HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990 Cable Commission AgendasCITY OF ITHACA
TV CABLE COMMSSION
Meeting
November 13, .1990
7:30 PM
Third Floor Conference Room - City Hall
1990
7
NOV '�
NOV '
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of minutes of October 9, 1990 meeting
3. Chair's report
a. Commission Records
b. Nominations of New Commission Members
4. Public comment
5. ACC's report
6. Public Comment
7. Cable Access Advisory Board Report - Peter Hess
a. Government/Educational Channel
8. Old Business
a. WVIA
b. Political. Endorsements on Access
9. New Business
a. Complaints
City of Ithaca Cable Commission
Minutes of October 9th, 1990
Present: Chris Heegard, Peter Hess, Tom Terrizzi
1. Chairperson's report
A. Organizational support from the City
Tom Terrizzi met with Mayor Nichols regarding organizational support for the Commission.
The Mayor stated that he wants to provide the Cable Commission with the support it needs to
be effective.
The following commitments were made toward improving organizational support:
-The City Attorney's office will be available to do typing and copying for the Commission.
- Telephones in the City Attorney's office will be available for Commission _business.
- The City will purchase background material that might be useful to the Commission, for
example:
A copy of the State Cable Regulations
Industry publications
Publications of the NFLCP
- The City Clerk's office will continue to distribute the Agenda and Minutes.
B. Commission Records. Tom will make an effort to review and organize the files of the
Commission which are currently not well organized.
C. Nominations of new Commission members. Two new Commission members are to be
nominated by the Mayor. He is close to making those nominations.
2. Public comment.
There was no public comment.
3. ACC Manager' Report (attached)
A. ACC personnel will meet with Robert Fletcher (on 10/10) and WVIA engineering staff (on
10/17) regarding the technical feasibility of resuming carriage of WVIA on the system.
B. Pursuing thequestionof the recent raise in installation rates, Chris Heegard asked ACC
manager Barbara Lukens whether she had information, requested at the last meeting, about
what ACC paid its contractors who did installations. Barbara said that she had that information
but would not provide it to the commission, except to say that it was less than the $40.00 the
company charges customers for installations. She said that these installations have associated
costs additional to what the contractor is paid, such as supervision, checking, and billing.
Tom said that he was bothered by what seemed like an explicit misrepresentation contained in
the letter that informed us of the increase. The letter stated that the new rate did not fully cover
installation cost.
C. Government and Educational Access Channels
Tom noted that state regulations required cable operators to provide channels for government
and educational access. He asked Barbara why it was not, then, ACC's responsibility to
assume the costs involved in establishing those channels. Barbara replied that her opinion is
that it is ACC's obligation to provide bandwidth for the required channels, but not equipment.
The City Attorney will be asked to follow up.
4. Community Access Advisory Board report (attached)
5. Old business
A. Installation charge increases - Discussed during Manager's report.
B. WVIA - Discussed during Manager's report.
C. Political endorsements on access
In a phone conversation with Tom, Steve Shaye of the New York State Cable Commission said
that John Grow, counsel for the S tate Commission, sent a letter to the City Commission about
the NYSCC's policy on political endorsements. In the letter Mr. Grow states that NYSCC
rules do not prohibit the use of access by candidates for political office or the endorsement of
candidates. While the regulations do not speak directly to political fund raising, the opinion of
Mr. Grow is that this is similar to commercial speech and therefore prohibited. The ICC does
not have this letter on record, so a second copy is being sent to us.
Tom asked Barbara if ACC would be willing to abide by the opinion expressed in the letter
from NYSCC, once a copy is in hand, without amendment to the franchise. Barbara said that
ACC would change their policy to conform with the letter, which could be attached to the
franchise or to the minutes of a Cable Commission meeting.
D. Federal legislation update
The federal legislation pertaining to re -regulation of the cable industry has died in the Senate.
Tom said that Steve Shea told him that the NYS CC did not support the legislation because its
consumer protection provisions were not as strong as the State's are.
Barbara noted that one of the objections consumer advocates had to the legislation was that
basic service would be limited to off -air programming and access. Cable only services (such
as ESPN, CSPAN) would not be carried on the basic tier.
6. New Business
A. Tom said that Steve Shaye was willing to come to Ithaca to talk to the commission about the
operations of the State Cable Commission. Tom will try to schedule a visit after the vacancies
on the commission are filled
B. No complaints were received by the commission this month.
The meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM
Minutes submitted by Peter Hess
NEW YORK STATE COMNIISSION
ON CABLE TELEVISION
CORNING TOWER. BLDG.. EMPIRE STATE PLAZA
ALBANY. NEW YORK 12223
(518) 474-4992
(518) 486-5727 FAX
WILLIAM B. FINNERAN — Chairman
October 12, 1990
Barbara Lukens, General Manager
American Community Cablevision
519 West State St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
Dear Barbara:
THEODORE E. MULFORD
Commissioner
BARBARA T. ROCHMAN
Commissioner
JOHN A. PASSIDOMO
Commissioner
MICHAEL E. RUSSELL
Commissioner
EDWARD P. KEARSE
Ecrrurhe Director
This is in reply to your letter of August 16, 1990 concerning the use of
a public access channel by or for political candidates.
In your letter you quoted from the existing franchise agreement between
ACC and the City of Ithaca as follows: "A designated channel shall not be used for the
promotion or sale of commercial products or services, including advertising by or on
behalf of candidates for public office." (Section 14.3(D)) In fact, such language was
part of Commission rules at one time. However, an entire new set of rules concerning
public, educational and governmental access was adopted by the Commission in Docket
No. 90174-A-2 in August, 1988.
In the Commission Order Approving Renewal of the ACC -City of Ithaca
franchise agreement in Docket No. 30194 (adopted February 1, 1989), the Commission
referred to Section 14.3(D) of the franchise and stated that: "Commission rules do not
preclude the use of access channels by candidates for public office." This statement was
consistent with the lack of any provision in the new rules which precludes use of access
channels by candidates and also was consistent with statements made by the Commission
in its Summary of Comments and Opinion issued in Docket No. 90174-A-2 in
conjunction with the new minimum PEG access standards. In the Summary of
Comments and Opinion, the Commission noted that under FCC regulations applicable
to public access channels in the 1970's use by candidates for public office was •restricted
and stated that "[i]t is not clear to us at this time that such a restriction is appropriate."
The Commission went on to state that:
"One of the fundamental objectives of cable television
access is to contribute to the diversity of information
and information sources available to the public and to
stimulate public debate by providing a forum therefor.
The ability of candidates to -speak to the electorate and
of the electorate to hear and examine the views of
-2 -
candidates is central to and consistent with such
objective." (p. 23)
In short, the new rules supersede Section 14.3(D) of the City of Ithaca
franchise agreement.
In addition, it is doubtful that a lawful basis exists for denying use of
public access channel capacity to political candidates. Section 611(e) of the Cable
Communications Policy Act of 1984 provides that "a cable operator shall not exercise
any editorial control over any public use of channel capacity...pursuant to this section."
Section 829 of the New York State Executive Law provides that the Commission "may
not prohibit or limit any program or any class or type of program or otherwise censor
the communications of signals transmitted by any cable TV company or over any cable
TV system...." Section 829(2) provides that "[njo municipality may prohibit or limit
any program or class or type of program..." as well. Under both federal and state law,
a cable television company is immune from liability arising from programming carried
on a public access channel.
It is my understanding from reading Section XIV of the franchise that,
at least for now, ACC has accepted responsibility for administering the public access
channels under the guidance of the Public Access Advisory Board. I am aware that both
Section 315 of the Communications Act and Section 76.205 of FCC rules impose
requirements on cable operators concerning origination cablecasts by candidates for
public office and I can appreciate any concern that you may have that your role as
administrator of public access channels not be confused with your rights and
responsibilities in respect to local origination. (Of course, ACC may make time
available, either free or for a charge, to candidates on a local origination basis
as distinct from public access use.) Although I am not aware of any ruling that subjects
PEG access channels to the federal equal opportunities' provisions, you may choose to
be especially careful to distinguish public access from local origination whenever
programming involves use by, or for, a political candidate.
Finally, I note that I was asked by the Chair of the Ithaca public access
advisory board some time ago to clarify the effect of the Commission's Order Approving
Renewal. A copy of my letter which summarizes responses given verbally is enclosed.
I would also add here that use by, for or about legally qualified candidates would be
subject to the same reasonable procedures concerning scheduling, studio availability,
reruns, etc. that apply to other uses of public access.
Very tr)ul , ours,
Sohn L. Grow
Counsel
JLG:tac
enclosure
cc: Bill Demo, Chair - Ithaca Cable Commission
Thomas Terrizzi, Public Access Advisory Board
John Fogarty, Esq., ATC, Stamford, CT
NEW YORK STATE COMMNIISSION
ON CABLE TELEVISION
CORNING TOWER BLDG., EMPIRE STATE PLAZA
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12223
(518) 474-4992
(518) 486-5727 FAX
WILLIAM B. FINNERAN — Chairman
Honorable John C. Gutenberger
Mayor
City of Ithaca
108 E. Green Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
Case # 9010073
Dear Mayor Gutenberger:
You
resident
American
THEODORE E. MULFORD
Commissio�i{`er
i �. 00 I _BA a l kP. ROCHMAN
October 16, 1990
Commissioner •
JOHN A. PASSIDOMO
Commissioner
MICHAEL E. RUSSELL
Commissioner
EDWARD P. KEARSE
Executive Director
will find enclosed a copy of correspondence we received from a
of your municipality. We received it and forwarded a copy to
Community Cablevision asking for a reply within ten days.
