(5) Village shall not grant an overlapping franchise on terms and conditions
more favorable or less burdensome than those in any existing franchise.
Village may impose additional terms and conditions appropriate to
an overlapping franchise, including terms and conditions not included
in existing franchises.
(6) A grantee for an overlapping franchise shall be required to complete
construction of a system to serve all areas served by existing grantees
and shall be required to provide adequate surety for that construction
commitment.
(7) A grantee for an overlapping franchise shall be required to indemnify
and hold harmless all prior grantees from and against all costs and
expenses incurred in strengthening poles, replacing poles, rearranging
attachments, placing underground facilities, and all other costs including
those of prior grantees, Village, and utilities incident to inspections,
make-ready, and construction of an additional cable television system
in the franchise area.
The grantee, at all times during the period of this chapter and any renewal thereof, shall be subject to all lawful exercise of the police power by the Village as the Village shall provide pursuant to §
194-18. The grantee and Village shall comply with, and this chapter shall comply with, all applicable laws, statutes, codes, ordinances, rules, or regulations, including those of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, as it may be amended from time to time.
Upon final passage and publication hereof as provided by law
and upon acceptance by the grantee, this chapter shall take effect
and shall then continue in full force until amended.
This chapter shall apply to the present territorial limits of
the Village and to any area henceforth added thereto during the period
of this franchise. The grantee shall build in areas of the Village
it deems financially feasible. A project shall be deemed financially
feasible if the construction passes at least 40 homes per strand mile.
The Village may require the grantee to provide justification as to
financial infeasibility if it refuses to extend service to a particular
area. Nothing herein contained is intended to preclude the grantee
from extending its cables and equipment to other portions of the Village
or outside the Village for the purpose of serving other areas, provided
the grantee is legally authorized to service the other areas.
A. The grantee shall pay all damages and penalties which the Village,
its officers, boards, commissions, agents, and employees may legally
be required to pay as a result of the installation, operation, and
maintenance of the cable system authorized herein.
B. The grantee shall pay all expenses incurred by the Village, its officers, boards, commissions, agents, and employees in defending itself with regard to all damages and penalties mentioned in Subsection
A above. These expenses shall include all out-of-pocket expenses, such as attorneys' fees. The grantee shall be liable for payment of damages and penalties mentioned in Subsection
A above and/or expenses in this section only if grantee has been adequately notified of pending actions and has been allowed, at its own expense, to hire its own counsel and to direct the prosecution or defense of the action at grantee's discretion.
C. Insurance coverage.
(1) The grantee shall maintain, throughout the period of this chapter,
liability insurance insuring the Village, its officers, boards, commissions,
agents, and employees and the grantee in the minimum amounts of:
(a)
$1,000,000 for personal injury or death resulting from any one
occurrence; and
(b)
$500,000 for property damage resulting from any one occurrence.
(2) The insurance policies mentioned above shall contain an endorsement
stating that the policies are extended to cover the liability assumed
by the grantee under the terms of this chapter and shall contain the
following endorsement:
"It is hereby understood and agreed that this policy may not
be cancelled nor the amount of coverage thereof reduced without Board
approval."
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(3) Insurance coverage shall remain in effect throughout the term of
the franchise. The grantee shall provide to the Village Clerk-Treasurer
written evidence of payment of required premiums, which shall be filed
and maintained with the Village Clerk-Treasurer during the term of
any franchise granted hereunder or any renewal hereof.
D. The grantee shall apply for the licenses and permits necessary for
the construction and operation of the cable television system herein
described within 60 days of the filing of the grantee's acceptance
of the franchise.
A. The grantee shall provide and maintain its services in minimum accordance
with the standards of the industry, so as to provide its subscribers
with a high level of quality and reliability. The grantee's service
shall include same day service response, seven days a week, for all
complaints and requests for repair or adjustments received. The grantee
shall maintain a record of service reports and of the time of the
restoration of service.
B. Whenever it shall be necessary to shut off or interrupt service for
the purpose of making repairs, adjustments or installations, the grantee
shall do so at such times as will cause the least amount of inconvenience
to its subscribers. If reasonably practical, the grantee shall give
reasonable notice thereof to its subscribers.
C. In the event of any interruption of service, whether planned or unforeseen,
the grantee shall proceed with due diligence and restore service as
quickly as possible under the circumstances.
D. The grantee shall be responsible for adopting procedures for the
investigation and resolution of complaints related to the operation
of the grantee's cable television system, and the Village shall have
no responsibility for the administration and implementation of such
procedures. Notice of the procedures for reporting and resolving complaints
will be given to each subscriber at the time of initial subscription
to the cable system. The grantee shall have a local or toll-free telephone
number.
