Resolution 09769RESOLUTION NO. 9769
ORIGINAL
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING RULES
AND REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS OF OPERATION
FOR A NON-EXCLUSIVE CABLE TELEVISION FRANCHISE
TO BE GRANTED TO UNITED CABLE TELEVISION OF
ALAMEDA, INC.
CITY OF ALAMEDA
WHEREAS, the Alameda City Council is considering the
granting of a non-exclusive franchise to United Cable Television
of Alameda, Inc. to provide cable television services to
residents and institutions of Alameda; and
WHEREAS, Section 2, of Ordinance 2096, provides that Rules
and Regulations and Standards of Operation for cable television
shall be established by resolution as a part of the granting of a
franchise;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Rules and
Regulations and Standards of Operation set forth herein shall
apply to the franchise granted to United Cable Television of
Alameda, Inc. upon acceptance of the franchise, to wit:
SECTION 1. Rules and Regulations for Customer Service
Standards.
(a) Grantee shall utilize best efforts to establish, operate
and maintain a centrally located office in the City of Alameda
within 60 days following effective date of the franchise award.
(b) It shall be the right of all subscribers to receive all
available services insofar as their financial and other
obligations to the Grantee are honored. Neither the Council nor
the Grantee shall, as to rates, charges, service, service
facilities, rules, regulations, or in any other respect, make or
grant any preference or advantage to any person, except as
modified herein, nor subject any person to prejudice or
disadvantage, except as modified herein. Nothing in this
provision shall be construed to prohibit the reduction or waiving
of charges in conjunction with promotional campaigns for the
purpose of attracting subscribers, nor shall this provision be
interpreted to prohibit the establishment of graduated schedules
which vary with volume of usage, to which any subscriber, or
programmer on a leased channel, included within a particular
classification, shall be entitled.
(c) The cable television system shall be extended to every
new subdivision of the City, and the capacity to provide cable
television service shall be provided by Grantee during the
construction phase of every new subdivis on. For purposes of
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this paragraph, the capacity to provide cable television service
shall include the provision of conduit and other such
substructure necessary to make cable service available to
subdivision residents within sixty (60) days following occupancy
of thirty-five (35) housing units or sixty percent (60%) of
housing units, whichever is less, of each construction phase.
(d) There shall be no charge for service calls to
subscribers' homes except as provided by Resolution No. 9770
adopting rates and charges.
(e) The loss or theft of a converter will incur a penalty of
One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) plus replacement cost to the
responsible subscriber unless a police report has been filed. If
a police report has been filed and a copy furnished to Grantee,
then the subscriber shall be charged not more than current
wholesale replacement cost.
(f) In the event of full service interruption or unresolved
service complaint not caused by subscriber, Grantee shall credit
the subscriber's account on a pro-rata basis to offset the
monthly billing charge for all full service outages, of over
twenty-four (24) hours.
(g) No polls or monitoring of other two-way responses to a
subscriber shall be conducted by Grantee without the subscriber's
consent. The program of which the poll is a part shall contain
explicit disclosure of the nature, purpose and prospective use of
the results of the poll. No commercial or other use of
information of individual subscriber viewing habits or patterns
may be made and no release of such information shall be permitted
without the prior consent of the City Council or pursuant to
rules and regulations duly adopted by the City. This does not
preclude Grantee's use of aggregate subscriber viewing data for
the above stated purposes.
(h) In the event that the Grantee elects to rebuild, modify,
or sell the system, or the Grantor revokes or fails to renew the
franchise, the Grantee shall do everything in its power to ensure
that all subscribers receive continuous, uninterrupted service
regardless of the circumstances during the lifetime of the
franchise. In the event of system purchase by the Grantor, or
change of Grantee, the current Grantee shall cooperate with the
Grantor to operate the system for a temporary period, not to
exceed one (1) year, in maintaining continuity of service to all
subscribers. Grantee shall be entitled to the profits or losses
from operation of the franchise during such temporary period.
SECTION 2. Standards of Operations: Programming.