This correspondence is for your information since this company
operates within your jurisdiction.
If we can be of further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to
contact us at 518-474-2212. Should other residents of your area be
experiencing cable television related problems, please give them our
toll-free number 1-800-342-3330 for assistance.
Sincerely,
Carol Jamison
Municipal Consultant
CJ: omc
r
•
FORM# '7...:;. {.
MNTH/YEAR SENSEP. O !�
N 'YO RK3 STATE
COMP1 a b%1M
S ABLE TELEVISION
A L ILLt\
HAVE YOU CONTAPTED YOUR CABLE COMPANY?
a0 S= D 11 F`ri t I
PLEASE DO SO BEFORE YOU RETURN THIS FORM.
6'5
s�GJ
17U7S=1IBER
YOUR NAME
LAST NAME
YOUR HOME ADDRESS /Da
NO. & STREET
,..4:oviminumnis=111
FIRST NAME
MIDDLE INITIAL
i o /> /e)e ti- iU CJCfr/ r°
CITY,:TOWN, VILLAGE (Circle one) COUNTY STATE ZIP CODE
YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER (- 2 7 3- S S,c8
(DAYTIME)
ACCOUNT NUMBER (if known) S (10.2.4/S--0/-
CABLE
10�4/S-0/"
CABLE COMPANY
DATE YOU FIRST CONTACTED THE CABLE COMPANY�rJLi 3e)(1U
NAME OF COMPA
STREET
i S�9
dil-
S�E�_. ZIP 11q0 CITY
NATURE OF COMPLAINT (Please check)
BILLING _CABLE INSTALLATION SERVICE PROBLEM
PROGRAMMING PROPERTY DAMAGE RATE INCREASE
OTHER
DESCRIPTION OF COMPLAINT: /�`✓� G l,ey4-'t2 f -f ��G [ "Q�t 11 /y
r
GU ' Gv6-- /9-/. 000 :S 7Z) t — J
4�5i
- - i c . // .
77-0
What form of relief are you seeking? (For example: new converter box, correction in bill, service, etc.)
Have you contacted this Commission before? If so: When
Telephone Case number
Written Case number
PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE RETURNING THIS FORM: -
PLEASE ATTACH TO THIS FORM PHOTOCOPIES of any bills, cancelled checks, correspondence, work orders, contracts,
warranties or other papers relating to your complaint.
DO NOT SEND ORIGINALS !!!
ir!'!:.TUFSE Ei2>/ri1Ltin _ Q DATE / // /�lrr
NOTE: A PREADDRESSED RETURN ENVELOPE IS ENCLOSED FnP. YOUR CONVENIENCE.
NEW YORK STATE
COMMISSION ON CABLE TELEVISION
EMPIRE STATE PLAZA
CORNING TOWER BLDG. - 21st FLOOR
ALBANY, NY 12223
1-800-342-3330
a..r....w+•M+oa..,..+a.:w.aasn:..w:.<.-.:..�,.,. ,.w4<....r...r,u:...�,.s...e.v moi...
. 4 • .01
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CARLEVISION
October 25, 1990
Mrs. Eleanor Beck
100 Fall View Terrace
Ithaca, NY 14850
Dear Mrs. Beck,
I. have been forwarded a copy of your complaint to the New York
State Commission on Cable Television, and would like to clarify
the situation. ACC has increased the charge for
connection/activation/installation of new customers to $40. Our
reconnection fee for seasonal customers or for customers
transferring within our service area is $20.00 ($21.40 with tax).
I apologize for any misunderstanding we may have caused you.
Apprising ACC in advance of dates you will be leaving or
returning will allow us to serve you better.
Sincerely,
Barbara L. Lukens, General Manager
cc: Carol Jamison, NYSCCT
Tom Terizzi, Ithaca Cable Commission
BLL/mkk
519 West State Street
Ithaca, New York 14850 607-272-3456
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION
October 26, 1990
Mr. Tom Terizzi
108 E. Green St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
Dear Mr. Terizzi:
Attached is a copy of ACC's audited financial statements for the
fiscal year ended June 30, 1990. Our efforts during that 12
month period were primarily spent on continuing the rebuild
effort in a more organized fashion and improving customer service.
Ulysses, Trumansburg, the Town of Ithaca, Cayuga Heights and a
portion of the Village of Lansing were rebuilt to the full 60
channel capability and -crews started the rebuild work in
Freeville, Newark Valley and parts of Dryden and Danby.
In addition, a major effort was placed on improving our service
to customers. We did this by reorganizing and cross -training our
technical staff and by making them more available in the less
centralized communities. We also provided additional training to
our customer service representatives and we are continuing to
work on improving the user friendliness of our audio response
unit, which was installed to handle the more routine telephone
calls, allowing the csr's to spend more quality time with the
customers who require personal contact.
I will be preparing a more complete summary for your community at
the end of the calendar year. If you should have any questions
about this report or anything else, please don't hesitate to
contact me.
Si cerely, .•
AI—
Barbara L. Lukens, General Manager
cc:Mr. Ben Nichols, Mayor
BLL/mkk
519 West State Street
Ithaca, New York 14850 607-272-3456
American `Community Cad-le ►i ion
ivis on ..of ,American :,:.Television acid
Com unicatioals :Corporation
Report of Independent_ Auditors.
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION
DIVISION OF AMERICAN TELEVISION AND COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION
Audited Financial Statements
June 30, 1990
Audited Financial Statements
1
Report of Independent Auditors 12
Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Assets
Statement of Revenues and Expenses and Changes in Net Assets 3 3
Statement of. Cash Flows 45
Notes to Financial Statements
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT .AUDITORS
The Board of Directors
American Television and Communications Corporation
Stamford, Connecticut
ARCO -Marriott Tower
707 17th Street, Suite 3800
Denver, Colorado 80202
Telephone: (303) 297-9500
Fax: (303) 291-6234
Telex: 272936
•
We have audited the accompanying statement of assets, liabilities and net
assets of American Community Cablevision Division of.American Television-
and
elevisionand Communications Corporation as of June 30, 1990, and the related
statements of revenues and expenses and changes in net assets and cash
flows for the year then ended. These financial statements are the
responsibility of the Division's management. Our responsibility is to
express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.
We conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to
obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are
free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test
basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles
used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating
the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit
provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
American Community Cablevision is a part of American Television and
Communications Corporation and has no separate legal status or
existence. Transactions with American Television and Communications
Corporation and other affiliates are described in Note 1.
In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly,
in all material respects, the assets, liabilities and net assets of
American Community Cablevision Division of American Television and Com-
munications Corporation at June 30, 1990, and its revenues and expenses
and changes in net assets and its cash flows for the year then ended in
conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
September 18, 1990
1
:tet44.4it ?-t.vvit
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION
DIVISION OF AMERICAN TELEVISION AND COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION
STATEMENT OF ASSETS, LIABILITIES AND. NET ASSETS
June 30, 1990
ASSETS
Cash
Accounts receivable, less allowance for
doubtful accounts of $122,150
Prepaid expenses
Property, plant and equipment,
at cost --Note 2:
Land, building and improvements
Distribution system
Vehicles and other equipment
Construction in progress
Less accumulated depreciation
Net property, plant and equipment
Franchise costs, less accumulated
amortization of $1,083,540 --Note 2
$ 1,809,531
14,616,652
2,272,784
243,982
18,942,949
(7,650,854)
LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS
Accounts payable
Accrued liabilities
Subscribers' advance payments and deposits
Net assets --Note 1
See notes to financial statements
2
$ 20,348
172,306
14,402
11,292,095.
1,384,875
$12,884,026
$ 184,178
494,930
227,993
907 ,101
11,976,925
$12,884,026
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION
DIVISION OF AMERICAN TELEVISION AND COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION
STATEMENT OF REVENUES AND EXPENSES AND CHANGES IN NET ASSETS
Year Ended June 30, 1990
Revenues:
Service
Connection and other
Expenses --Notes 1 and 2:
Operating and origination
Selling, general and administrative
Depreciation and amortization
Interest, net
Income before charge in lieu of income taxes
Charge in lieu of income taxes --Note 4
Net income
Net assets at beginning of year
Net advances from corporate office
Net assets at end of year
$6,077,009
1,035,563
$ 7,112,572
2,495,477
1,672,162
1,472,593
662,768 •
See notes to financial statements
- 3
6,303,000
809,572
323,000
486,572
10,584,361
905,992
$11,976,925
lwvi' N3-i'n MVWrr>.k'i�,r'r_`".. att Y94 'FS r
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION
DIVISION OF AMERICAN TELEVISION AND COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
Year Ended June 30, 1990
Cash Flows From Operating Activities:
Net income $ 486,572
Adjustments to reconcile net income to
net, cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization 1,472,593
Change in current assets and liabilities:
Increase in accounts receivable (104,205)
Increase in prepaid expenses (6,785)
Decrease in accounts payable (408,325)
Increase in accrued liabilities 83,400
Decrease in subscribers' advance
payments and deposits (54,488)
Net Cash Provided By Operating Activities $ 1,468,762
Cash Flows From Investing Activities:
Net purchases of property, plant and
equipment
Franchise costs
(2,357,809)
(413)
• Net Cash Used In Investing Activities (2,358,222)
Cash Flows From Financing Activities:
Advances from American Television
and Communications Corporation
Repayment of long-term debt
Net Cash Provided By Financing Activities
Net decrease in cash
Cash atbeginning of year
Cash at end of year
Supplemental Disclosures of Cash Flow Information:
905,992
(207,597).
