§ 26-3. Definitions.

For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number. The words "shall" and "will" are mandatory, and "may" is permissive. Words not otherwise defined herein or in any franchise agreement that might be granted hereunder shall be given the meaning set forth in the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. §521 et seq., and the Telecommunications Act of 1996, codified at 47 U.S.C., as amended and, if not defined therein, their common and ordinary meaning:

Access channel means any channel on a cable system set aside without charge by a franchisee for non-commercial, public, educational and/or local governmental use.

Activated channel means those channels engineered at the headend of a cable system for the provision of services generally available to subscribers of the cable system, regardless of whether such services actually are provided, including any access channels.

Affiliate means any person who owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with a franchisee.

Applicant means any person submitting an application within the meaning of this chapter.

Application means any proposal, submission or request to:

(1)

Construct and operate a cable system or open video system within the county;

(2)

Transfer a franchise or control of the franchisee;

(3)

Assign a franchise;

(4)

Renew a franchise;

(5)

Modify a franchise; or

(6)

Seek any other relief from the county pursuant to this chapter, a franchise agreement, the cable act, or other applicable law.

Basic cable service or basic service means any service tier that includes local television broadcast signals, and access channels. "Basic cable service" as defined herein shall be consistent with 47 U.S.C. §543(b)(7), as may be amended from time to time.

Cable act means the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, 47 U.S.C. §151 et seq., as that act has been amended by the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, Pub. L. No. 102-385, and the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-104, codified at 47 U.S.C., and as may be amended from time to time.

Cable service means the transmission of video or other programming services to subscribers together with any subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for the selection or use of such video programming or other programming services including cable service provided by a cable operator, an open video system (OVS) operator, or another form of video service provider, which utilizes part or all of public rights-of-way.

Cable system, cable television system, or system, means any facility within county consisting of a set of closed transmission paths or other transmission lines or forms of terrestrial transmission and associated signal generation, reception and control equipment that is designed to provide cable service which includes video programming and which is provided to multiple subscribers within the county. Such term does not include:

(1)

A facility that serves only to retransmit the television signals of one or more television broadcast stations;

(2)

A facility that serves subscribers without using any public rights-of-way;

(3)

A facility of a common carrier that is subject, in whole or in part, to the provisions of Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., except that such facility will be considered a cable system to the extent it is used in the transmission of video programming directly to subscribers, unless the extent of such use is solely to provide interactive on-demand services;

(4)

An open video system that complies with Section 653 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. § 573; or

(5)

any facilities of any electric utility used solely for operating its electric utility systems. The foregoing definition of "cable system" shall not be deemed to circumscribe the valid authority of the county to regulate the activities of any other communications system or provider of communications services, including but not limited to telephony and open video systems.

Channel means a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is capable of carrying one industry standard video signal, in either analog or digital form.

County means Pasco County, Florida.

Complaint means any oral, written or electronic inquiry, allegation or assertion made by a person regarding service, a franchisee or system operations.

Control of a franchisee or applicant means possessing the ability to direct or cause the direction of the management or policies of a franchisee or applicant, or the operation of a franchisee's cable system or open video system, whether through operational control in whatever manner exercised or ownership of voting securities, by contract or understanding, or in any other manner.

Drop means the cable or cables that connect the subscribers of the system to the distribution system.

Equitable price means the fair market value adjusted to account for harm to the county or subscribers, if any, resulting from a franchisee's breach of its franchise or violation of this chapter, and as further adjusted to account for other equitable factors that may be considered consistent with the cable act, 47 U.S.C. §547.

Fair market value means the price that a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller for a cable system or open video system valued as a going concern but with no value allocated to the franchise itself.

FCC means the Federal Communications Commission, or any successor governmental entity.

Franchise means the right granted by the county to a franchisee in a franchise agreement to construct, maintain and operate a cable system or open video system under, on, and over streets, roads and any other public ways, rights-of-ways, or easements within the county. The term does not include any license or permit that may be required by this chapter or other laws, ordinances or regulations of the county for the privilege of transacting and carrying on a business within the county or for construction or carrying out any work on any street.

Franchise agreement means a contract entered into in accordance with the provisions of this chapter between the county and a franchisee that sets forth the terms and conditions under which the franchise will be exercised.

Franchisee means any person granted a franchise pursuant to this chapter who has entered into a franchise agreement with the county.

Gross revenues means all revenues recognized in accordance with generally accepted accounting procedures (GAAP) received directly or indirectly by the franchisee and, any affiliates, subsidiaries or parent of the franchisee from any source whatsoever arising from, attributable to, or in any way derived from the operation of the cable system to provide cable services within the county. By way of illustration, gross revenues include, but are not limited to, fees charged for basic service; fees charged for any optional, premium, or any tier of service other than basic service; installation, disconnection, reconnection and change-in-service fees; late fees; leased access fees; revenue from cable internet service (unless the FCC determines in a final binding order that such service is not a cable service), payments or other consideration from programmers for carriage of programming on the system including, but not limited to infomercials (excluding marketing support provided for services on the system to the extent such funds are not considered revenue under GAAP); revenue from converter, remote or any other equipment rentals or sales; revenues from studio and studio equipment rental; revenues from leases of cable or fiber optic lines and other transmission devices and equipment, transmission of data to the extent used to provide cable service; revenues from consumer products including but not limited to cable guides, and advertising revenues allocable to the county; nonsubscriber revenue (including advertising revenue) will be based on a percentage of subscriber base in the county divided by the subscriber base of the system. Such percentage will then be multiplied by the system's total nonsubscriber revenue which is subject to the franchise fee to determine the allocable gross revenue; revenues from home shopping channels or other sources allocable to the county, provided that where certain home shopping channel or other such revenue is allocable to more than one franchise authority due to common zip codes, the franchisee will allocate the percentage of revenue to the county which is equivalent to the percentage of the county's population divided by the total population for the allocable franchise areas in question. Gross revenues shall be the basis for computing the franchise fee imposed pursuant to this chapter. Gross revenues shall not include any taxes on services furnished by the franchisee which are imposed upon any subscriber or user by the state, county or other governmental unit and collected by the franchisee on behalf of said governmental unit and which the franchisee passes on in full to the applicable tax authority or authorities. However, it is hereby expressly provided that unless otherwise inconsistent with applicable law, franchise fees shall be included in the calculation of gross revenues. In no event shall "gross revenues" include bad debt and refunds to customers. The definition of "gross revenues" contained herein is subject to state and federal law, and shall only apply if the county is able to charge and collect franchise fees, pursuant to this chapter and a franchise agreement.

