This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "West Sacramento
cable communications law."
(County code § 11-1.101)
A.
The
purposes of this chapter include, but are not limited to, the promotion
of the general welfare of the citizens of the city by:
1.
Establishing
a master plan for the franchising of cable communication services
within the city;
2.
Establishing
a regulatory framework for the administration of franchises in order
to ensure that the potential recreational, educational, social, economic
and other advantages of cable communications will in fact inure to
the benefit of the community and the citizens thereof;
3.
Regulating
the operations of grantees for the purpose of protecting and promoting
the public health, peace, safety and welfare; and
4.
Encouraging
the adoption of goals for systems of cable communications within the
city which recognize the advantages of cable services and the benefits
of resources of the University of California, the California State
University and neighboring cable communications systems which may
be made available to inhabitants of the city.
B.
The
provisions of this section shall not confer any right upon a grantee
which is not otherwise conferred by another express provision of this
chapter.
(County code § 11-1.201)
Territory in the city shall not fall within the operation of
this title unless the city council by ordinance declares this title
operative within the territory. Such territory shall be known as the
"franchise area." Any such ordinance shall describe the territory
in which this title shall become operative. The ordinance may specify
any modifications to the provisions of this title which shall apply
only to the territory described in the ordinance.
(County code § 11-1.202)
Unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and
phrases used in this title are defined as set forth in this article.
Words not defined in this article shall be given their common and
ordinary meanings, consistent with the context in which such words
are used and the purpose of this title.
(County code § 11-1.301)
"Act" means the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 (Title
VI of the Communications Act of 1934).
(County code § 11-1.302.1; Ord. 03-21 § 1)
"Applicant" means any person or corporation submitting an application
for a cable communications franchise.
(County code § 11-1.302)
"Basic cable service" shall be defined as provided in subsection
(2) of Section 602 of the Act.
(County code § 11-1.303)
"Broad categories of video programming and other services" means
broad categories of video programming (for example, children's programming;
local origination programming; community use programming; programming
in a particular foreign language; programming which is of primary
interest to a particular minority group; news and public affairs programming;
and sports programming and related categories) and other services
offered by the grantee in its application and incorporated in the
franchise ordinance as a commitment of the grantee. "Broad categories
of video programming and other services" shall not include any purported
commitment to provide specific programming (for example, a particular
news service or particular program) or any item of value not utilized
in the operation of the cable system.
(County code § 11-1.302.2)
"Cable communications system," "CATV system" or "cable system"
shall be defined as provided in subsection (6) of Section 602 of the
Act.
(County code § 11-1.304)
"Channel" or "cable channel" shall be defined as provided in
subsection (3) of Section 602 of the Act.
(County code § 11-1.305)
"Community use," "community use programming" and "community
use channels" mean broad categories of video programming and other
services provided by the grantee, other than PEG facilities, PEG funding
and PEG programming, for the purposes of noncommercial cablecasts
presented by or on behalf of a grantee, the city, individuals and
local community nonprofit organizations, which programming and services
consist of topics of special interest to the city or elements thereof,
including matters of a political, governmental, sociological, religious,
educational, cultural, artistic, health-oriented, ethnic, economic,
recreational, charitable and philanthropic nature, a significant part
of such programming having been locally produced. For the purposes
of this section, "noncommercial" means:
A.
That
the contents of such programming shall not be for the purpose of directly
selling any product or service for private gain; and
B.
That
the programming shall not be associated with or interrupted during
presentation by commercial advertising or announcements specifically
presented for the purpose of selling products or services for private
gain.
(County code § 11-1.306)
"Converter" means an electronic device which converts signals
to a frequency not susceptible to interference within the television
receiver of a subscriber and, by an appropriate channel selector,
also permits a subscriber to view all signals authorized to be received
at a designated location.
(County code § 11-1.307)
"County" or "Yolo County" mean the county of Yolo, a political
subdivision of the state.
(County code § 11-1.308)
"Dwelling unit" means a residential living unit as distinguished
from temporary lodging facilities, such as hotel and motel rooms and
dormitories, and shall include single-family residential units and
individual apartments, condominium units, mobile homes within mobile
home parks and other multiple-family residential units.