698,395
(191,065)
211,413
$ 20,348
Cash paid during the year for:
Interest $ 720,102
Income taxes 323,000
See notes to financial statements
4
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION
DIVISION OF AMERICAN TELEVISION AND COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 1990
1. Basis of presentation
American Community Cablevision Division of American Television and
Communications Corporation (the Division) is principally engaged in the
operation of a cable television business. Such operations consist primarily
of selling video programming which is distributed to subscribers for a monthly
fee through a network of coaxial cables. It operates in the City of Ithaca,
New York and contiguous areas under nonexclusive franchise agreements which
are in effect until 1998.
The Division has no separate legal status or existence. The Division's
resources and existence are at the disposal of American Television and
Communications Corporation (ATC) management, subject to contractual
commitments by ATC to perform certain long-term contracts within the present
divisional structure. The Divisions's assets are legally available for the
satisfaction of debts of the entire corporation, not solely those appearing in
the accompanying statements, and its debts may result in claims against assets
not appearing therein. The Division is one of several divisions and .
subsidiaries of ATC, and transactions and the terms thereof may be arranged by
and among members of the affiliated group. ATC is an 82% owned subsidiary of
Time Warner Inc. (Time Warner).
2. Significant accounting policies
Property, plant and equipment: Depreciation is provided on the straight-line
basis over the.estimated useful lives of the assets as follows:
Building and improvements 10-20 years
Distribution system 8-15 years
Vehicles and other equipment 4-10 years
Franchise costs: The Division has deferred costs incurred to acquire the
franchises. Additional costs incurred to renew the franchise have also been.
deferred. Amortization of franchise costs is provided on the straight-line
basis over periods of up to forty years.
Cash: Cash consists of all highly liquid investments with a maturity of three
months or less.
3. Related party transactions
The statement of revenues and expenses and changes in net assets includes
charges for programming and promotional services provided by Home Box Office
Inc., a subsidiary of Time Warner. These charges were based upon customary
rates.
5
iG�'7nx�i
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION
DIVISION OF AMERICAN TELEVISION AND COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 1990
3. Related party transactions (continued)
The Division records charges for selling, general and administrative expenses
that are directly associated with it and a portion of the ATC expenses
($482,747 for the year ended June 30, 1990) which are allocated to divisions
and subsidiaries based upon subscriber levels.
Interest charged.to the Division by ATC ($720,102) was computed by multiplying
68.2% of the Division's average net assets (computed using beginning and end
of year balances) by the average interest rate (9.36% for the year ended June
30, 1990) on ATC's outstanding borrowings; $56,582 of the interest applicable
to construction in progress was capitalized.
4. Income taxes
Operating results of the Division are included in the consolidated federal
income tax return of Time Warner. Time Warner allocates a portion of its tax
liability to ATC as if ATC and its subsidiaries comprised a separate
affiliated group. In lieu of income taxes, ATC charges the Division an amount
which approximates statutory state and federal income tax rates on pretax
income.
5. Leases
Rental expenses for all operating leases, principally office and pole
attachments, for the year ended June 30, 1990 amounted to $137,945. The
Division had no significant noncancelable rental commitments.
6. Pension Plan
The Division participates in anoncontributory defined benefit pension plan
(the Plan) which is maintained by ATC and covers substantially all
employees. The benefits under the Plan are determined based on formulas which
reflect employees' years of service and compensation levels during their
employment period.
Total pension cost for the year ended June 30, 1990 was $11,037.
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION
October 29, 1990
Mr. Tom Terizzi
108 E. Green St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
Dear Mr. Terizzi:
Enclosed is a publication from the National Cable Television
Association regarding some facts about telephone companies and
cable TV. I thought you might appreciate the chance to review a
different point of view from that of the telcos.
7cere1y,
Bar ara L. Lukens, General Manager
BLL/mkk
519 West State Street
Ithaca, New York 14850 607-272-3456
beneath the Veneer of "Telco TV":
Telephone Company Hype Versus Reality
National Cable Television Association
1724 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-775-3550
BENEATH THE VENEER OF "TELCO TV":
TELEPHONE COMPANY HYPE VERSUS REALITY
The telephone industry has mounted an aggressive lobbying effort to convince
Congress to overturn federal restrictions which prevent local telephone companies (telcos)
from entering the cable television programming business.
Under current law, telephone companies can—and already do — have significant
involvement in the cable television business:
• Independent telcos like GTE, Conte! and Sugar Land can own and operate cable
systems outside their local telephone service areas.
o All telcos can build video transport facilities and lease them to locally franchised
cable companies, as Bell Atlantic's C&P Telephone Co. has done in Washington, D.C.
• Current law also permits the country's rural telephone companies to provide cable
service to rural areas. In fact, almost 400 permits have been granted to rural phone
companies provide cable television within their local telephone service areas.
• Telcos can provide a variety of other technical services, such as billing and order
processing, to cable television systems.
What federal law does prohibit is the ownership of cable television systems by telephone
companies in areas where they also provide local telephone service. Moreover, the Modified
Final Judgment governing the break-up of AT&T prohibits Regional Bell Operating
Companies (RBOCs) from any involvement in information content, including television
programming, in -or out of their service areas.
As part of an intense, $20 million lobbying campaign aimed at overturning those
restrictions, telephone companies make several claims concerning recent developments in
the cable television industry. In particular, the telcos maintain that their entry into television
programming would make the television marketplace more competitive.
CURRENT LAW ENSURES CHOICE AND DIVERSITY
The current pro -competitive restrictions on telco involvement in television have ensured
that consumers around the country enjoy a wide range of entertainment and information
from a diverse number of sources. During the last decade alone, the number of broadcast
stations grew by 42.6%, from 1,011 stations on the air in 1980 to 1,442 in 1990. Home VCRs,
a novelty at the beginning of the 1980s, were in 67% of all U.S. television households by the
end of the decade.
And cable television, in barely 20% of American television homes in 1980, was wired to
more than 58% of all U.S. households in 1990. The number of satellite -delivered cable
programming networks grew by 123%, from 31 in 1981 to 70 in 1990. Dozens of regional cable
networks also launched during the 1980s. Indeed, the government's General Accounting Office
(GAO) recently reported that the average American cable household in 1990 receives
34 channels of video programming for $16.33 per month—less than 50 cents per channel.
Despite this growth in the choices, available to television consumers, the telephone
companies argue that they must be permitted to enter the television business to provide
"competition." But the telephone industry has a long and colorful history of
anticompetitive conduct, which is why strong line -of -business restrictions on telephone
companies currently exist.
Both Congress and the courts recognize that phone companies, with powerful local
monopolies to provide an essential service, have unique abilities and incentives to
discriminate against competitors, at the expense of telephone ratepayers and competitive
businesses. As U.S. District Court Judge Harold Greene has concluded, "the potential for
use of the (phone) companies' monopoly power to impede competition is enormous."
Although the telcos tout the benefits of
"competition," they also make clear their intent to
create a "one wire" world, with telephone
companies owning and controlling the only
source of information and entertainment into and out of the home. Indeed, BellSouth and
other major phone companies seek to be "the first guy to the home with fiber," while at the
2
same time urging Congress to eliminate safeguards which prevent phone companies from
controlling the content transmitted over that single wire.
The effects of telephone company diversification have been consistent: when the phone
companies enter competitive businesses, the end result has been Tess competition, not
more. In fact, in nearly one-half of the nation's 50 largest cellular telephone markets, phone
companies control both the wireline and non -wireline cellular service provider.
To further their efforts to justify telephone company entry into the television business,
the telcos also have advanced a number of myths about the potential of fiber optics
technology. If the restrictions on telco involvement in content are lifted, the telcos maintain,
then they would be able to accelerate the installation of "fiber to the home" transmission
systems capable of bringing wondrous new services to consumers. Increasingly, however,
the telcos' "blue sky" rhetoric is at odds with technical and economic reality.
TELCO MYTH #1:
THE CABLE/TELCO CROSS -OWNERSHIP RESTRICTION
PREVENTS TELEPHONE COMPANIES FROM OFFERING NEW
"INFORMATION AGE" SERVICES.
