ORD 1982-05 - Telecable Rate IncreaseORDINANCE NO. 82 -5
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS, REGULATING CABLE TELEVISION
SERVICE, REQUIRING MINIMUM RADIO AND TELEVISION
AND PROGRAMMING, ESTABLISHING TECHNICAL
PERFORMANCE STANDARDS, PROVIDING SUBSCRIBER
COMPLAINT PROCEDURES, REQUIRING CHANNEL PRODUCTION
FACILITIES, BUDGET AND STAFF AVAILABLE TO PROVIDE
LOCAL PROGRAMMING OR CHANNEL ACCESS BY GOVERNMENT,
SCHOOLS AND THE PUBLIC, CONTAINING VARIOUS
ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS, ESTABLISHING SPECIFIC
PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF SERVICE REQUIREMENTS,
SETTING MAXIMUM RATES, MAKING OTHER PROVISIONS
RELATED THERETO, AND PROVIDING FOR THE EFFECTIVE
DATE HEREOF.
WHEREAS, Telecable of Huntsville, Inc. ( "the company ") is
operating a cable television system in the City under a
franchise approved by Ordinance No. 76 -12; and
WHEREAS, Telecable of Huntsville, Inc. proposes to change
services rendered to citizens of Huntsville by constructing
a new system of cable and by increasing programming; and
WHEREAS, Telecable of Huntsville, Inc. has requested an
increase in subscriber rates upon implementation of proposed
technical and programming changes; and
WHEREAS, Telecable of Huntsville, Inc. has requested not to
amend or extend the existing franchise created by Ordinance
No. 76 -12; and
WHEREAS, the City Council is willing to approve a rate
increase only upon completion of improvements that result in
the good reception of promised programming;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS that:
Section 1. The company shall construct a new cable system
in the City of Huntsville:
A. The company shall construct a 330 MHz 36 channel system.
The system shall have 40 downstream channels and 4 upstream
channels. The rebuild shall include 110 miles of trunk and
distribution cable plant. All trunk equipment shall be
modular construction. All amplifiers' shall be solid state
integrated circuitry. All repairs and extensions of the
system shall be made with latest state of the art equipment.
B. The company shall construct and maintain a plant having
technical capacity for upstream and downstream
communications. The downstream system shall be capable of
operating between 50 and 300 MHz. The upstream system shall
be capable of operating between 5 and 30 MHz.
C. The company shall construct and maintain equipment
capable of providing standby power for headend
transportation and trunk amplifiers for a minimum of two
hours.
Section 2. A. The company shall provide a minimum of
twenty channels of non-pay television programming. Basic
non-pay programming available on channels 2 - 13 shall
include the three major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC), two major
independent stations, one public broadcasting system. Cable
channel 7 shall be made available to the City or its
designee for local programming. Additional non-pay
programming shall include inspirational programming (such as
CBN or PTL), sports programming (such as ESPN), and news
programming (such as CNN or Channel W).
B. Pay programming shall include at least two services.
The company shall offer a first run movie pay service (such
as HBO) and a family oriented pay service (such as HTN or
Cinemax). The company shall carry only one pay service on
channels 2 - 13.
C. The company shall provide all FM radio programming from
the Houston area.
D. The company shall file with the City Manager a copy of
all programming. The company shall give the City Manager 14
days written notice of any proposed programming changes.
Section 3. The company shall comply with all FCC
requirements. At 300 MHz, Subscriber taps shall provide a
tap output plus or minus .25dB as follows:
Minimum high frequency tap level 10dB
Minimum low frequency tap level 7dB
Maximum low frequency tap level 15dB
Section 4. The company shall provide a manned twenty-four
hour answering service. The company shall keep a complaint
log showing all complainants' names, time and nature of
complaint, action taken to resolve complaint, and time
complaint resolved. If a complaint is not resolved within
twenty-four hours of notice to the company, it shall advise
subscriber of the complaint procedure.
Section 5. In addition to provisions contained with
franchise, the company shall construct at least one mile of
trunk cable every year until all persons within the City
that request cable television service are provided service.
The company shall not be required to extend any subscriber
more than 150 feet except upon payment of costs as
installation cost by person requesting such service.
Extensions of service shall be subject to the complaints
procedure; the company shall inform any person denied
service of the complaint procedure.
•
Section 6:
(A) A standing telecable committee shall be established
consisting of a representative of the City, a
representative of the company, and a third party
selected by both the company representative and the
City representative jointly. The third party shall
serve a two -year term. This committee shall hear all
complaints.
(B) In the event that any subscriber service is interrupted
or of inferior quality, except for acts of God or in
circumstances for which prior approval of interruption
is obtained from the City, the company may be required
by the committee to rebate all or part of the
applicable bill to the affected subscriber.
(C) The telecable committee shall have authority to review
and determine reasonableness of requests for extension
of service and costs for extensions of service.
Section 7. The company shall provide basic subscriber
service to every public governmental building including City
Hall, the Police Department, the City Library, Fire
Stations, the Courthouse, and each public school plant at no
cost to the City or the governmental unit involved.
Section 8. The company shall construct a system that
would allow live television programming at City Hall, Walker
County Courthouse, City Library, Pritchett Field and the
University Coliseum all as presently located and transmit it
to a point designated by the City so that it can be fully
integrated into the system.
Section 9. The company shall pay the City 4 per cent of
all gross revenues. The company shall provide the City a
statement verified by a certified public accountant
disclosing amount of franchise payment, detailing method of
calculation, and stating that it represents 4% of all gross
revenues from the Huntsville system.
Section 10:
(A) The company shall purchase and maintain $50,000 (cost)
of studio and local origination equipment as approved
by the City. The company shall, by contract, lease or
by itself, make such equipment available to the City,
its designee or other persons for use in local
programming under conditions approved by the City.
(B) The company agrees to reserve the City, in addition to
cable channel 7 or any other local programming or
public access channel, a channel for governmental use
or local public programming. The Channel shall be made
available to the City upon 180 days notice to the
company by the City if channel 7 is being used an
average 40 hours or more per week.
Section 11. Upon construction and implementation of the
services described in Sections 1 through 9 herein, the
company shall give the City Manager a notice of intent to
increase rates. When the Company complies with the
construction and implementation of the services described in
Section 1 through 9 herein as determined by City, Council
shall approve an increase of the Company's rates not to
exceed the following:
Installation fee . . . . $19.95
(for new customers only)
Basic subscriber service 8.25 per month
All subscribers will receive 12 channels on conventional
television set. Certain television sets do not, however,
have capability of receiving additional channels without use
of converter. The company shall offer such converters for
sale for not more than its cost plus 5%.
Converter rental fee $ 3.50 per month
(See note above)
Additional outlets $ 1.50 per month
Section 12. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause,
phrase or portion of this Ordinance is for any reason held
invalid or unconstitutional, such portion shall be deemed a
separate, distinct and independent provision and such
holding shall not affect any of the remaining provisions of
this Ordinance.
.,U
Section 13. The City Secretary is hereby directed to cause
the caption of this Ordinance to be published at least one
time within twenty days. This ordinance shall take effect
ten days after the date of such publication.
PASSED UNANIMOUSLY FIRST READING THIS H.day of , 1982.
April , 1982.
APPROVED THIS 13th day of April , 1982.
PASSED SECOND READING THIS 13th day of
ATTEST:
Ruth eShaw, City Secretary
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
ati
Scott Bounds, City Attorney
THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE
BY
Mayor