All of grantee’s rates and charges related to or regarding
cable services shall be subject to regulation by the City to the full
extent authorized by applicable federal, State and local laws.
All of grantee’s rates and charges shall be published
(in the form of a publicly available rate card) and be nondiscriminatory
as to all persons and organizations of similar classes, under similar
circumstances and conditions. Grantee shall apply its rates in accordance
with governing law, with identical rates and charges for all subscribers
receiving identical cable services, without regard to race, color,
ethnic or national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation,
marital, military or economic status, or physical or mental disability
or geographic location within the City. Grantee shall offer the same
cable services to all residential subscribers at identical rates and
to multiple dwelling unit subscribers as authorized by FCC rules.
Grantee shall permit subscribers to make any lawful in-residence connections
the subscriber chooses without additional charge nor penalty to the
subscriber therefor. However, if any in-home connection requires service
from grantee due to signal quality, signal leakage or other factors,
caused by improper installation of such in-home wiring or faulty materials
of such in-home wiring, the subscriber may be charged reasonable service
charges by grantee. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit:
(a) The
temporary reduction or waiving of rates or charges in conjunction
with valid promotional campaigns; or
(b) The
offering of reasonable discounts to senior citizens or economically
disadvantaged citizens; or
(c) The
offering of rate discounts for cable service; or
(d) The
grantee from establishing different and nondiscriminatory rates and
charges and classes of service for commercial subscribers, as allowable
by federal law and regulations.
Grantee shall comply with all applicable laws regarding rates
for cable services and all applicable laws covering issues of cross
subsidization.
The grantee and the City each reserve all rights and authority
arising from the Cable Act and any other relevant provisions of federal,
State, or local law.
Whenever this franchise sets forth a time for any act to be
performed by grantee, such time shall be deemed to be of the essence,
and any failure of grantee to perform within the allotted time may
be considered a material breach of this franchise, and sufficient
grounds for the City to invoke any relevant remedy.
Either party may at any time seek an amendment of this franchise
by so notifying the other party in writing. Within 30 days of receipt
of notice, the City and grantee shall meet to discuss the proposed
amendment(s). If the parties reach a mutual agreement upon the suggested
amendment(s), such amendment(s) shall be submitted to the City Council
for its approval. If so approved by the City Council, and the grantee,
then the amendment(s) shall, referred to the electorate pursuant to
paragraph 119 of the City Charter.
In the event grantee is prevented or delayed in the performance
of any of its obligations under this franchise by reason beyond the
control of grantee, grantee shall have a reasonable time, under the
circumstances, to perform the affected obligation under this franchise
or to procure a substitute for such obligation which is reasonably
satisfactory to the City. Those conditions which are not within the
control of grantee include, but are not limited to, natural disasters,
civil disturbances, power outages, telephone network outages, and
severe or unusual weather conditions which have a direct and substantial
impact on the grantee’s ability to provide cable services in
the City and which was not caused and could not have been avoided
by the grantee using its reasonable best efforts in its operations
to avoid such results.
If grantee believes that a reason beyond its control has prevented
or delayed its compliance with the terms of this franchise, grantee
shall provide documentation as reasonably required by the City to
substantiate the grantee’s claim. If grantee has not yet cured
the deficiency, grantee shall also provide the City with its proposed
plan for remediation, including the timing for such cure. To the extent
any nonperformance is the result of any force majeure condition, grantee
shall not be held in default nor suffer any penalty as a result.