(County code § 11-1.311)
"Educational channel" means any channel or portion of a channel
on which school, library or governmental educational institutions
are the only designated programmers.
(County code § 11-1.312)
"Entertainment services" means "cable service" as defined by
subsection (5) of Section 602 of the Act.
(County code § 11-1.313)
"Federal Communications Commission" or "FCC" means the present
federal agency of that name as constituted by the Communications Act
of 1934, or any successor agency created by the United States Congress
and any legally appointed, designated or elected agent or successor
thereof.
(County code § 11-1.314)
"Franchise" or "franchise agreement" means any authorization
granted under this title in terms of a franchise, privilege, permit
or license to construct, operate and maintain a cable communications
system within the city limits. Any such authorization, in whatever
form granted, shall not mean and include any license or permit required
for the privilege of transacting and carrying on a business within
the city as required by other laws of the city.
(County code § 11-1.315)
"Franchise documents," with respect to a franchise for a cable
communications system issued pursuant to the provisions of this title,
means the provisions of this title, the map defining any imposed service
area for the franchise as adopted, the provisions of any request for
proposals issued pursuant to the provisions of this title in connection
with such franchise, the provisions of the application for the franchise
submitted by the grantee, the provisions of the ordinance offering
the franchise, and the provisions of the certificate of acceptance
by the grantee of the franchise.
(County code § 11-1.316)
"Franchise property" means all property retained by the grantee
in, along and across streets under the authority of a franchise or
business license.
(County code § 11-1.317)
"Government channel" means any channel or portion thereof dedicated
to the use of the city or public agencies designated by the city.
(County code § 11-1.318)
"Grantee" means a person or corporation to whom or which a franchise
is granted pursuant to this title or any person or corporation to
whom or which such franchise thereafter may be lawfully transferred.
(County code § 11-1.319)
"Grantor" means the city of West Sacramento.
(County code § 11-1.320)
A.
"Gross
revenue" means all cash, credits, property of any kind or nature,
or other consideration derived directly or indirectly by a grantee
and its affiliates, subsidiaries, parent and any other person or entity
in which the grantee has a financial interest or which has a financial
interest in the grantee, arising from or attributable to the operation
of the cable communications system, including, but not limited to:
1.
Revenue
from all charges for those services provided on the subscriber network
and institutional network (including leased access fees);
2.
Revenue
from all charges for the insertion of commercial advertisements upon
the system;
3.
Revenue
from all charges for the leased use of studios;
4.
Revenue
from all charges for the installation, connection and reinstatement
of the equipment necessary for the utilization of the system and the
provision of subscriber and other services; and
5.
The
sale, exchange or cablecast of any programming developed for community
use or institutional users.
B.
"Gross
revenue" shall include, valued at retail price levels, the value of
any goods, services or other remuneration in nonmonetary form received
by the grantee for others described in this section in consideration
for the performance by a grantee or others described in this section
of any advertising or other service in connection with the cable communications
system.
C.
"Gross
revenue" shall not include:
1.
Any
taxes on services furnished by the grantee which taxes are imposed
directly upon any subscriber or user by the United States, the state
or a local agency and collected by the grantee on behalf of the government;
2.
Revenue
received directly from the grantee by an affiliate, subsidiary or
parent, or any other person or entity in which the grantee has a financial
interest or which has a financial interest in the grantee, when the
revenue received has already been included in reported gross revenue
as received by the grantee; and
3.
Revenue
received by such an affiliate, subsidiary, parent, person or entity
when the revenue received is from the sale of national advertising
shown on programs distributed on a national basis by the affiliate,
subsidiary, parent, person or entity and, but for this exception,
that portion of the revenue attributable to broadcasts through the
cable communications system would be treated as gross revenue.
(County code § 11-1.321)
"Institutional network" or "institutional user network" means
a cable communications network or a specified number of channels on
a subscriber network used exclusively for the provision of services
to businesses, schools, public agencies or other nonprofit agencies
in connection with the ongoing operations of such enterprises.
(County code § 11-1.322)
"Institutional services" means services delivered on the institutional
network.