Not true. With the sole exception of full -motion video (i.e., television programming),
every service that telcos claim they could provide if only the law were changed is either
already available today or could be provided over the telcos' existing copper wire telephone
systems.
For example, services such as bank -at-home, shop -at-home, remote database access,
home security monitoring, at-home workstations, educational and medical services already
are available — if little used — over the copper wire -based switched system the telcos have in
3
place. The fact that these and other services aren't widely prevalent is more attributable to
a lack of consumer demand for these services than the technological limitations of the
existing telephone network.
Indeed, for 20 years the telcos have touted Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
technology, claiming that this copper -based network could bring "new information age"
services to consumers over the existing telephone network. The telcos' recent interest in
fiber optics -based "Broadband ISDN" is based on their realization that a consumer demand
exists for television programming, while demand for other "bells and whistles" services the
telcos already can provide is lukewarm at best.
TELCO MYTH #2:
THE CURRENT RESTRICTIONS PROHIBITING TELCOS FROM
PROVIDING TELEVISION CONTENT DISCOURAGE THEM FROM
INSTALLING FIBER OPTICS.
Not true. The cross -ownership restrictions prohibit telco involvement in content, not
in building transmission facilities. Most telephone companies have already installed fiber
optic technology where it is practical — in trunking and feeder lines that reach into
neighborhoods. In addition, several BOCs and independent telcos are already testing fiber
to the home, under existing law, in several affluent communities, sometimes called "fiber to
the rich."
But there is no reason why Bell Atlantic, for
example, must be permitted to provide "Bell
Atlantic News" in order to build a fiber -based
transmission system. The telcos claim that if
they were permitted to provide video
programming, then fiber to the home would be
more cost-effective. But this argument makes no
economic sense. If a telco can expect to earn a
reasonable profit from leasing fiber -based
systems to unaffiliated programmers, it can build
4
the system regardless of the telco's involvement in content. If, however, the telco cannot
expect a reasonable profit, there is no reason to expect that allowing it to become a
programmer will suddenly make construction of the plant economically feasible—unless the
telco intends to illegally cross-subsizide the venture with revenues from its monopoly
telephone business.
The pace of fiber deployment by the telcos is a function of the immense cost and
logistical and technical difficulties, not the existing ban on telco -provided content. As the
telcos themselves have discovered, the costs and technical hurdles are compounded when
fiber is installed all the way to the home. At a recent fiber optics seminar, five of the seven
RBOCs reported that, based on field trials to date, fiber to the home is neither technically
nor economically feasible at this point.
It is significant, too, that the telcos
have opted not to use fiber to the home
in their foreign cable television systems.
Indeed, the Hong Kong cable franchise—awarded to a consortium led by U S West—will
employ fiber optics for long-haul trunking applications, with traditional coaxial cable used
to deliver television signals to the home. This "fiber -coax" hybrid architecture already is
being employed by an increasing number of cable systems in the United States.
MultiChannel News; January 29,-1990, p
TELCO MYTH #3:
IF THE EXISTING RESTRICTIONS WERE REMOVED, THE TELCOS
WOULD INSTANTLY BEGIN TO "FIBER" RURAL AMERICA.
Not true. Telco executives claim that fiber to the home will become economically
justifiable in the mid-1990s in newbuild areas. Indeed, the current fiber experiments conducted
by the telcos are all taking place in newly constructed, upscale suburban communities.
Because of the prohibitive costs of fiber to the home, it is likely that if the telcos ever
wire rural America with fiber, it would only be long after the urban and suburban areas have
been wired. This pattern would be wholly consistent with how telcos have deployed other
telecommunications advances.
5
Indeed, features such as touch-tone dialing, call waiting and call forwarding— standard
services in urban and suburban areas—are still unavailable to many rural Americans. Moreover,
although telcos are allowed to build cable systems in truly rural areas, telco executives admit that
stand-alone cable systems are not economically feasible in these communities. Yet telephone
company officials suggest that rural America—some areas of which still must rely on rotary dialing
and party lines—would instantly be wired with expensive fiber optics transmission technology,
were it not for the restrictions prohibiting the telcos from controlling television content.
............................................ .............................
oshout;': resident Joyce Rinehart sai
The, Washington Post •July 13, :1990:
TELCO MYTH #4:
HIGH-DEFINITION TV WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE TO CONSUMERS
UNLESS THE TELCOS WIRE THE NATION WITH FIBER.
Not true. Fiber to the home is not, necessary in order to deliver HDTV to the home.
Existing cable television systems already have successfully delivered HDTV signals using
standard coaxial cable. Unlike an over -the -air broadcast TV station licensed to use one
6 -MHz channel, a cable system creates its own bandwidth and has ample capacity to transmit
even the most technically demanding of the many proposed HDTV systems.
HDTV development has been slowed by the lack of HDTV -capable television sets, the
lack of HDTV programming being transmitted and the lack of a U.S. HDTV standard, not by
a lack of transmission capacity. The Federal Communications Commission has said it
intends to determine a U.S. HDTV standard by 1993. In the interim, the cable industry,
through its Cable Television Laboratories research and development consortium, will
continue to aggressively test the various proposed HDTV transmission systems.
6
l
TELCO MYTH #5:
IF THE TELCOS DON'T DEPLOY FIBER, CONSUMERS WILL NOT
RECEIVE THE BENEFITS THAT FIBER OPTIC TECHNOLOGY CAN
OFFER FOR TELEVISION TRANSMISSION.
Not true. Despite their rhetoric, the telcos do not enjoy a monopoly over the use of fiber
optics. Cable television companies today are already using fiber optics, which enables cable
operators to offer even greater channel capacity and a more reliable signal to subscribers. The
20 largest cable multiple system operators (MSOs) all are using fiber optics in cable systems
serving over five million subscribers.
Unlike the telephone industry proposals, however, cable operators are utilizing fiber optics
where it makes economic and technical sense—in long-haul trunking and feeder runs, where
boosters and amplifiers limit cable system channel capacity and system reliability.
Fiber optics can carry a video signal over a greater distance with a lower loss of power
and subsequent need for amplification. By combining fiber optic trunking and feeder
applications with the coaxial cable currently running from the curb into the home—and which
can carry more than 100 video channels—cable systems need not rip out and replace their
entire networks in order to bring consumers the benefits of fiber.
According to telephone industry estimates, the cost for the telcos to wire the nation with
fiber ranges from $1,500 to $10,000 per home, which translates to a price tag of $250 billion
to roughly $1 trillion to string fiber to every home in America.
Cable television companies, because they need not run expensive fiber to every home,
are bringing subscribers the benefits of fiber at a much lower cost — one that will not be
passed on to captive telephone ratepayers.
7
TELCO MYTH #6:
THE TELCOS MUST BE ENCOURAGED TO INSTALL EXPENSIVE
FIBER OPTICS IN ORDER TO PROTECT AMERICA'S
TECHNOLOGICAL FUTURE.
Not true. Despite the telcos' dire predictions, America's existing telecommunications
infrastructure—including both telephone and cable networks—provides consumers with the
most reliable and versatile telephone system in the world, and with a robust video
marketplace offering unrivaled diversity and consumer choice.
The dazzing new services which the telcos claim they could offer in a one -wire
fiber -to -the -home universe are widely available today, over the existing telephone network.
More than 1,000 different companies provide consumers with more than 4,000 electronic
databases; 5.6 million households are served by electronic mail, and voice information
services are universally available to those with touch-tone telephones. There are nearly 100
national and regional satellite -delivered cable networks available to television viewers, and
pay-per-view technology is reaching an ever-increasing number of American cable homes.
Simply put, the "Information Age" has arrived, and its further development need not be
held hostage by the telcos' efforts to uneconomically deploy fiber optics.
Moreover, the telcos' argument that their involvement in information content would
somehow improve U.S. competitiveness also is misleading. The current U.S.
telecommunications trade deficit results from imports of "customer -premise" equipment
such as telephone receivers, answering machines and facsimile machines—and this deficit
has narrowed, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. But in those areas in which
the U.S. balance of trade arguably might benefit from telco involvement in
television—telephone switches and equipment, and fiber optics—the U.S. is extremely
competitive and, indeed, currently runs a trade surplus.
8
h
TELCO MYTH #7:
THE UNITED STATES WILL FALL BEHIND OTHER COUNTRIES IN
THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES. AFTER
ALL, FRENCH CITIZENS HAVE ACCESS TO AN ADVANCED
INFORMATION SYSTEM CALLED MINITEL, A SERVICE DENIED
AMERICANS BECAUSE OF PHONE COMPANY RESTRICTIONS.
Not True. It is ironic that the telcos cite
France's Minitel system as a reason to permit the.
telcos' entry into content. France's
government-owned telephone company provides
all the transmission and associated facilities, then
contracts with independent parties to provide
information services over its wires. Because the
phone company has no control over the
information content provided by Minitel and has
no financial interest in the sale of that
information—and because Minitel does not
provide video programming—its structure is
completely consistent with the Modified Final
Judgment and the Cable Act.
Despite strong support from the French government, the Minitel system has sustained
large annual financial losses, and is expected to be run at a loss well into the mid-1990s.
