§ 30-30. Subscriber services and protection provisions.
(a)
Services to subscribers and institutions.
(1)
Programming.
a.
Availability. The franchisee shall make available all services to subscribers.
b.
Notification of change in services offered. Any change in services offered shall comply with the conditions and procedures contained in the chapter and/or franchise, and shall be reported to the county at least 30 days prior to the proposed implementation as long as the reporting 30-day notice is within the control of the franchisee.
c.
Basic service tier. A basic service tier shall be offered to subscribers throughout the term of this chapter and franchise.
d.
Service for the disabled. All closed-captioned programming retransmitted by the system shall include any closed-caption signal which is part of the transmission received by the operator. For hearing impaired subscribers, the franchisee shall provide information concerning the cost and availability of equipment to facilitate the reception of all basic services for the hearing impaired. In addition, the franchisee must have TDD/TYY (or equivalent) equipment at the company office to the extent required by law, and a publicly listed telephone number for such equipment, that will allow hearing impaired customers to contact the company. Upon request, the franchisee shall provide for purchase or lease, a remote control device to those subscribers who are mobility limited, or where a member of the subscriber's household is mobility limited. The franchisee shall adhere to the closed-caption requirements of applicable federal law and regulations.
(2)
Reserved.
(b)
Obligation to consider viewers' opinion. The franchisee may conduct viewer surveys as to the subscribers' preference in programming. The viewers' preference may be given consideration in programming as much as feasible. The ultimate and final decision regarding programming shall be that of the franchisee.
(c)
Information subscribers. The franchisee shall inform subscribers, via written notice of proposed programming changes at least 30 days in advance of the change.
(d)
Anti-buy through. The franchisee shall abide by any applicable federal laws and regulations of any buy through of tiers of service.
(e)
Negative option billing. The franchisee is prohibited from charging subscribers for programming or services that subscribers have not affirmatively requested as provided in federal laws and regulations.
(f)
Free previews. The franchisee shall provide at least 30 days advance notice to subscribers and other notice on the cable system of free movies or free service and the blocking of same as required by federal law and regulations.
(g)
Subscriber electronic equipment. The franchisee shall abide by applicable federal laws and regulations concerning the capability and compatibility of system equipment with subscriber electronic equipment.
(h)
Scrambled channels. The franchisee shall abide by federal laws and regulations concerning the scrambling of video and audio portions of adult programming.
(i)
Installations, connections and other services.
(1)
Service obligations. The franchisee shall provide service throughout the entire service area to any subscribers unless requested by a subscriber for a later date. Within seven days of a request for service by any person or entity, the franchisee shall furnish the requested service to such person or entity if standard installation is within 150 feet. If not within 150 feet, service is to be provided within 30 days of a request for service. The franchisee agrees to extend its lines and to serve any and all requests for service whose dwellings or places of business are located within the franchise area and who in good faith have signified their willingness to subscribe for such service; provided that these requesters are in an area of density of at least 30 dwelling units per cable mile measured from the franchisee's existing system. For purposes of this section, if the franchisee has not been granted the authority by an owner or association of owners to extend its facilities to individual apartments, condominiums, and cooperative units within the interior of a multiple-unit building or complex of multiple-unit buildings, [the multiple-unit building or complex of multiple-unit buildings] shall be considered a single dwelling unit. Density per cable mile shall be computed by dividing the number of dwelling units in the area by the length in miles, or fractions thereof, of the total amount of aerial or underground cable necessary to make service available to the dwelling units in such area in accordance with the franchisee's system design parameters. The cable length shall be measured from the nearest point of access to the then-existing system, provided that extension is technically feasible from that point of access, and located within the public streets. The total cable length shall exclude the drop cable necessary to serve individual customer premises.
(2)
Deletion of service. The franchisee shall not delete any services required by this chapter without the prior approval of the board. Services shall not be deemed to include a change in programs or channel.
(3)
Procedure upon annexation. New subscribers subsequently annexed into unincorporated Brevard County after the effective date of August 18, 1998, shall be provided the same level of service as current county residents provided it is economically feasible to provide said service. "Economically feasible" shall be deemed to exist if any of the following occurs:
a.
A developer is willing to advance and pay the cost of extending the service.
b.
At any time there are 30 residential units per cable mile, the franchisee shall make the service available.
c.
Any new subscriber under this section whose outlet is within 100 feet of an existing trunk line shall be extended by the franchisee.
d.
The franchisee, upon receiving a written request and payment from at least ten assured subscribers, would extend their service at regular installation rates, providing the extension is within 1,300 cable feet of existing trunk line. The extension must be technically feasible.
e.
