The municipality hereby grants to the company
the nonexclusive right to construct, erect, operate and maintain a
cable television system within the municipality as it now exists and
may hereafter be changed, and in so doing to use the streets of the
municipality by erecting, installing, constructing, repairing, replacing,
reconstructing, maintaining and retaining in, on, under, upon and
across any and all said streets such poles, wires, cables, conductors,
ducts, conduits, vaults, manholes, amplifiers, appliances, attachments
and other property as is deemed necessary or useful by the company,
subject to the company's obligation to provide efficient cable television
service and to the reasonable exercise of municipal police powers
as provided below, in the operations of the cable television system.
Additionally, the municipality hereby grants to the company the right
to use any and all easements granted for or dedicated to compatible
uses, such as electric, gas, telephone or other utility transmissions
subject to the rights of the owners of adjoining property for authorization
to enter in and upon said land for the purposes of erecting, installing,
constructing, repairing, replacing, reconstructing, maintaining and
retaining in, on, over, under, upon and across such easements such
items of the cable television system as is deemed necessary or useful
by the company in order to provide cable television service, including
any other associated communications services. Upon request by Cablevision,
the municipality hereby agrees to assist the company in gaining access
to and using said easements.
Pursuant to any applicable procedures stated
in Section 626 of the Cable Policy Act, the Board of the municipality,
after affording the public adequate notice and opportunity for comment
and having determined that the company is likely to satisfy cable-related
community needs, hereby grants this franchise renewal. The Board,
in public proceeding affording due process, considered and approved
the company's technical ability, financial condition and character
and in proceedings complying with the requirements of due process
has found to be adequate and feasible the company's plans for constructing
and operating the cable television system. In making said determination,
the Board considered the company's past performance and its likelihood
of satisfactory future performance and other factors the Board deemed
necessary for the selection of the company as the cable television
franchisee.
The company hereby agrees that, when and wherever
possible, it shall enter into agreements with telephone or electric
or other utilities for the use of said utilities' poles whereby said
utilities shall provide use of and access to said poles to the company
of the company's lines and other equipment. Notwithstanding the above,
where necessary to service subscribers and where the company demonstrates
to the satisfaction of the municipality that attachment to the pole(s)
of utilities is not economically reasonable or otherwise possible,
the company may erect or authorize or permit others to erect any poles
or any other facilities within the streets of the municipality pursuant
to the issuance by the municipality of any necessary authorizations
which shall not be unreasonably withheld, subject to the rights of
the owners of adjoining property, for authorization to enter in and
upon said land.
Where, in any place within the municipality,
all of the electric and telephone utilities shall be located underground,
it shall be the obligation of the company to locate or to cause its
property to be located underground within such places. If the company
shall in any instance be unable to locate or relocate any part of
its property underground, then the municipality, on being apprised
of the facts thereof, shall permit such property to remain above the
ground even though other facilities in the area may be placed underground.
However, any such permission shall be on such conditions as the municipality
may reasonably require to protect the public health and safety.
The company shall render efficient service,
make repairs promptly and interrupt service only for good cause and
for the shortest possible time. The company shall maintain an agent
and list a local or toll-free telephone number. The telephone shall
be so operated that complaints or requests for repairs because of
malfunctions of the cable television system shall be repaired as quickly
as possible after notice of such malfunction. The company shall make
its best efforts to remedy said malfunctions no later than 24 hours
after notice of the malfunction except or unless such malfunction
shall affect a substantial portion of the company's cable television
system or the malfunction shall have been caused by storm, fire, lightning,
explosion, major equipment or computer failure, civil commotion or
other similar catastrophe which is or are beyond the reasonable control
of the company, in which case all due diligence to repair the problem
as quickly as possible will be undertaken by the company.
The municipality, by its execution hereof, agrees
and understands that the Cable Policy Act preempts rate regulation
by the state and the municipality on and after December 30, 1986,
and that the rates provided below on and after said date shall be
for informational purposes only.
A. For installation and activation of one set of minimum
equipment which is necessary for the receipt of cable television service
by residential subscribers the charge shall be $40.
B. For installation and activation of one set of minimum
equipment which is necessary for the receipt of cable television service
by nonresidential subscribers, e.g., hotels, motels, entertainment
institutions, hospitals, schools, etc., the charge, except as otherwise
provided herein, shall be based on a time and material basis, plus
a reasonable return on investment.
C. For custom installation, concealed wiring, underground
cable and any and all equipment costs for both residential and nonresidential
subscribers, other than those costs resulting from the ordinary installation
or the rental of one set of minimum equipment necessary for the subscriber's
receipt of basic service, the charge shall be based on time and labor
to provide the same plus a reasonable return on investment.
D. For video and other programming offered in the lowest service level as provided in §
A156-14 above, the monthly charge for said service to the first outlet shall be $8.10.
E. For each service trip made necessary to reconnect
a subscriber for basic service after said subscriber has been disconnected
and then satisfied a delinquent account, the charge shall be $30.
There shall be no charge to disconnect a delinquent subscriber.
Notwithstanding any contrary provision in § 156-14,
the company shall provide a single service outlet to each school,
fire house and police station that is passed by cable plant as agreed
to herein or as may be requested by the municipality within 60 days
after the effective date of this franchise renewal agreement, provided
that such institution is no further than 150 feet from the feeder
of the cable television system. The lowest level of service for programming
shall be provided to the first single outlet without charge. Additional
outlets in the aforementioned institutions will be charged for and
the municipality or the institution shall pay, or whoever is so authorized,
at the then-current rates.
If any provision of this franchise renewal agreement
shall be held invalid, void, unenforceable or illegal by a court or
a regulatory agency of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions
of such franchise renewal shall remain in full force and effect.
All notices required or permitted herein shall
be in writing and shall be deemed delivered when mailed in the United
States Mail, postage prepaid, and sent certified, return receipt requested,
or on the date of delivery when sent by express mail, and in other
cases when addressed to:
A. Cablevision Industries, Inc., Office of the President,
P.O. Box 311, Liberty, New York 12754.
B. When to the municipality. Township Hall, Township
of Athens, P.O. Box 276, Athens, Pennsylvania 18810.