Usage of the service also has begun to decline. So-called "chat" services, many of which
allow users to engage in sexually explicit online conversations, accounted for 80% of the
Minitel system's traffic in 1987.
9
TELCO MYTH #8:
WITHOUT TELCO -INSTALLED FIBER OPTICS, CONSUMERS WILL
BE DENIED ACCESS TO MULTIPLE VIDEO CHANNELS, HDTV,
PAY-PER-VIEW AND "VIDEO ON DEMAND."
Not true. The telcos, particularly the RBOCs, have made many fanciful claims about
the video services they could deliver via fiber optics, maintaining that without fiber, the
services listed above will not be developed. Of course, cable consumers today enjoy these
services over existing coaxial cable systems.
The cable television industry has been delivering multiple video signals to American
homes for decades, is fully capable of transmitting HDTV and pioneered the development of
pay-per-view. And as cable operators continue to rapidly upgrade their systems—including
installing fiber where economically feasible— consumers who today can choose from dozens
of cable channels soon will have a video menu of well over 100 options.
True "video on demand," described by the telcos as instant access to "every video ever
made, when you want it," is not offered by cable systems for one of the same reasons it
could not be offered by local phone companies—the technology for it doesn't yet exist.
Setting aside the dubious question of whether it is possible to obtain the rights for and
then store "every video ever made" on a random-access and fast -retrieval basis, the fact
remains that "video on demand" implies central office switching of the video signals by local
telephone companies. But because fiber signals are carried as light impulses, functional
and economically viable optical switches first must be invented.
10
TELCO MYTH #9:
RECENT BREAKTHROUGHS IN OPTICAL SWITCHING NOW MAKE
VIDEO ON DEMAND AND FIBER TO THE HOME FEASIBLE.
Not true. Recently, the telephone industry has made several claims about breakthroughs
in optical switching, and when these announcements are made, the implication follows that the
telcos have developed the final piece of their fiber puzzle. This isn't exactly the case.
The switch receiving the most attention is GTE's 16 x 16 digital switch, capable of
delivering 16 program sources to 16 different homes. By connecting groups of these
switches, GTE has claimed success with a switch which has 128 x 256 capability (allegedly
able to deliver 128 information sources to 256 reception sites).
It has its shortcomings, however. First, it is unable to handle signals in the AM
(Amplitude Modulation) mode, which is how all television signals arrive at the TV set.
Therefore, in order for this switch to be effective, TV signals must be converted to one of the
modes that the GTE device can handle—specifically, FM (Frequency Modulation) or digital.
Therein lies the second shortcoming: each individual AM TV signal must be converted, and
each conversion is costly and results in a loss of technical quality. Third, the extra equipment
needed to convert every TV signal adds to the mechanical and electronic complexity of the
switch, which increases maintenance requirements and decreases reliability.
Even if it were possible to someday develop a 100 x 10,000 switch (which theoretically
could deliver 100 sources of video to 10,000 users), there remain many questions concerning
the practical use of such a device.
In the literature released by the companies that have invented optical switches, and in
the technical diagrams that accompany them, it becomes clear that not all of the 10,000
people can have simultaneous access to any one of the 100 video signals without significant
additional equipment being installed, which greatly increases the complexity, reliability and
cost of the overall system.
Overall, the issue of how to accomplish video switching for the highly touted (but hard to
define) "video on demand" comes down to this: building a switch that connects a few sources
to a handful of people is comparatively easy. But building a switch that can connect 100 sources
11
to 10,000 people (any one home being able to get any six or seven services simultaneously,
or all 10,000 people accessing the same service at the same time) presents a technical
challenge that remains unsolved by the mere announcement of a 126 x 256 switch.
CONCLUSION: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE MYTHS
Why are the local telephone companies in such a rush to install fiber optics to the home?
The telcos' primary motivation is an economic one. That is, the telcos are searching for
methods to disguise the amounts they are overearning from telephone rates today, and to
justify increases in those rates in the future:
Telco Overearnings
Telephone companies have traditionally been subject to rate of return regulation; that is, their
rates are set to cover their annual operating expenses, plus capital investments, plus a specific
rate of return on those investments. Rates of return usually are set between 12 and 15 percent.
Today, however, the cost of providing local telephone service is declining. Because telephone
rates in most areas were established years ago, when costs were higher, many telephone
companies now are earning higher profits than their regulators intended.
These declining costs are evidenced by the enormous rate decreases that have been
ordered by state regulators over the past few years. According to a recent Federal
Communications Commission report, in the last two years, utility commissions around the
country have ordered telephone rate reductions of more than $2 billion. In 1989 alone, according
to the FCC, 22 states ordered rate reductions of more than $838 million, and in the first quarter of
1990, states ordered another $131.5 million in rate reductions to consumers.
Rather than reduce rates for telephone consumers, telcos would prefer to inflate their
expenses, and thereby justify their current rates. The two most convenient methods for
achieving those higher expenses are through the use of accelerated depreciation and higher
capital outlays. Accelerated depreciation allows the telco to achieve multiple goals: the
higher book expenses cause the telco's profits to appear lower; the telco recovers its
12
invested capital more quickly than it originally planned; and the telco can justify replacing
its capital investments sooner.
Indeed, telcos have been requesting accelerated depreciation at record levels, and in many
states, those requests are being granted. Many consumers are unaware that the telcos are using
depreciation for these purposes, simply because it does not show up in immediate rate
increases; rather, consumers are denied rate decreases that they might otherwise be due.
Further Increases in Rates
Telephone companies have an incentive to maximize their total investments for two
reasons. First, it removes some of the telcos "excess cash" from today's balance sheets,
enabling the companies to avoid regulatory scrutiny of their high earnings, and therefore
avoid potential rate reductions. And second, it provides a guarantee for the telco that rates
will be increasing in the future. Because rate -of -return regulation is based upon the telco's
expenses and investments, higher investments mean higher rates in the future.
Clearly, the telcos' easiest opportunity to make huge new capital investments is in the
uneconomical deployment of fiber optics. By advocating fiber -to -the -home, telcos are
suggesting that telephone ratepayers should bear the cost of new capital investments that
equal, by some estimates, three times the value of the entire U.S. telephone network.
But herein lies the problem. This extremely expensive new network would provide
telephone users no new voice or data services beyond those they already can receive over
the existing copper telephone network. What fiber can provide—and what the telephone
companies are forbidden from providing—is video programming, which is already widely
available from a number of sources.
Consequently, in order to justify the enormous expense of installing fiber optics to the
home, telcos must manufacture an artificial demand for that technology. The telcos are
attempting to create this demand by proposing to become content providers of video
services, and by suggesting that fiber will transmit unidentified "new" services to consumers.
It is this economic imperative—the telcos' need to prematurely replace its network
in order to prevent telephone rates from declining—which is at the heart of the
telephone industry's many myths about fiber optics.
13
TO: PETE, CHRIS, JIM AND CHUCK
FROM: TOM
RE: CABLE COMMISSION
DATE: OCT. 19, 1990
Enclosed are the following items of interest:
1) Jim Ferwerda's resume. Ben has it and will present it to
Common Council for approval at the next meeting.
ruj
2 �99� 2 1990
2) A summary of several sections of the New York State Cable
Commission regulations dealing with access channel capacity and the
regulation of speech on access. I still have not received the opinion
letter from the Counsel for the NYSCC regarding political speech. I'll
follow up on it. . d_ &-j i rece'F✓-e-( 4 / fS eN U6 ' e
3) Some decisions and rules issued by the NYSCC. I just
received the rules, dated April 4th, from the Mayor's office. I'm not
sure whether he just got them or if they have been sitting in the
mountain on his desk. I've also included the NYSCC Weekly Bulletin
for the week of October 5, 1990. As you will see, there is really
nothing that affects our franchise. Unless I get a request to the
contrary, in the future I will only pass on those bulletins that contain
rulings pertaining to/ us.
29 f V s %1 c- /Cekce L s Aes-(
74e714-7 C/1/1d
CITY OF ITHACA
T V CABLE COMMISSION
Tom Terrizzi, Chair
714 N. Cayuga Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
273-2283 (w)
277-3334 (h)
Chris Heegard;
4 Woodland Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850
539-6643 (h)
255-4021 (w)
Pete Hess
111 W. Jay St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
274-3384 (w)
272-1813 (h)
Jim Ferwerda
312 First Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
273-.5255 (h)
255-7365 (w)
9 NYCRR§ 595.4 Minimum Standards for PEG Access
(b) Designation of Channels
(1) 1 full time channel for public access
at least one full time channel for govt. and
and educational use
1 additional channel for •govt. and ed. use
when first govt./ed. channel is used 12 hrs.
a day for a 90 day period.
(c) Administration and use
(1) Public channel shall be administered by an
entity named by the municipality or, until such
designation is made, by the cable company..
(2) Govt. and ed. channel shall be operated and
administered by committee or commission
appointed by the local govt.
9 NYCRR § 595.4(c)(8)
The cable television franchise shall not exercise any editorial
control over any public, educational or governmental use of channel.
capacity designated for PEG purposes.