(a) The initial programming of the Basic TV, FM and Premium
(Pay TV) services shall be a minimum as proposed in Grantee's
franchise application with the following additions:
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(1) Lifestyle, background music service
(2) NCN "Family Radio"
(3) Spectrum
(4) Playcable
(5) SYMAN, or equivalent service
(6) Disney Channel
This programming and service, including that as proposed in
Grantee's franchise application, is subject to FCC Rules and
Regulations and availability of service; however, will be carried
on a full-time basis when available and permitted by FCC Rules
and Regulations, unless specifically approved by the City to the
contrary. In this regard, Grantee may, without risk of penalty,
withhold action to provide SYMAN and Playcable services until
Grantor and Grantee have reassessed the desirability of those
services.
(b) At lease once per year the Grantee shall provide all
subscribers with their monthly service statement, a complete
descriptive listing of possible programming and services,
including area independent stations, satellite carried
programming, and other services available to Grantee. The
listing is to be in the format of a mailback survey for
determination of the subscribers' programming preferences. The
results of the survey are to be provided the City by the Grantee
with any proposed change(s) in programming to accommodate
subscribers' desired revisions as indicated by the results of the
survey. The first such survey to be conducted within one (1)
year following franchise award. The requirements of this
paragraph shall not continue beyond three (3) years from the
award of this franchise unless so directed by Grantor.
When demonstration is made by the survey or other means,
that sixty percent (60%) or more of Grantee's subscribers desire
a modification and/or addition to the cable television services,
one for which the majority of those subscribers have previously
agreed to pay a sufficient amount of money to Grantee to return
Grantee's investment for the providing of such service within a
period not exceeding five (5) years, and Grantee elects not to
provide modified or addiLional service, the City may require
Grantee to show cause why it should not be required to modify
and/or add to the service to provide said service to the
subscribers. Should Grantee not be able to demonstrate that it
could not financially and on a technically viable basis modify
and/or add to the service, the City may require Grantee to
provide such modification and/or addition to the service.
SECTION 3, Institutional, Commercial and Government
Services.
(a) In accordance with Grantee's franchise proposal, the
CiLy will have the option to utilize, at no cost to the City,
Institutional and Residential systems frequency spectrums in full
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6MHz channels and other bandwidths when desired for video, data,
facsimile, and/or audio transmission in support of City
administration, public facilities and community services. The
City will be responsible for the provision of all terminal and
cable access equipments, i.e., modems, etc., for such
applications. Grantee will be responsible for headend
interconnection (and switching if required) of the channels for
bi-directional communications. Grantee shall perform the
interface of the City's terminal equipments on a time and
materials cost basis.
(b) Grantor reserves the right to conduct a study(s) of the
use of the system's Institutional Network to interconnect the
City's administrative offices, and computer locations, as well as
the circulation and security system of the City library. The
study(s) shall also address other possible City communications
systems cable applications, such as police training, pump and
reservoir control telemetry, traffic signal control, audio
circuits, etc. Such study(s) shall include, without limitation,
technical analyses, use and benefit analyses, and cost analyses
of such interconnections/applications. The study(s) to be
conducted by the City with City selected professional assistance,
with the cost borne by Grantee. The study(s) to be completed
within three years of initial system activation at a cost not to
exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000) per year, and a maximum
total of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000). Up to twenty-
five percent (25%) of these costs may be applied by the City to
purchase any equipment and materials necessary in testing
feasibility of the potential cable use applications. Grantee
shall, prior to the purchase and provision to the City of the
following equipment as proposed in Grantee's franchise
application, i.e. 10 Magnavox 6400 converters, 25 TOCOM 5510A
terminals, 25 Scientific Atlanta 6400 data modems, and 10
keyboard/CRT terminals, at the City's request, provide the City
the option to reallocate comparable funds, not to exceed FIFTY
THOUSAND DOLLARS ($50,000.00), in whole or in part, to other
uses.
(c) With respect to the City's access and use of the system,
there shall be provided a secure channel on the Institutional
Network, or, alternatively with the approval of the City Manager,
a scrambling technique on the Government Access Channel, so that
the City may provide closed circuit training for its municipal
employees. To this end, at least five (5) color TV monitors
shall be furnished in key administrative offices, including,
without limitation, that of the Mayor, City Manager, and the
Police and Fire Chief.
(d) Upon Grantee's activation of a city-wide security
system, Grantee agrees to provide security monitoring of public
buildings and recreational areas, to be specified by mutual
agreement between the City and Grantee, under an appropriate,
separate agreement with the City containing such terms and
conditions as may be mutually agreed upon; however, all related
installations, modifications, and dedicated maintenance will be
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conducted on a time and materials cost basis.
