The purpose of this chapter is to set forth regulations for the provision of video service by state franchise holders, in accordance with the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act, California Public Utilities Code Sections 5800 through 5970 (“DIVCA”). This chapter shall apply to video service providers operating within the city pursuant to a valid state franchise.
(Ord. 1394 § 1, 2008)
For the purposes of this chapter, the words set out in this section shall have the following meanings:
“City”
means the city of South San Francisco.
“City manager”
means the city manager of the city of South San Francisco, or designee.
“Franchise fee”
shall have the meaning given that term by subdivision (g) of Public Utilities Code Section 5830 or its successor.
“Gross revenues”
shall have the meaning given that term by the California Public Utilities Code Section 5860 or its successor.
“Holder”
shall have the meaning given that term by subdivision (j) of Public Utilities Code Section 5830 or its successor.
“Material breach”
shall have the meaning given that term by subdivision (j) of Public Utilities Code Section 5900 or its successor.
“Network”
shall have the meaning given that term by subdivision (l) of Public Utilities Code Section 5830 or its successor.
“State franchise”
shall have the meaning given that term by subdivision (p) of Public Utilities Code Section 5830.
“Video service”
shall have the meaning given that term by the California Public Utilities Code Section 5830(s) or its successor.
(Ord. 1394 § 1, 2008)
Any state franchise holder shall remit to the city a franchise fee in the amount of five percent of the gross revenues of the state franchise holder in compliance with California Public Utilities Code Section 5840(q).
(Ord. 1394 § 1, 2008)
(a) 
In accordance with Public Utilities Code Section 5870(n), upon termination of all incumbent cable provider franchises, each state franchise holder shall remit to the city a fee to support PEG channel facilities in the amount of one percent of gross revenues. Each state franchise holder shall remit such fee to support PEG channel facilities quarterly, within forty-five calendar days after the end of the quarter for the preceding calendar quarter. All revenue collected pursuant to this fee shall be deposited in a separate fund and shall only be expended for the purpose of supporting PEG channel facilities.
(b) 
Each payment of the fee established in subsection (a) of this section delivered to the city shall be accompanied by a summary report: (1) explaining the basis for the calculation of the payment; (2) reflecting the total amount of gross revenues for the remittance period and all payments, deductions and computations used to determine the amount of the quarterly remittance; and (3) the fourth quarter payment shall include the total amount of gross revenues for the remittance period and a summary of the gross revenues submitted for the entire calendar year. The city manager may establish, and from time to time revise, such additional reporting requirements as are reasonably necessary to ensure that the basis for the calculation of the amount of remittance is adequately explained and documented, and each state franchise holder shall comply with such additional reporting requirements provided that each state franchise holder shall have agreed to such additional reporting requirements. Any additional reporting requirements must be mutually agreed upon by the city and the franchise holder.
(c) 
Each state franchise holder shall designate a sufficient amount of capacity on its network to allow the provision of PEG channels in accordance with California Public Utilities Code Section 5870. Each state franchise holder shall have three months from the date the city requests the PEG channels to designate the capacity. The three-month period shall be tolled by any period during which the designation or provision of PEG channel capacity is technically infeasible.
(d) 
This section shall be enforced, and disputes regarding this section shall be resolved, pursuant to California Public Utilities Code Section 5870(p).
(e) 
Notwithstanding subdivision (n) of Public Utilities Code Section 5870, upon the expiration of any state franchise, without any action of the city council, this section shall be deemed to have been automatically reauthorized unless the state franchise holder has given the city council and city manager written notice sixty days prior to the expiration of its state franchise that the fee authorized in subsection (a) of this section will expire pursuant to the terms of subdivision (n) of Public Utilities Code Section 5870.
(Ord. 1394 § 1, 2008; Ord. 1429 § 1, 2010; Ord. 1535 § 2, 2017)
(a) 
Any state franchise holder shall comply with the customer service provisions set forth in Public Utilities Code Section 5900.
(b) 
The city shall impose the following penalties against a state franchise holder for any material breach of the customer service provisions set forth in Section 6.78.050(a):
(1) 
For the first occurrence of a material breach, a fine of five hundred dollars shall be imposed for each day of each material breach, not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars for each occurrence of the material breach.
(2) 
For a second occurrence of a material breach of the same nature as the first material breach that occurs within twelve months, a fine of one thousand dollars shall be imposed for each day of each material breach, not to exceed three thousand dollars for each occurrence of the material breach.
(3) 
For a third or further occurrence of a material breach of the same nature as the previous material breaches that occurs within twelve months, a fine of two thousand five hundred dollars shall be imposed for each day of each material breach, not to exceed seven thousand five hundred dollars for each occurrence of the material breach.
(c) 
The city manager shall have the authority to assess penalties for any material breach by a holder of a state franchise. Prior to assessing penalties for a material breach, the city manager shall first have provided the state franchise holder with written notice of any alleged material breach of the customer service provisions set forth in California Public Utilities Code Section 5900 and shall allow the state franchise holder at least thirty days from receipt of the notice to remedy the specified material breach.
(d) 
A material breach for the purposes of assessing penalties shall be deemed to have occurred for each day within the jurisdiction of the city, following the expiration of the period specified in this section that any material breach has not been remedied by the video provider, irrespective of the number of customers affected. No monetary penalties shall be assessed for a material breach if it is out of the reasonable control of the state franchise holder.
(e) 
The city shall submit one half of any penalty amounts it receives to the Digital Divide Account established by California Public Utilities Code Section 280.5.
(f) 
No monetary penalties shall be assessed for a material breach if it is out of the reasonable control of the state franchise holder.
(Ord. 1394 § 1, 2008)
The city shall ensure that it receives all franchise fee revenue to which it is entitled to at the times and in the amounts specified by Public Utilities Code Section 5860, and, to that end, the city manager is hereby authorized, either with or without the assistance of duly authorized representative, to examine the business records of the holder of the state franchise in accordance with subdivision (i) of Public Utilities Code Section 5860.
(Ord. 1394 § 1, 2008)