The following regulations are hereby adopted and shall be known
as the cable TV regulations for the city.
(1986 Code, ch. 4, sec. 10:1)
Unless otherwise apparent, the following definitions shall apply
in this article:
An affiliated programmer is a programmer with an ownership
interest of 5 percent or more including general partnership interests,
direct ownership interests, and stock interests in a corporation where
such stockholders are officers or directors or who directly or indirectly
own 5 percent or more of the outstanding stock, whether voting or
nonvoting. Such interests include limited partnership interests of
5 percent or greater.
The basic service tier shall, at a minimum, include all signals
of domestic television broadcast stations provided to any subscriber
(except a signal secondarily transmitted by satellite carrier beyond
the local service area of such station, regardless of how such signal
is ultimately received by the cable system), any public, educational,
and governmental programming required by the franchise to be carried
on the basic tier, and any additional video programming signals or
service added to the basic tier by the cable operator.
Any person or group of persons:
Who provides cable service over a cable system within the city
under a franchise issued by the city, and who directly or through
one or more affiliates owns a significant interest in such cable system;
or
Who otherwise controls or is responsible for, through any arrangement,
the management and operation of such a cable system.
Cable programming service includes any video programming
provided over a cable system, regardless of service tier, including
installation or rental of equipment used for the receipt of such video
programming, other than:
The Federal Communications Commission.
A cable television system that serves 1,000 or fewer subscribers.
The service area of a small system is determined by the number of
subscribers that are served by a system’s principal headend,
including any other headends or microwave receive sites that are technically
integrated to the system’s principal headend.
(1986 Code, ch. 4, sec. 10:2)
A cable operator must provide the following information to subscribers
on monthly bills:
(1)
A
statement substantially the same as the following: “The basic
service tier rates and related equipment and installation charges
are regulated by the City. If you have any questions or comments regarding
these rates, you may call or write the City at 308 S. Houston, Cameron,
Texas 76520 (817) 697-6646”;
(2)
The
name, mailing address and phone number of the Cable Services Bureau
of the FCC; and
(3)
The
FCC community unit identifier for the cable system.
(1986 Code, ch. 4, sec. 10:3)
A cable operator shall not charge a subscriber for any service
or equipment that the subscriber has not affirmatively requested by
name. This provision, however, shall not preclude the addition or
deletion of a specific program from a service offering, the addition
or deletion of specific channels from an existing tier of service,
or the restructuring or division of existing tiers of service that
does not result in a fundamental change in the nature of an existing
service or tier of service, provided that such change is otherwise
consistent with applicable regulations. A subscriber’s failure
to refuse a cable operator’s proposal to provide such service
or equipment is not an affirmative request for service or equipment.
A subscriber’s affirmative request for service or equipment
may be made orally or in writing.
(1986 Code, ch. 4, sec. 10:4)
(a)
Cable
operators may identify as a separate line item of each regular subscriber
bill the following:
(1)
The amount of the total bill assessed as a franchise fee.
(2)
The amount of the total bill assessed to satisfy any requirements
imposed on the cable operator by the franchise agreement to support
public, educational, or governmental channels or the use of such channels.
(3)
The amount of any other fee, tax, assessment, or charge of any kind
imposed by any governmental authority on the transaction between the
operator and the subscriber. In order for a governmental fee or assessment
to be separately identified under this section, it must be directly
imposed by a governmental body on a transaction between a subscriber
and an operator.
(b)
The
charge identified on the subscriber bill as the total charge for cable
service should include all fees and costs itemized pursuant to this
section.
(1986 Code, ch. 4, sec. 10:5)