E. The system will be designed, engineered, and maintained by the grantee
so as not to interfere with the television reception of residents
of the Village who do not subscribe to its service. Neither the Village
nor the grantee shall require the removal, or offer to remove, or
provide an inducement for removal, of any potential existing subscriber's
antenna as a condition of provision of services.
F. The cable television system shall have a minimum channel capacity
of 54 channels.
Grantee will provide a free connection and basic service to
all schools (public, parochial, nonprofit, or private) and Village
buildings as long as the cable system passes within a reasonable distance
of the building. Additional connections at such locations may be provided
on a cost-plus basis.
A. The grantee shall, at all times, employ reasonable care in conducting
its operations and shall install and use generally accepted methods
and devices for preventing failure and accidents which are likely
to cause damage, injuries, or nuisances to the public.
B. The grantee shall install and maintain its wires, cables, fixtures,
and other equipment in accordance with the applicable requirements
of the National Safety Code and local ordinances.
C. The grantee shall maintain at all times its structures, lines, equipment,
and connections in, over, under, or upon the streets, sidewalks, alleys,
and public ways or places of the Village, wherever situated or located,
in a safe, suitable, substantial condition, and in good order and
repair.
It shall be the policy of the Village to amend this chapter
liberally, upon application of the grantee, to take advantage of any
developments in the field of transmission of television signals and
related service which will afford the grantee an opportunity more
effectively, efficiently, or economically to serve its customers.
The Village shall amend this to enable the grantee to respond to changes
in Federal Communications Commission regulations, or other applicable
governmental rules or requirements; such amendments shall be made
by the Village as soon as possible following application therefor
by the grantee.
A. All transmission and distribution structures, lines, and equipment
erected by the grantee within the Village shall be located so 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 whose
land may adjoin any of the said streets, alleys, or other public ways
and places.
B. In case disturbances of any street, sidewalk, alleys, public way,
or paved area are caused by the grantee's construction or operations,
the grantee shall, at its own cost and expense and in a manner approved
by the Village's appropriate authority, replace and restore such street,
sidewalk, alleys, public way, or paved area to a condition as good
as its condition before the work causing such disturbance was performed.
C. The grantee shall have the right, under the supervision of the Village's
appropriate authority, to trim trees overhanging streets, alleys,
sidewalks, and public ways and places of the Village so as to prevent
the branches of such trees from coming in contact with the wires and
cable of the grantee or otherwise interfering with the operations
of the grantee.
D. The grantee shall, at the request of any person holding a building
moving permit issued by the Village, temporarily raise or lower its
wires to permit the moving of the building. The expense of such temporary
removal, raising or lowering of wires shall be paid by the person
requesting the same and the grantee shall have the authority to require
such payment in advance. The grantee shall be given not less than
72 hours' advance notice to arrange for such temporary wire change.
Any franchise granted hereunder shall not relieve the grantee
of any obligation involved in obtaining pole or conduit use agreements
from the gas, electric, and telephone companies, or others maintaining
poles or conduits in the streets or roads of the Village, whenever
the grantee finds it necessary to make use of said poles or conduits.
In areas where either telephone or electric utility facilities are
aboveground at the time of installation, the grantee may install its
service aboveground, provided that at such time as those facilities
are required to be placed underground by the Village or are placed
underground, the grantee shall likewise place its services underground
without additional cost to the Village or to the residents of the
Village. The distribution system shall be placed underground by grantee
in such areas of the Village where both telephone and electric power
utilities are underground.
The grantee shall not, as to rates, charges, service, service
facilities, rules, regulations, or in any other respect, make or grant
any undue preference or advantage within a given class of subscribers
in the Village.
Upon termination of service to any subscriber, the grantee shall
promptly remove all its facilities and equipment from the premises
of such subscriber upon his/her request.
The grantee may transfer or assign its rights and obligations
under this chapter to any wholly owned subsidiary or any partnership
of which the grantee is the sole general partner by filing a duly
executed copy of a written instrument with the Village within 30 days
of any such transfer or assignment. Any other transfer or assignment
of the grantee's rights or obligations shall be made only upon written
approval of the Village, which approval shall not be unreasonably
withheld.
Within 90 days after the end of the grantee's fiscal year, the
grantee shall file with the Village a report showing the gross subscriber
revenues for basic cable service, received by the grantee from subscribers
in the Village since the preceding report.
The grantee shall pay to the Village a franchise fee of 3% of
grantee's annual gross subscriber receipts derived from basic cable
service only. No other fee, charge, or consideration shall be imposed.