(County code § 11-1.323)
"Institutional user" means a business, public agency, school
or nonprofit corporation receiving the institutional services on the
institutional user network.
(County code § 11-1.324)
"Interactive services" means services provided to subscribers
or users where the subscriber either:
A.
Both
receives information consisting of either television or other signals
and transmits signals generated by the subscriber or user on equipment
under his or her control for the purpose of selecting what information
shall be transmitted to the subscriber or user for any other purpose;
or
B.
Transmits
signals to any other location for any purpose.
(County code § 11-1.325)
"Leased access" means use on a fee-for-service basis of the
subscriber network or institutional network by business enterprises
(whether profit, nonprofit or governmental) unaffiliated with the
grantee to render services or deliver programming within the city.
(County code § 11-1.326)
"Local origination channel" means any channel or portion of
a channel where the grantee is the only designated programmer and
which channel is utilized to provide television programs to subscribers.
(County code § 11-1.327)
"Monitoring" means observing a communications signal, or the
absence of a signal, where the observer is not the subscriber, whether
the signal is observed by visual or electronic means, for any purpose
whatsoever; provided, however, "monitoring" shall not include system-wide,
non-individually addressed sweeps of the cable communications system
for the purposes of verifying system integrity, controlling return
path transmissions or billing for pay services.
(County code § 11-1.328)
"Nonbasic service" means any communications service in addition
to the basic service.
(County code § 11-1.329)
"Pay channel" or "premium channel" means a channel on which
television signals are delivered to subscribers for a special fee
or charge to subscribers over and above the regular charges for subscriber
service, on a per-program, per-channel or other subscription basis.
(County code § 11-1.330)
"Premium service" means a pay-per-program, pay-per-channel or
subscription service, that is, delivered to the subscribers for a
fee or charge over and above the regular charges for basic service
other than those services provided as a part of a tier of service.
(County code § 11-1.331)
"Public access channel" means any channel or portion of a channel
where any member of the general public may be a programmer on a first-come,
first-served basis, subject to the appropriate rules formulated by
the grantee or its delegate, subject to approval by the grantor.
(County code § 11-1.332)
"Public, educational or governmental access facilities or PEG
facilities" means:
A.
The
channel capacity designated for public, educational or governmental
use; and
B.
The
facilities and equipment for the use of such channel capacity.
(County code § 11-1.332.1)
"Public, educational or governmental access funding or PEG funding"
means payments, other than payments for capital costs, which are required
by this title to be made by the grantee during the term of the franchise
for, or in support of the use of, public, educational or governmental
access facilities.
(County code § 11-1.332.2)
"Public, educational or governmental access programming or PEG
programming" means public, educational or governmental programming
specifically identified in this title as being produced by the use
of public, educational or governmental access facilities or public,
educational or governmental access funding.
(County code § 11-1.332.3)
"Street" means the surface of and the space above and below
any street, road, highway, freeway, utility right-of-way or any other
easement which now or hereafter exists for the provision of public
and quasipublic services to residential or other properties and in
which the city is expressly or impliedly authorized or empowered to
permit use for the installation and operation of a cable communications
system.
(County code § 11-1.333)
"Subscriber" means a lawful recipient of service from a cable
communications system.
(County code § 11-1.334)
"Subscriber network" means a cable communications network which
carries television entertainment channels and community use channels
(including basic service) and which may carry channels providing commercial
or other nonentertainment services and leased access channels.
(County code § 11-1.335)
"Tapping" means the observing of a communications signal exchange
where the observer is neither of the communicating parties, whether
the exchange is observed by visual or electronic means, for any purpose
whatsoever.
(County code § 11-1.336)
"Tier of service" means a grouping of two or more channels of program services on the subscriber network which is marketed by a grantee to subscribers for a single monthly or other charge. "Basic cable service," as defined by Section 4.04.070, shall constitute a single tier of service.
(County code § 11-1.337)
"User" means a party utilizing a cable communications system
channel for the purposes of production or the transmission of material
to subscribers, as contrasted with the receipt thereof in a subscriber
capacity.
(County code § 11-1.338)