(e) A minimum of 50% of Grantee's Consumer Guide/Comparative
Shopping channel programming shell be comprised of Alameda
businesses' merchandise and services information.
(f) The video production studio, access facility, and
mobile production (ENG) van shall be completed with all equipment
installed and fully operational by the time of system completion.
Grantee shall maintain all studio equipment, including portable
equipment, in a fully operational status on a continuous basis,
and to technical standards requisite for quality performance.
SECTION 4. Standards of Operation: Technical.
(a) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Rules and
Regulations, Part 76, Subpart K (Technical Standards), shall
apply. However, because of emphasis on interactive and other
innovative services, modifications of FCC standards, as presented
in the specifications herein, are considered necessary to meet
system design objectives. The following referenced
specifications will also apply, unless exception is agreed upon
between the City and the Grantee.
(1) Applicable City, County and State and National/
Federal Codes and Ordinances;
(2) Applicable Utility Joint Attachment Practices;
(3) National Electrical Safety Code, NFPA No. 70;
(4) Local Utility Code Requirements;
(5) Local Right-of-Way Requirements;
(6) Grantee's franchise application proposal including
system construction, maintenance, performance, inspection and
testing procedures, specifications and standards.
(b) Technical standards and parameters are to be referenced
to the mean temperature of the Alameda area. The system shall be
designed to meet all specifications over a temperature range of
+ - 50 F from the mean temperature of the Alameda area.
(c) The forward portion of the Residential System plant
shall be capable of carrying a minimum of 120 Class I Television
Channels, the full FM broadcast band and adequate bandwidth for
Pilot Carriers or such auxiliary signals as required for system
control. In the event that future FCC restrictions prohibit use
of portions of the band (e.g., the Aircraft Navigational
frequencies from 108 to 120 MHz), a commensurate reduction in
channel capacity may be required, or modifications made to the
slope/gain control method to retain channel capacity. The
combined forward trunk and distribution system will deliver
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signals to each and every customer's TV receiver that will meet
or exceed the technical specifications set forth in Grantee's
franchise application at the Alameda mean temperature 50 degrees
F. This shall include the effects of drop cables, interior
splits, and any terminal equipments such as descramblers and set
top converters.
(d) The Residential and Institutional systems shall have the
capability of providing and delivering return signals from each
subscriber and Institutional tap to the extreme downstream end of
any area in compliance with the above specifications. This
capability shall include transmission of Color video, Black and
White video, and both low and high speed data, whether analog or
digital. Where applicable, the end of the system specifications
shall include the effects of any signal reprocessing equipment
necessary to achieve forward transmission.
(e) Although the programming procedure of shared channel
usage for non-contrasting programming is encouraged to preclude
having numerous channels with large blank periods (i.e.,
infrequent programming), it is an implicit obligation of the
Grantee in accepting the franchise award to actively foster
development of full usage of entertainment, access, and local
origination channel capabilities, including readily activating
additional channels as necessary to fulfill this obligation.
(f) Technical specifications addressed in this Section are
intended to ensure accommodation of possible multiple
Institutional and Residential interactive data information and
cable communications applications, e.g., security services,
information retrieval, and educational services, as well as
possibly significantly expanded entertainment service offerings.
Grantee shall make additional service capacity available
including an expanded Institutional cable system if necessary,
when required by the City to accommodate those Institutional
and/or Residential broadband communications services beyond the
capacity of Grantee's then existing system. Grantee will assist
the City in determination of the requirement for expansion of the
Institutional cable system to ensure timely provision of
additional service capacity. Grantee may apply for rate
increases by reason of such extensions only after construction
and when required, after the period stated in Subsection H of
Resolution No. 9770, to maintain service levels without
significant loss of profits.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Co ncil of the City of
Alameda, California, this
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day of
I, the undersigned, hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution
was duly and regularly adopted and passed by the Council of the
City of Alameda in regular meeting assembled on the 15th of June, 1982,
by the f0llO#iDg vote to wit:
AYES: Councilmen Didment" Gorman, Sherratt, and President Corica - U.
NOES: Councilman Stone - 1.
ABSENT: None.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official
seal of said City this 16th clay of June, 1982.
City C]e7k—f t