NEW YORK STATE COMMISSION
ON CABLE TELEVISION
CORNING TOWER BLDG.. EMPIRE STATE PLAZA
ALBANY. NEW YORK 12223
(518) 474-4992
(518) 486-5727 FAX
WILLIAM B. FINNERAN — Chairman
Mr. Thomas Terrizzi
Public Access Advisory Board
c/o Ithaca Cable Commission
108 East Green Street
Ithaca, New York 14850
Dear Mr. Terrizzi:
October 12, 1990
THEODORE E. MULFORD
Commissioner
BARBARA T. ROCHMAN
Commissioner
JOHN A. PASSIDOMO
Commissioner
MICHAEL E. RUSSELL
Commissioner
EDWARD P. KEARSE
Executive Director
Last year at this time, Mr. Richard Herskowitz, the then Chair of your
advisory board, wrote to the Commission seeking clarification of certain issues pertaining
to the use of public access channels by or on behalf of political candidates. The views
of Commission staff were subsequently conveyed to Mr. Herskowitz by Steven A. Shaye
of the Commission's Municipal Assistance Division. In light of a recent inquiry from the
General Manager of American Community Cablevision ("ACC") concerning the same
subject and because it is once again election time, I have determined to set forth the
substance of our verbal responses in writing.
At the outset, I note that Mr. Herskowitz quoted language contained in
the ACC -City of Ithaca franchise agreement as renewed as follows: "A designated
channel shall not be used for the promotion or sale of commercial products or services,
including advertising by or on behalf of candidates for public office." This language was
part of PEG access rules promulgated by the Commission in the early 1980's. However,
it was superseded by new public access rules, a copy of which is enclosed herewith.
The new rules were promulgated by the Commission in August, 1988 and
became effective on or about September 8, 1988. Since the franchise renewal granted
by the City of Ithaca to ACC was not perfected until after the effective date of the
Commission's new public access rules, the order issued by the Commission approving
the renewal stated that "Commission rules do not preclude the use of access channels
by candidates for public office." (Order Approving Renewal in Docket No. 30194,
issued: September 12, 1989) The effect of this statement was to preempt the
implementation of the franchise language in a manner inconsistent with the
Commission's minimum standards. Thus, the restrictive language contained in the
franchise renewal may not be invoked to preclude all use of public access by political
candidates.
Mr. Herskowitz noted that the Ithaca Cable Commission had determined
to permit political endorsements but to restrict fundraising. He also indicated that the
Ithaca Common Council voted to strike the prohibition of political advertising. With
these factors in mind, I will attempt to provide some clarification of the scope of use
permitted by, for or against candidates for elective office.
-2 -
As noted, use of public access channels by the candidates, themselves, is
permitted and, indeed, is required by existing Commission rules and the Commission's
order approving the franchise renewal. Such use would clearly include the opportunity
by a candidate to make a live statement on the access channel on his or her own behalf.
It would also include the transmission of a video taped statement made by such
candidate.
It is my view that statements by non -candidates for, or against, a
candidate for elective office are also within the permitted uses anticipated by the
Commission when it adopted the existing rules. Since public access by definition is
available for use on a nondiscriminatory basis, it is not readily apparent how such use
could be prohibited. It is also unclear to me that a viable distinction can be made
between the use by, or endorsement of, a candidate and political advertising. That the
new rules do not prohibit political advertising, as they once did, is some evidence that
the Commission determined that such a distinction is inappropriate.
The question of whether a public access channel may be used for
fundraising involves a somewhat different consideration. Commission rules continue
to provide that public access use shall be noncommercial. In this regard, it may be
argued that where any person or organization seeks to use a public access channel for
the express purpose" of soliciting funds, whether for a political campaign or other
purpose, such use is in the nature of a "commercial" use. On this basis, and until a
formal ruling is made by the Commission, I do not believe that a distinction between
fundraising and other candidate -related use would constitute a clear violation of the
rules at this time.
I hope you find this responsive to Mr. Herskowitz's inquiry.
Very truly yo
JLG:tac
enc.
cc: Barbara Lukens, ACC
ohn L. Grow
Counsel
APPENDIX A
ACC1SS STANDARDS
595.4 Minimum Standards for Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG)
Access.
(a) Definitions
(1) The term "public access channel means a channel designated for
noncommercial use by the public on a first-come, first-served,
nondiscriminatory basis.
(2) The term "educational access channel" means a channel
designated for use by school districts and not-for-profit •educational
institutions chartered or licensed by the New York State Department of
Education or Board of Regents.
(3) The term "government access channel" means a channel
designated for use by municipal, county and•state government, or agencies
thereof.
(4) The term "public, educational, or governmental (PEG) access
facilities" means (1) channel capacity designated for public, educational or
governmental use; and (ii) facilities and equipment for the use of such
channel capacity.
(5) The term "local use" means noncommercial use by residents of
the State of New York including school districts and not-for-profit
educational institutions and municipal, county and state governments, or
agencies thereof.
(6) The term "access cablecast day" means a day or part thereof
during which public, educational cr gcvernmental access facilities are
available for PEG use.
(b) De i nation of Channels -- Every cable television franchisee shall
designate channel capacity for PEG access as follows:
(1) The franchisee of a cable television system with a channel
capacity of twenty-one (21) or more channels shall designate (i) at least
one full-time activated channel for public access use; (ii) atleast one
full-time activated channel for educational and governmental use; and (iii)
one additional full-time activated channel for educational/governmental
use whenever the first channel so designated shall have been used for
such educational and governmental programming on the average of at
least twelve (12) hours per day during any ninety (90)" day period;
provided, however, that the calculation of such average shall not include
any day when the unavailability of PEG access facilities precludes
achieving such programming level. In the event that two channels for
educational and governmental use are required by this subdivision, one
channel shall be designated the education.al access channel and one
channel shall be designated the governmental access channel; provided,
however, that either channel may be used for either purpose if necessary
to satisfy the demand for channel time.
- 2 -
(2) The franchisee of a cable television system.with a channel
capacity less than twenty-one (21) channels shall designate at least one
full-time activated charnel Ior public, educational and governmental use.
(c) kdmintstrQtion and Uce -- The use of the channel capacity for PEG
access shall be administered as follows:
(1) The public access channel shall be operated and administered by
the entity designated by the municipality or, until such designation is
made, by the cable television franchisee; provided, ho.vever, that the,
municipality may designate such entity at any *time throughout the term
of a franchise by a resolution duly adopted by the legislative body
thereof.*
(2) The educational and governmental access channel shall be •
operated and administered by a committee or a commission appointed by
local government and shall include appropriate representation of local
school districts within the service area of the cable television system and
.
may include for purposes of coordination an employee or representative of
the cable television franchisee.**
(3) The entity responsible for administering and operating the public
access channel.shall provide notice to the general public of the
opportunity to use such channel which notice shall include (i) a character
generated message transmitted at least hourly on such channel between
the hours of 6:00 P.M. and 10:00 p.m. each day and .(ii) written notice to
subscribers. at least annually. Notices shall include the name, address and
telephone number of the entity to be contacted for use of the channel.
All access programming shall be identified as such.
•
(4) Channel time shall be scheduled on the public access channel by
the entity responsible for the administration thereof on a first-come,
first-served, nondiscriminatory basis.
(5) .Local use of educational and governmental access channels shall
have preferred status in the event of competing requests for channel
time. Priority may be afforded to local governments within the service
area of the system.
(6) Channel time for PEG access programming shall be without
charge to the user.
"If a single public access channel is shared by more than one
municipality, a single entity shall be jointly designated by the local legislative
bodies of .each franchising municipality in the system. If agreement cannot be
reached on a single entity, the commission shall arbitrate the issue.
**Where an educational or a governmental channel is shared by more than
one school district or local government or combination thereof, administration
of such channel(s) on a cooperative basis is encouraged.
3
(7) The designation of PEG access facilities shall include the
provision by the cable television franchisee of the technical ability to
play back pre-recorded programming and to transmit programming
information consistent with the designated uses of PEG access channels.
(3) The cable television franchisee Shall not exercise any editorial
control over any public, educational or governmental use of channel
capacity designated for PEG purposes.
(9) A municipality. shall not exercise any editorial control over any
use by the public of a public access channel.
(10) The entity responsible for the administration of a public .access
channel shall maintain a record of the use of such channel which shall
include the names and addresses of all persons using or requesting the
use of any such channel and which record shall be available for public
inspection for a minimum of two years.
(11) Channels designated for PEG use shall be included in the lowest
level of service offered by the cable television franchisee;• where a system
does not include sufficient unused channel capacity to accommodate a
second educational/governmental access channel resulting from the
operation of subdivision (b) hereof, the cable television franchisee may
elect one time to defer the.obligation to provide subh additional channel
until additional channel capacity becomes available. .