Initial franchise means an initial authorization issued by a franchising authority which authorizes the construction and/or operation of a cable system and which expressly states that such authorization is intended as a cable franchise.

Institutional network or I-net means a voice, data and/or video communications network constructed, operated and/or maintained by a franchisee for the county, the transmissions on which are generally available only to, and intended to be sent and received by, governmental and other users other than subscribers.

Interconnection means the electronic connection of two or more cable systems for the purpose of sharing programming on access channels.

Law means all federal, state, and county laws, ordinances, codes, rules, regulations and orders duly enacted by a government authority having applicable jurisdiction.

Leased access channel means a channel designated in accordance with Section 612 of the cable Act, 47 U.S.C. §532, for commercial use by persons unaffiliated with the franchisee.

License means the legal authorization, terminable at will, to use particular and limited portions of the public rights-of-way.

Open video system or OVS means a facility consisting of a set of transmission paths and associated signal generation, reception, and control equipment that is designed to provide cable service, which includes video programming, which is provided to multiple subscribers within a community, and which the FCC has certified as compliant with Part 76 of the Rules of the FCC, 47 C.F.R., Part 76, as amended from time-to-time.

Overbuild means a cable system or OVS constructed to serve subscribers already served by an existing cable system or OVS.

Person means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, joint venture, organization or legal entity of any kind, and any lawful trustee, successor, assignee, transferee or personal representative thereof, but shall not mean the county.

Public rights-of-way means the surface, the air space above the surface and the area below the surface of any public street, highway, road, boulevard, concourse, driveway, freeway, thoroughfare, parkway, sidewalk, bridge, tunnel, waterway, dock, bulkhead, wharf, pier, court, lane, path, alley, way, drive, circle, easement, or any other public right-of-way or public place, including public utility easements dedicated for compatible uses, or any other property in which the county holds any kind of property interest or over which the county exercises any type of lawful control, and any temporary or permanent fixtures or improvements located thereon, as may be ordinarily necessary and pertinent to construct and operate a cable system or OVS. "Public rights-of-way" do not include buildings, parks, or other property owned or leased by the county.

Renewal of a franchise means renewal of an authorization issued by the county, which authorizes continued operation of a cable system or OVS for an additional term.

Service interruption means the loss of picture or sound on one or more cable channels.

Service tier means a category of cable service provided by a franchisee and for which a separate charge is made by the franchisee.

State of the art means that level of technical performance, channel capacity, equipment, components and service (other than specific programming) equivalent to that which has been generally utilized in cable systems of equivalent size. In no event shall a system offering fewer services, including bandwidth, less then that offered generally in Pinellas, Hernando, and Hillsborough Counties be considered state of the art unless the county, in its sole discretion, determines that a cable system offering fewer services is:

(1)

State of the art; and

(2)

Offers a level of technical performance, channel capacity, and customer service equivalent to such systems.

Subscriber means any person who lawfully receives cable service delivered over a cable system or OVS. However, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, subscriber shall not mean any homeowner or condominium association or other bulk purchaser unless mandated by FCC rules.

Subscriber base means the total number of residential and commercial subscribers within the county. For purposes of calculating and identifying subscribers under bulk or multi-user contracts, for determining compliance with this chapter, for imposing capital contributions pursuant to this chapter and fines for violations of this chapter, a franchisee shall count each individual unit or home (e.g., in a multiple family dwelling, a unit will be defined as each subscriber unit within the structure) included within a contract as one subscriber. The franchisee shall not use any equivalency measures except as may be required by FCC rules.

Transfer means any transaction in which (1) an ownership or other controlling interest in a franchisee is transferred from one person or group of persons to another person or group of persons so that control of a franchisee is transferred; (2) assignment, sale or transfer of more than 20 percent of the ownership of any parent corporation, parent entity or holding company that owns or by ownership of other entities, controls a franchisee; (3) all or a significant portion of a cable system or its assets or OVS is sold or assigned so that control of the system is transferred; or (4) the rights and/or obligations held by a franchisee under a franchise agreement are transferred or assigned to another person or group of persons. A transfer shall be considered "pro forma" when it involves a transfer to a person or group of persons wholly owned by the franchisee or the same legal entity with controlling interest in the franchisee, and that will not result in a change in the control or ultimate ownership of the franchisee.

Two-way capability means the incorporation into a cable system or OVS of all appropriate design and engineering characteristics and features so that two-way transmission, including but not limited to addressability, can be implemented and activated.

(Ord. No. 02-18, § 2, 7-30-02)