A group of prospective subscribers are willing to enter into a cost-sharing arrangement for the extension of service and, in the event any prospective subscribers are willing to pay an appropriate portion of the cost of extending the services, the franchisee shall extend said service. The county shall provide the franchisee with a description of all property annexed at the time of each annexation.
(4)
Standard installations. Standard installation shall consist of a service not exceeding 150 feet from a single point or pedestal attachment to the subscriber's residence. Service in excess of 150 feet and concealed wiring, shall be charged at such cost as exceeds normal installation costs. The desire of the subscriber as to the point of entry into the residence or commercial establishment and location of pedestal shall be observed whenever possible. Runs in building interiors shall be as unobtrusive as possible. The franchisee shall use due care in the process of installation and shall repair any damage to the subscribers property caused by said installation. Such restoration shall be undertaken within no more than ten days after the damage is incurred and shall be completed as soon as possible thereafter.
(5)
Deposits. Any deposit over $100.00 required by the franchisee shall bear interest at a passbook savings rate.
(6)
Lockout devices. The franchisee shall provide to the potential subscriber, as part of its promotional literature, information concerning the availability of a lockout device for use by a subscriber. The lockout device described herein shall be made available to all subscribers requesting it beginning on the first day that any cable service is provided.
(7)
Reconnection. The franchisee shall restore service to customers wishing restoration of service provided the customer shall first satisfy any previous obligations owed.
(8)
Free disconnection. Subscribers shall have the right to have cable service disconnected without charge. A refund of unused service charges shall be paid to the subscriber within 45 days from the date of termination of service provided all equipment is returned and all financial obligations are met.
(9)
Retiering or rate increases. For 30 days after notice of retiering or rate increases, a subscriber may obtain changes in service tiers at no additional charge.
(10)
Delinquent Accounts. The franchisee shall use its best efforts to collect on delinquent subscriber accounts. In all cases, the franchisee shall provide the customer with at least ten days written notice prior to disconnect.
(11)
Subscriber policies. The franchisee shall comply with all subscriber policies in this chapter and the franchise.
(12)
Outages. The franchisee shall, at the request of the subscriber, automatically credit affected subscribers in a systemwide outage of four hours or more. In order to receive the credit for outages that do not occur systemwide, the subscriber must notify the franchisee within 30 days of the outage and request a credit prorated to hours of outage(s).
(13)
Subscribers' right to own equipment. The franchisee shall not interfere with a subscriber's right, under applicable law, to own any equipment necessary for the lawful receipt of cable television services. The franchisee shall not willfully make its equipment incompatible with publicly available equipment; provided, however, the franchisee reserves the right to install equipment necessary to prevent individuals using the system without paying for same.
(j)
Service calls and complaint procedures.
(1)
Business office. The franchisee shall establish, operate and maintain in the county at least one business office in close proximity to the service area, studio, and maintenance and repair facility for the purpose of receiving inquiries, requests and complaints concerning all aspects of the construction, installation, operation, and maintenance of the system, and for the payment of subscribers' service charges, and providing facilities for the production of programming. The franchisee shall provide all subscribers or users with at least 30 days prior written notice of a change in business office hours. The business office shall maintain a staff adequate to process complaints, requests for installation, service or repairs, and other business in a timely and efficient manner. The franchisee shall add additional telephone lines and service representatives when existing lines are substantially utilized or when a sufficient increase in subscribers and a pattern of subscriber complaints reflect a need for additional service employees.
(2)
Telephone service. The franchisee shall have a listed local/toll-free telephone number for service calls available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The number shall be made available to subscribers on their bills and the general public. The county's telephone number of the county office responsible for administration of this chapter and franchise shall appear on all subscribers' bills pursuant to FCC rules and regulations. The franchisee shall provide an unlisted telephone number to the county and utility companies to enable the county or utility companies to reach the franchisee in case of an emergency on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week basis. Telephones will be answered within 30 seconds and transfer shall be made within 30 seconds. The caller shall receive a busy signal less than three percent of the time. The above standards will be met 90 percent of the time under normal operating conditions measured on a quarterly basis.
(3)
Service interruption. The franchisee will begin working on severe interruptions promptly and in no event later than 24 hours after the interruption becomes known. The franchisee must begin actions to correct other service problems the next business day after notification of the service problem.
(4)
Appointments. The appointment window alternatives for installations, service calls, and other installation activities will be either a specific time or, at a maximum, a four-hour time block during normal business hours. An operator may not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day prior to the scheduled appointment, and if the installer is running late, and will not be able to keep the service appointment as scheduled, the customer will be contacted and the appointment will be rescheduled at the customer's convenience.
