§ 5.12.310. Minimum franchise conditions.

In addition to satisfying such additional or stricter conditions as the county finds necessary based on its investigations, the following elements shall be required in every franchise.

A.

System Design. Each franchisee shall provide a cable system that uses at least 750MHz equipment of high quality and reliability. Each franchisee shall install and activate the return portion of the cable system.

B.

Public, Educational and Government Use of the System.

1.

A franchisee shall provide a minimum of three channels for PEG access to each subscriber.

2.

Each franchisee shall install, maintain, and replace as necessary, a dedicated, bi-directional fiber optic link (or link with equivalent or superior functionality, capacity and reliability) between its headend and a location designated by the county as the primary access center.

3.

Each franchisee shall install, maintain, and replace activated two-way cable plant and all headend, cable plant, and node equipment required to make it operable so that the county, schools, and all designated PEG access centers and access facilities located within the franchise area will be able to send and receive signals (video, audio and data) using the activated two-way cable plant.

4.

Each franchisee shall ensure that technically adequate signal quality, routing systems, and switching and/or processing equipment are initially and continuously provided for all access interconnections both within franchisee's cable system and with other cable systems throughout the duration of its franchise.

5.

In the event a franchisee makes any change in the cable system and related equipment and facilities or in the franchisee's signal delivery technology which directly or indirectly substantially affects the signal quality or transmission of access programming, the franchisee shall at its expense take necessary steps or provide necessary technical assistance, including the acquisition of all necessary equipment, to ensure that the capabilities of access programmers are not diminished or adversely affected by such change.

6.

A franchisee shall maintain all access channels (both upstream channels and downstream channels) and all interconnections of access channels at the same level of technical quality and reliability as the best commercial channels carried on the franchisee's system.

C.

Service to Franchise Area. It is the policy of the county to ensure that every cable system provide service in its franchise area upon request to any person or any government building. Each franchisee shall extend service upon request within its franchise area, provided that, a franchise may permit a franchisee to require a potential subscriber to contribute a fair share of the capital costs of installation or extension as a condition of extension or installation in cases where such extension or installation may be unduly expensive. Service must be provided within time limits specified in subsection (D) of this section.

D.

Time for Extension. Except as a franchise otherwise provides, service must be extended upon request to any person or to any government building in a franchisee's franchise area (i) within seven days of the request, where service can be provided by activating or installing a drop; (ii) within ninety days of the request where an extension of one-half mile or less is required; or (iii) within six months where an extension of one-half mile or more is required.

E.

Technical Standards. A cable system within the county shall meet or exceed the technical standards set forth in 47 C.F.R. Section 76.601 and any other applicable technical standards.

F.

Testing. Each operator shall perform at its expense such tests as may be necessary to show whether or not the franchisee is in compliance with its obligations under applicable FCC standards, this chapter or a franchise.

G.

Interconnection. Upon request of the county, every cable system shall be required to interconnect with every other cable system within the county, or adjacent to the county, on fair and reasonable terms for purposes of providing PEG and I-Net services.

H.

Continuity of Service. Each franchisee shall, during the term of the franchise, ensure that subscribers are able to receive continuous service. In the event the franchise is revoked or terminated, the franchisee may be required to continue to provide service for a reasonable period to assure an orderly transition of service from the franchisee to another entity. A franchise may establish more particular requirements under which these obligations will be satisfied.

(Ord. 1262 § 2 (part), 2005)