(12) A cable television franchisee shall be permitted to use time on
one or. more PEG access channels whenever there are no blank channels
available on the same level of service which includes the PEG channel(s)
and whenever such PEG channel(s) is not scheduled for use at least
seventy-two (72) hours in advance of such time or times desired by the .
cable television franchisee; • provided that any use of such PEG channels) .
by the franchisee shall at all times be subordinate to designated PEG use
and shall terminate or be pre-empted by PEG programming scheduled at
least seventy-two (72) hours in advance. All non -access programming on
PEG channels shall be identified as such by an appropriate announcement
made prior to and following each non -access use. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, at such time as any PEG channel on a cable television system'
with a channel capacity in excess of forty (40) channels has been
programmed•for a daily average of eight (8) hours or fifty percent (50%)
of the hours of access cablecast days, whichever is less, during any
ninety (90) day period, use of such channel by the cable television
franchisee shall be suspended for such time as such minimum PEG use of
such channel is maintained.
(d) Applicability
(1) Subdivisions (a), (c) and (f) of this section shall apply to the use
of channel capacity designated for PEG access as of the effective date
her eof.
_ 1 _
(2) The minimum channel designation requirements in subdivision (b)
of this section shall be required by, and shall be a condition to, the
exercise of every franchise and certificate of confirmation granted or
renewed after the effective date hereof.
(3) Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing contained herein shall
impair the enforcement of any provision of any franchise in effect on the
effective date of this sec_ion concerning the designation and use of
. channel capacity, facilities and equipment for PEG access Cr otherwise
dLminish the obligations of a cable television franchisee with respect to
PEG access.
(e) General -- Any cable television franchise granted, -renewed or amended
after the effective date oI this section may include additional provisions
concerning the designation and use of public, educational and
governmental access facilities as follo.vs:
(1) a provision specifying- facilities and equipment to be made
available by the franchisee for use in connection with the designated PEG
channels; and
(2) any other provision concerning the designation and use of
channel opacity for public, educational and governmental access .
consistent -with federal and state law.
(f) Waivers and Ruling's.
(1) A cable. television franchisee, a municipality or an entity
designated to administer a public access channel•may seek a waiver of
one or more provisions of this section upon application to the commission ..•
pursuant to sections 590.3 and 590.22 of this subtitle.
(2) any interested person may seek a ruling from the commission
concerning the applicability or implementation of any provision of this
section or any provision of a franchise concerning PEG access upon the
filing of a petition in accordance with section 590.18 of this subtitle.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) •of this subdivision (f), •
the commission shall not grant any waiver or ruling, or enter any order
(i) that constitutes the exercise of editorial control over the content of
public access programming or (ii) that would have the effect of
requiring the carriage by a franchised cable television company of
programming distributed as the New York State and Community Affairs
Network (NY -SCAN).
(g) Severability -- If any provision of this• section or the application of such
provision is held invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the '
remainder of this section or the application of the provision to other
circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
NOTE: Notice of Adoption of these rules was filed with the Secretary
of State on August 19, 1988.
NEW YORK STATE COMMISSION
ON CABLE TELEVISION
CORNING TOWER BLDG., EMPIRE STATE PLAZA
ALBANY. NEW YORK 12223
(518) 474-4992
(518) 486-5727 FAX
WILLIAM B. FINNERAN — Chairman
October 12, 1990
Barbara Lukens, General Manager
American Community Cablevision
519 West State St.
Ithaca, NY. 14850
Dear'Barbara:
THEODORE E. MULFORD
Conunissiavr
BARBARA T. ROCHMAN
Commissioner
JOHN A. PASSIDOMO
Commissioner
MICHAEL E. RUSSELL
Commissioner
EDWARD P. KEARSE
Eucwnr Director
This is in reply to your letter of August 16, 1990 concerning the use of
a public access channel by or for political candidates.
In your letter you quoted from the existing franchise agreement between
ACC and the City of Ithaca as follows: "A designated channel shall not be used for the
promotion or sale of commercial products or services, including advertising by or on
behalf of candidates for public office." (Section 14.3(D)) -In fact, such language was
part of Commission rules at one time. However, an entire new set of rules concerning
public, educational and governmental access was adopted by the Commission in Docket
No. 90174-A-2 in August, 1988.
In the Commission Order Approving Renewal of the ACC -City of Ithaca
franchise agreement in Docket No. 30194 (adopted February 1, 1989), the Commission
referred to Section 14.3(D) of the franchise and stated that: "Commission rules do not
preclude the use of access channels by candidates for public office." This statement was
consistent with the lack of any provision in the new rules which precludes use of access
channels by candidates and also was consistent with statements made by the Commission
in its Summary of Comments and Opinion issued in Docket No. 90174-A-2 in
conjunction with the new minimum PEG access standards. In the Summary of
Comments and Opinion, the Commission noted that under FCC regulations applicable
to public access channels in the 1970's use by candidates for public office was restricted
and stated that "[i]t is not clear to us at this time that such a restriction is appropriate."
The Commission went on to state that:
"One of the fundamental objectives of cable television
access is to contribute to the diversity of information
and information sources available to the public and to
stimulate public debate by providing a forum therefor.
The ability of candidates to speak to the electorate and
of the electorate to hear and examine the views of
-2 -
candidates is central to and consistent with such
objective." (p. 23)
In short, the new rules supersede Section 14.3(D) of the City of Ithaca
franchise agreement.
In addition, it is doubtful that a .lawful basis exists for denying use of
public access channel capacity to political candidates. Section 611(e) of the Cable
Communications Policy Act of 1984 provides that "a cable operator shall not exercise
any editorial control over any public use of channel capacity...pursuant to this section."
Section 829 of the New York State Executive Law provides that the Commission "may
not prohibit or limit any program or any class or type of program or otherwise censor
the communications of signals transmitted by any cable TV company or over any cable
TV system...." Section 829(2) provides that "[n]c4 municipality may prohibit or limit
any program or class or type of program..." as well. Under both federal and state law,
a cable television company is immune from liability arising from programming carried
on a public access channel.
It is my understanding from reading Section XIV of the franchise that,.
at least for now, ACC has accepted responsibility for administering the public access
channels under the guidance of the Public Access Advisory Board. I am aware that both
Section 315 of the Communications Act and Section 76.205 of FCC rules impose
requirements on cable operators concerning origination cablecasts by candidates for
public office and I can appreciate any concern that you may have that your role as
administrator of public access channels not be confused with your rights and
responsibilities in respect .to local origination. (Of course, ACC may make time
available, either free or for a charge, to candidates on a local origination basis
as distinct from public access use.) Although I am not aware of any ruling that subjects
PEG access channels to the federal equal opportunities' provisions, you may choose to
be especially careful to distinguish public access from local origination whenever
programming involves use by, or for, a political candidate.
Finally, I note that I was asked by the Chair of the Ithaca public access
advisory board some time ago to clarify the effect of the Commission's Order Approving
Renewal. A copy of my letter which summarizes responses given verbally is enclosed.
1 would also add here that use by, for or about legally qualified candidates would be
subject to the same reasonable procedures concerning scheduling, studio availability,
reruns, etc. that apply to other uses of public access.
Very truly;yours,
John L. Grow
Counsel
JLG:tac
enclosure
cc: Bill Demo, Chair - Ithaca Cable Commission
Thomas Terrizzi, Public Access Advisory Board
John Fogarty, Esq., ATC, Stamford, CT
October 9, 1990
Mayor Benjamin Nichols
City Hall
108 E. Green St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
James A. Ferwerda
312 First St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
Dear Mr. Mayor,
I am pleased to have the opportunity to apply for appointment as a member of the Ithaca Cable
Commission. As you will see from my attached resume, I have been in communications issues for
a number of years. One of my current responsibilities as Senior Technical Advisor at the Program
of Computer Graphics at Cornell is to develop state-of-the-art networks for video, graphics, and
data communications. I have recently been overseeing the network design for my laboratory's
facilities at the new TheoryCenter building at Cornell. I have also been involved in the content -side
of cable communications, having been co-producer for the last four years of More than the News,
a weekly alternative news program aired on the community access channel.
I believe that over the next several years, there will be a growing demand for a variety of
information services at the home in addition to standard television programming.. Library resource
access and bi-directional communication are two examples. While these services will probably be
provided by a commerical entity like ACC, they must be available to serve the broad public
interest. It will take planning and advocacy on the part of city government to ensure that provisions
for these and other services are included in future cable system development; that they are made
available to the whole community at fair rates; and that free and equal access is maintained and
developed. I would like to pursue these goals if appointed to the.cable commission. I hope that you
will consider my application.
Sincerely,
James A. Ferwerda
Rachel Graham
From: Alanna Congdon
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2018 8:15 AM
To: Rachel Graham
Subject: FW: I-9 Handbook for Employers
For our meeting this morning.. to talk about
From: Amy Guererri
Sent: Friday, March 2, 2018 9:53 PM
To: Alanna Congdon <acongdon@tompkins-co.org>; Maureen Reynolds <mreynolds@tompkins-co.org>; Jennifer Turner
<jturner@tompkins-co.org>; Stephen Estes <sestes@tompkins-co.org>
Subject: RE: I-9 Handbook for Employers
Alanna:
I hope the following information is helpful. I've answered your questions in red below to the best of my ability. Bottom
line is that 1 strongly urge you to stop this practice.