Sales tax or other taxes, if any, levied directly on a presubscription
basis and collected by the grantee shall be deducted from the above
basis before computation of the franchise fee due the Village hereunder
is made. The annual fee shall be paid to the Village Clerk-Treasurer
on or before March 31 of the following year.
A. The right is hereby reserved to the Village to adopt, in addition
to the provisions contained herein and in any existing applicable
agreement, such additional regulations as it shall find necessary
in the lawful exercise of its police power, provided that such regulations,
by ordinance or otherwise, shall be reasonable and not in conflict
with the rights herein granted.
B. The Village shall have the right to supervise all construction or
installation work performed subject to the provisions of the ordinance
and make such inspections as it shall find necessary to insure compliance
with the terms of this chapter and other pertinent provisions of law.
A. The Village may revoke any franchise granted hereunder and rescind
all rights and privileges associated therewith upon the occurrence
of one of the following events:
(1) Failure of the grantee to pay all fees due the Village of Sullivan,
provided that said fees are not subject to a legal dispute;
(2) Bankruptcy, insolvency, or assignment for the benefit of creditors
by grantee; and
(3) Other substantial breach of any material term or condition of this
chapter.
B. Grantee shall be notified in writing fully explaining the details
of any such deficiency and grantee will be allowed no fewer than 60
days to correct any such deficiency. If, during the sixty-day period,
the cause shall be cured, the notice and right to terminate shall
be null and void. The grantee shall be given an opportunity to be
heard before the Board regarding termination and the grantee shall
be afforded all due process rights regarding termination. In the event
of termination, the Board shall provide a written summary of its reasons
for termination. A public hearing to consider revocation within a
twenty-day notice given to grantee shall be held prior to termination.
Grantee must be given the opportunity to be heard at such public hearing.
A. The grantee shall have the right to establish different classifications
of service for residential and commercial users and to adopt charges
and rate schedules applicable to subscribers within said classifications.
B. The grantee retains the right to modify its subscriber rates during
the period of the franchise. All rate schedules shall be filed with
the Village 30 days before going into effect.
A. Unauthorized connections prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any
firm, person, group, grantee, corporation, or governmental body or
agency, without the expressed consent of the grantee, to make or possess
any connection, extension, or division, whether physically, acoustically,
inductively, electronically, or otherwise, with or to any segment
of a franchised community antenna television and audit communications
system for any purpose whatsoever.
B. Removal or destruction prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any firm,
person, group, grantee, corporation, or governmental body or agency
to willfully interfere, tamper, remove, obstruct, or damage any part,
segment or content of a franchised community antenna television and
audio communication system for any purpose whatsoever.
C. Penalty. Any firm, person, group, grantee, corporation, or governmental
body or agency convicted of a violation of this section shall, for
each offense, forfeit a sum of not less than $25 nor more than $200,
together with costs of such prosecution.
D. Security. The grantee shall have the right at all times to take such
legal action as it deems necessary to preserve the security of its
cable television system and to assure only authorized use thereof
by its subscribers or other persons. Any person who willfully or maliciously
damages or causes to be damaged any wire, cable, apparatus, or equipment
of the grantee with intent to obtain a signal or impulse therefrom
without authorization of the grantee shall be liable to the grantee
in the amount of $200 per occurrence or actual damage to the equipment,
whichever is greater.
The grantee shall have the right to provide service for which
a per-program or per-channel charge is made (commonly referred to
as "pay television").
A performance bond in the amount of $16,500 will be secured
by the grantee prior to starting construction of the cable system.
It will remain in effect until completion of construction and activation
of initial service area (Exhibit A, incorporated by reference herein
and on file with the Village Clerk-Treasurer) when at that time it will be allowed to be terminated
by grantee.
This franchise may be renewed under the provisions of the Cable
Communications Policy Act of 1984.
The Village Board reserves the right to reasonable inspection
of the books, records, maps, plans, and other like material of the
grantee at the grantee's local office during normal business hours.
The records required to be made available for an inspection by the
Village Board are not an inclusive list of all such relevant records,
and such list does not relieve the grantee from the obligation of
furnishing or making available to the Village Board for inspection
any other records that would be relevant to the franchise granted.
A. Substantial steps shall be taken toward completion of the initial
service area (Exhibit A) within 18 months of the granting of the franchise. Grantee
shall report 12 months after granting the franchise all steps which
have been taken by grantee to complete the system.
B. Upon request grantee shall provide full information to the Village
as to the stage of completion of the construction within 20 days after
receipt of a written request for said information from the Village.