(5)
Franchisee rules. The franchisee shall prepare and file with the county copies of all of its rules and regulations in connection with the handling of inquiries, requests and complaints. The franchisee shall, by appropriate means, such as a card or brochure, furnish information concerning the procedures for making inquiries or complaints, and local telephone number of the employee or employees or agent to whom such inquiries or complaints are to be addressed, and furnish information concerning the county office responsible for the administration of the franchise, including, but not limited to, the address and telephone number of the office.
(6)
Complaint records. The franchisee shall keep full records in connection with all written complaints and requests in connection with the system. Such records shall identify the person contacting the franchisee and the person responding on behalf of the franchisee, the subject matter of the contact, the date and time it was received, the resolution of the matter in question or the action taken by the franchisee in connection with the contract, and the date and time thereof, and such other information as may be deemed pertinent by the franchisee. These records shall be made available for periodic inspection by the county subject to privacy laws.
(7)
Equipment service. The franchisee may charge a subscriber for service to or replacement of any equipment damaged due to negligence of such subscriber.
(8)
Subscriber solicitation. Each representative and all other employees entering upon private property shall be required to wear an employee identification card issued by the franchisee and bearing a picture of the representative.
(9)
Sales information. The franchisee shall provide to all subscribers and users complete written information concerning all services and rates provided by the franchisee. Such material shall clearly and conspicuously disclose the price and other information concerning the franchisee's least costly service. Such information shall be written in plain English and shall include but shall not be limited to the following: all services, tiers, and rates; deposits, if applicable; installation costs; additional television set charges; service upgrade or downgrade charges; and lockout devices.
(10)
Billing practices information. The franchisee shall inform all subscribers and users of complete information respecting billing and collection procedures, procedures for ordering changes in or termination of services and refund policies. Such information shall be written in plain English.
(11)
Notice or complaint procedures. The franchisee shall periodically present its business office address and publicly listed local telephone number(s) on customer publications.
(12)
Unresolved complaints. Should a subscriber or user have an unresolved complaint regarding cable operations, the subscriber or user shall be entitled to file a complaint with the county, which shall have primary responsibility for the continuing administration of this chapter and the franchise and the implementation of complaint procedures. A representative of the franchisee shall be available thereafter to meet jointly with the county and the affected subscriber or user, within 30 days after the subscriber or user has filed the complaint, to fully discuss and resolve the matter.
(13)
Information with respect to viewing habits and subscription decisions. The franchisee or its agents or employees shall not make available to any third party, including the county, information concerning the viewing habits or subscription package decision of any individual subscriber or household without obtaining the subscriber's prior written consent. If a court authorizes or orders such disclosure, the franchisee shall notify the subscriber within one week prior to such disclosure. The franchisee shall provide written notice to each subscriber when equipment is to be installed on the system which would permit the recording or monitoring of individual viewing habits of such subscriber or household; such equipment shall be installed only after prior written permission has been granted by the subscriber. In no event shall such permission be obtained as a condition of service or continuation thereof. For any sort of transmission to emanate from a subscriber's residence or subscriber household, the subscriber must take some positive action to activate such transmission. In the event the service requested by the subscriber by its nature involves the transfer of information or data from the subscriber or household, including without limitation, security services or data transfer, the ordering of the service shall be deemed to include the grant of permission by the subscriber or household for the making available of such information to such parties as is necessary for the provision of the service. Written permission shall be obtained from the subscriber prior to further dissemination or distribution by the franchisee of such information.
(14)
Subscriber and user contracts. The franchisee shall provide notice of subscriber privacy protections upon installation of service and annually thereafter as required by federal law.
(15)
Subscriber information to be destroyed. Any information concerning individual subscriber viewing habits or responses, except for information for billing purposes, shall be destroyed within 60 days after such information collected is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, and there are no pending request or orders for access to such information by the subscriber or pursuant to a court order. Information for billing purposes shall be kept for two years and then destroyed unless otherwise required to be kept by law or by the franchisee's internal record retention program.
(16)
Investigation and remedial action. For recurrent complaints regarding service deficiencies (other than total or partial loss of service, such as "ghosting", weak audio signal, distortion and the like), the county manager shall require the franchisee to investigate, report the causes and cures thereof, and take appropriate action pursuant to the terms of this chapter.
(k)
Protection of subscriber privacy.
(1)
Protection of subscriber privacy mandatory. The franchisee shall at all times protect the privacy of subscribers, as provided in this chapter and other applicable federal, state and local laws.
(2)
Notice of privacy provisions. At the time of entering into an agreement to provide any service to a subscriber, and at least once a year thereafter, the franchisee shall provide notice in the form of a separate written statement to each subscriber which clearly and conspicuously informs the subscriber of:
a.
