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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-121ORDINANCE NO Q AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 8 "CABLE TELEVISION" OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF DENTON BY PROVIDING THAT NO MULTICHANNEL VIDEO SYSTEM MAY BE CONSTRUCTED WITHOUT FIRST OBTAINING A FRAN- CHISE FROM THE CITY OF DENTON AND THAT MULTICHANNEL VIDEO SERVICE CANNOT BE PROVIDED WITHOUT SUCH A FRANCHISE, PROVIDING A FINE NOT TO EXCEED $500 00 FOR ANY VIOLATION, PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE, PROVID- ING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, PROVIDING AN OPEN MEETINGS CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE WHEREAS, CoServ, which currently has a telecommunications franchise with the City of Denton, as granted by Ordinance No 98-155, has made application to the Federal Commum- cations Commission to obtain open video system ("OVS") certification, which might allow it to claim that it could construct an OVS system or cable television system without having to obtain a franchise, and WHEREAS, the City Council deems it in the public interest to pass an ordinance which regulates OVS and other multichannel video systems and which requires anyone providing such service to obtain a franchise from the City before initiating construction or providing such serv- ice, NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON HEREBY ORDAINS SECTION I That Chapter 8 "Cable Television" of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Denton is hereby amended by creating new Sections 8-164 through 8-167, which shall hereafter read as follows Sec 8-164. Franchise required for multichannel video providers All multi -channel video providers shall obtain a franchise from the City prior to provid- ing service to any resident, business, or person within the City, and shall have a franchise in full force and effect at all times while such service is being provided Sec. 8-165. Multichannel video provider defined "Multichannel video provider" means a person or entity who meets one or more of the following tests (a) The provider is a cable operator, as such term is defined in the Federal Cable Act, being Title VI of the Federal Communications Act of 1934, 47 U S C Sections 521 and following, or is otherwise required to obtain a "franchise", as such term is defined in such Act (b) The provider is an operator of an open video system, as such term is defined in Title VI of the Federal Communications Act of 1934 and implementing regulations (c) Any person or entity who provides multichannel video service to a resident, business, or person within the City, where such service is transmitted in whole or in part via wires or lines that are in or cross any public rights -of -way or other public property of the City The preceding sentence shall apply whether the provider owns, leases, or otherwise ob- tains the right to use such wires or lines, including wires or lines of a telecommunications provider used pursuant to tariff or otherwise for such purpose (d) Any person or entity who provides multichannel video service who is otherwise re- quired to obtain a franchise or similar agreement under the City Charter or applicable state or federal law Sec 8-166. Franchise required for construction. No person may construct a multichannel video system in the City without first obtaining from the City a franchise authorizing the construction of such a system See.8-167. Definitions. For the purpose of this ordinance (a) "Multichannel video service" means multiple channels of video programming where some or all of the video programming is generally considered comparable to program- ming provided by a television broadcast station or by a direct to home satellite service (b) "Multichannel video system" includes (1) A cable system, as such term is defined in Title VI of the Federal Communi- cations Act of 1934, (2) An open video system, as such term is defined in Title VI of the Federal Communications Act of 1934 and implementing regulations, and (3) Any other system which provides multichannel video service to a resident, business, or person within the City, where such service is transmitted in whole or in part via wires or lines that are in or cross any public rights -of -way or other public property of the City The preceding sentence shall apply whether the pro- vider owns, leases, or otherwise obtains the right to use such wires or lines, in- cluding wires or lines of a telecommunications provider used pursuant to tariff or otherwise for such purpose (c) "Construct" as used herein includes (1) The installation of lines, fibers, facilities that are in or cross any of the streets, highways, or public nghts-of-way or other public property within the City for use as part of a multichannel video system, or Page 2 (2) The connection of other facilities directly or indirectly to previously existing lines, fibers, or facilities that are in or cross any of the streets, highways, public rights -of -way, or other public property of the City for use as part of a multichan- nel video system S_,ECTION II That any person violating any provision of this ordinance shall, upon con- viction, be fined a sum not exceeding $500 00 Each day that a provision of this ordinance is violated shall constitute a separate and distinct offense SECTION III That save and except as amended hereby, all the sections, sentences, clauses, and phrases of Chapter 8 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Denton shall remain in full force and effect SECTION IV That if any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word in this ordinance, or application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance, and the City Council of the City of Denton, Texas hereby declares it would have enacted such remaining portions despite any such validity SECTION V. That the City Council has found and determined that the meeting at which this ordinance is considered is open to the public and that notice thereof was given in accordance with provisions of the Texas open meetings law, Tex Gov't Code ch 551, as amended, and that a quorum of the City Council was present SECTION VI That this ordinance shall become effective fourteen (14) days from the date of its passage, and the City Secretary is hereby directed to cause the caption of this ordi- nance to be published twice in the Denton Record -Chronicle, the official newspaper of the City of Denton, Texas, within ten (10) days of the date of its passage PASSED AND APPROVED this they day of 1999 JAC LLER, MAYOR ATTEST JENNIFER WALTE/RS, CITY SECRETARY BY (1A, 11 AJ1> APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM HERBERT L PROUTY, CITY ATTORNEY BY � /LL¢ Page 3