The privacy rights of the subscriber and the limitations placed upon the franchisee with regard to this chapter hereof and all other applicable federal, state, and local subscriber privacy provisions;
b.
The nature of personally identifiable information collected or to be collected with respect to the subscriber and the nature of the use of such information;
c.
The nature, frequency, and purpose of any disclosure which may be made of such information, including an identification of the types of persons to whom the disclosure may be made;
d.
The period during which such information might be maintained by the franchisee;
e.
The times and place at which the subscriber may have access to such information in accordance with this chapter and other applicable federal, state and local laws;
f.
A request for the subscriber signature allows for use of personally identifiable information.
(3)
Collection of personally identifiable information prohibited. The franchisee shall not use or permit the use of the system to collect personally identifiable information concerning any subscriber, except as necessary to render a cable service or other service provided by the franchisee to the subscriber. The franchisee shall not install or permit the installation of any special terminal equipment in any subscriber's premises for the two-way transmission of any aural, visual, or digital signals without the prior written consent of the subscriber. The franchisee shall not tabulate, nor permit others to tabulate, any subscriber use of the system which would reveal the opinions or commercial product preferences of individual subscribers, whether residential or business, or of any occupant or user of the subscriber's premises without written authorization from the subscriber for his or her participation in a shop-at-home or similar service. When providing such service, the franchisee may tabulate only those responses essential to the functioning of that shopping or other service, and may not use any such tabulation of individual preferences for any other purposes. Tabulation of aggregate opinion or preference are permitted, provided the aggregations are sufficiently large to assure individual privacy.
(4)
Disclosure of subscriber information prohibited. The franchisee shall not, without providing the individual subscriber(s) involved the opportunity to prohibit or limit such disclosure, sell or otherwise make available to any party any list of the names and addresses of individual subscriber(s), any list which identifies the viewing habits of individual subscriber(s) or any personal data, social security number, income and other data the company may have on file about individual subscriber(s) except as necessary to render or conduct a legitimate business activity related to a system service or other service provided by the franchisee to the subscriber(s), provided however, that such disclosure shall not reveal directly or indirectly, the extent of viewing or other use by the subscriber(s) of a system service or other service provided by the franchisee or the nature of any transaction made by the subscriber(s) over the system.
(5)
Notices of monitoring. The franchisee shall report to the affected parties, the county and any other appropriate authorities, any instances of monitoring or tapping of the system, or any part thereof, of which it has knowledge, which is not authorized under this section whether or not such activity has been authorized by the franchisee. The franchisee shall not record or retain any information transmitted between a subscriber or user and any third party, except as required for lawful business purposes. The franchisee shall destroy all subscriber or user information of a personally-identifiable nature after a reasonable period of time, unless retention of such information is authorized by the affected subscriber or user.
(6)
Polling by cable. No poll or other upstream response from a subscriber shall be conducted or obtained except as part of a program that contains an explicit disclosure of the nature, purpose and prospective use of the results of the poll or upstream response and where the program has an informational entertainment or educational function which is self-evident. The franchisee or its agents shall release the results of upstream responses only in the aggregate and without individual references.
(7)
Monitoring devices. The franchisee shall provide written notice to each subscriber when equipment is to be installed on the system which would permit the recording or monitoring of individual viewing habits of a subscriber or household; such equipment shall be installed only after prior written permission has been granted by the subscriber. Such permission may be valid for one year only and may be renewed by permission of the subscriber. In no event shall such permission be obtained as a condition of service or continuation thereof. The franchisee shall give each subscriber annual written notice of any such monitoring and of the subscriber's right to terminate the monitoring in accordance with the terms and conditions of the subscriber's contract with the franchisee.
(8)
Personally identifiable information. The franchisee shall not predicate regular subscriber service on the subscriber's grant or denial of permission to collect, maintain or disclose personally identifiable information. A subscriber may at any time revoke any permission previously given by delivering to the franchisee a written statement of that intent.
(9)
Correction policy. Each subscriber shall be provided access to all personally identifiable information regarding such subscriber that the franchisee collects or maintains or allows to be collected or maintained, and such subscriber shall be provided the opportunity to correct any error in such information.
(10)
Viewing habits. Any information concerning individual subscriber viewing habits or responses, except for information for billing purposes, shall be destroyed within 60 days after such information collected is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and there are no pending requests or orders for access to such information by the subscriber or pursuant to court order. Information for billing purposes shall be kept for two years and then destroyed unless otherwise required to be kept by law or by the franchisee's internal record retention program.
(11)
System performance. This section is not intended to prohibit the use or transmission of signals useful only for the control or measurement of system performance.
(Code 1979, § 7-128; Ord. No. 94-05, § 4, 2-22-94; Ord. No. 98-45, § 30, 8-18-98)