I think I may need to better understand why or how this practice began The Form 1-9, as it is the basis for verifying
an individual is authorized to work in the United States, is a very strictly regulated process, subject to fines, and even
criminal sanctions for improper practices. For example, there are monetary fines of over $200 for each "error" on an 1-9
form, including simply writing the date incorrectly 1/9/18 incorrect- subject to a fine, 01/09/2018 is correct. I have
personal experience with these audits, and can attest to the serious nature of the whole 1-9 process.
By it's very nature, the process is intended for an EMPLOYER to verify that individuals are authorized to work in the
United States. The Regulations clearly state that the EMPLOYER or authorized representative* must physically examine
the required documents and ascertain that they are the appropriate documents, valid, etc. for the purpose of confirming
that the individual is in fact eligible. The form itself requires the EMPLOYER signature...
Also, a prospective employee may complete the 1-9 prior to the first day on payroll, but NOT any earlier than the
acceptance of a job offer, and the offer letter, etc. would need to be available for the record, etc. I don't know how your
office would be able to comply with this because you aren't performing this action as a "contractor" for these
employers you're not keeping records, etc..
The regulations indicate that an employer may designate an "authorized representative" to fill out the Form I -9's but
that -doesn't sound like what is occurring.... It sound like prospective employees are simply coming in and asking that
the forms be signed? There isn't a spot for a Notary signature
"For example, it is not acceptable for a notary public to view employment authorization and identity documents, but
leave Section 2 for you to complete The person who views an employee's employment authorization documents should
also complete and sign Section 2 on your behalf"
Your questions:
We had a couple more questions :
What is an "Authorized Representative"? * 1 don't see how your office/staff could be deemed the Authorized
Representative for any of these folks I also have to say that there is too much risk for liability in having any
involvement with the forms for organizations.
1
What reason can we use to "refuse" to sign them?
Very simply- you can refuse to sign them because the Law indicates that the forms must be completed by the Employer
or their Authorized Representative- neither of which you are. And there are many laws and regulations around this
process, so there is just too much risk.
And where can we suggest they go?
This is a matter for their prospective employer to determine. It really isn't a question that can be answered by you or
I. I honestly have no idea how this is happening, since it is such a critical function that an employer undertakes. I really
can't fathom that any employer would be facilitating the process in this manner.
Bottom line: They need to be instructed to contact their prospective employer who must tell them how to get the 1-9
completed and by whom. This can't be a function that your office performs....The fact that their employer is out of the
area or State is not your problem.... 1 know that you want to be helpful, but trust me, this is a very, very serious labor
law, overseen by the DOL, Dept. of Homeland Security, etc. It's not one that you or the County wants to run afoul of...
Most of these individuals are working for someone or a company outside the state so it isn't possible for them to go in
person to the employer.
1 hope this information helps...
Thank you, Amy
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: Alanna Congdon
Sent: Friday, March 2, 2018 4:51:10 PM
To: Amy Guererri
Subject: RE: I-9 Handbook for Employers
No worries, we have had 2 calls about them since the first email :
We really like to keep our customers happy : )
Feel better, stay warm and have a good weekend,
Alanna
From: Amy Guererri
Sent: Friday, March 2, 2018 4:49 PM
To: Alanna Congdon <acongdon@tompkins-co.org>; Maureen Reynolds <mrevnolds@tompkins-co.org>
Subject: Re: 1-9 Handbook for Employers
Alanna- I had to leave work early due to being sick. I do plan to do some research on this over the weekend and
I will get you some answers. So sorry for the delay!
Thanks, Amy.
Get Outlook for iOS
From: Alanna Congdon
Sent: Friday, March 2, 2018 4:47:21 PM
To: Amy Guererri; Maureen Reynolds
Subject: RE: 1-9 Handbook for Employers
2
Hi Amy,
Any thoughts on these questions yet?
Thank you,
Alanna
From: Alanna Congdon
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2018 8:50 AM
To: Amy Guererri <AGUERERRI@tompkins-co.org>; Maureen Reynolds <mrevnolds@tompkins-co.org>
Subject: FW: I-9 Handbook for Employers
Hi Amy,
Thank you to Jennifer for this information.
We had a couple more questions :
What is an "Authorized Representative"?
What reason can we use to "refuse" to sign them?
And where can we suggest they go?
Most of these individuals are working for someone or a company outside the state so it isn't possible for them to go in
person to the employer.
Thank you,
Alanna
From: Jennifer Turner
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2018 1:27 PM
To: Alanna Congdon <acongdon@tompkins-co.org>
Subject: 1-9 Handbook for Employers
Hi Alanna,
I left you a message regarding Amy's response to your question regarding completing 1-9 documents for contractors.
Amy says that under no conditions should staff complete an 1-9 form for outside employees/contractors. Amy suggested
that 1 send you the following employer handbook. Page 2 references when not to fill complete an 1-9 form. If you have
any questions, please contact Amy.
Thank you,
Jennifer Turner
Personnel Assistant
Tompkins County Department of Human Resources
125 E. Court St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
274-5525
3
JAMES A. FERWERDA
Home Address:
312 First St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 273-5255
Current Work Address:
Program of Computer Graphics
580 Theorycenter Building, Hoy Rd.
Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853
(607) 255-7365
Education:
Master of Science (Computer Science/Graphics)
Thesis: "A Psychophysical Approach to the Aliasing Problem in Realistic Image Synthesis."
Minor: Experimental Psychology
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, January 1987
Bachelor of Arts (Experimental Psychology)
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, May 1980
Employment:
SR. PROJECT LEADER/ LECTURER, Program of Computer Graphics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Lead a program of research on perceptual issues in computer graphics. Developed a light measurement
laboratory to allow radiometric and spectral comparison of light propagation models used in image synthesis
to data collected from real environments. Developed a workstation -based component -video animation
facility. Taught an upper -division course in computer graphics in the Department of Computer Science.
January 1987- present.
SYSTEMS ANALYST, Department of Computer Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Managed Department of Computer Science research facility. Developed and maintained systems software.
Integrated new and existing hardware. Developed campus Internet gateway system. Consulted with users on
software development. Directed staff programmers. Oversaw administrative operations. January- September
1984.
INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT, Visionary Systems, Ithaca, NY.
Designed laser -based exhibition graphics systems. Integrated hardware components. Wrote animation
control and display software. June 1983- September 1984.
COMPUTER SYSTEMS SPECIALIST, Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Managed Psychology Department computer systems. Developed systems and applications software for real-
time experimental control and data acquisition. Integrated and maintained hardware. Designed and taught a
course on the laboratory use of microcomputers. Oversaw administrative operations. October 1980- January
1983.
RESEARCH ASSISTANT, E.J. Gibson Perceptual Development Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Did applications programming and apparatus design. Designed and constructed electronic, optical, film, and
video systems used in experiments to determine infants perceptual capabilities. P Developed programs to allow
analysis of experimental 1978-
P gT
y e pe mental data, and graphic display of results. June June 1980.
RESEARCH ASSISTANT, Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Did applications programming and apparatus design for experiments concerning human visual orientation.
Developed devices for presenting stereoscopic graphics, and for monitoring observer position in three
dimensions. October 19'77- June 1979.
JAMES A. FERWERDA
Publications:
Ferwerda, J.A. and Greenberg, D.P., "A Psychophysical Approach to Assessing the Quality of Antialiased
Images", IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 8(5), September 1988, pp. 85-95.
Wanger, L. R. and Ferwerda, J.A., "Dynamic Visual Cues for Spatial Relations in Computer Generated Images,"
In preparation.
Himlan, T.H. and Ferwerda J.A., "Experimental Verification of the Radiosity Model for Simulated Diffuse
Environments," In preparation.
Film and Video Credits:
Co-Producer/Technical Director: "More than the News.", Weekly television news magazine, TV 13, Ithaca NY,
May 1986- present.
Co-Producer/Editor: "The Fourth World", Performance documentary, TV 13, Ithaca, NY, January 1987.
Technical Consultant: "Physics 101 ", Computer animation, Shown at Siggraph '89, Boston, August 1989.
Technical Director: "Visualization of the Thirteen-Diety Vajra Bhairava Mandala ", Computer animation,
July 1990.
Technical Consultant: "Hoppy Rides Again", Computer animation, Shown at Siggraph '90, Dallas,
August 1990.
Grants and Awards:
National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.: Computer and Information Science and Engineering
Instrumentation Grant, "Computer Graphics Dynamic Simulation for Scientific Visualization", September 1987.
American Television and Communications Corp., New York, NY: ACE award for excellence in cable
programming, "More than the News", 1987,'88,'89,'90.
Resist! Foundation,Boston MA: Production Grant, "More than the News", January 1988.
Alternatives Fund, Ithaca, NY: Production Grant, "More than the News", June 1988.
Other Skills:
Technical editing and writing; facilities planning; Spanish 'and German languages.
References:
Available upon request.
NEW YORK STATE COMMISSION ON CABLE TELEVISION
CONSUMER CABLE RIGHTS EXPANDED
PROGRAMMING CHANGES -- Compliance Date April 4, 1990
• A cable television subscriber is entitled to notice of all programming and
other services offered on the cable. television system and the rates and
charges therefor. This notice must be given to every subscriber: .(a) at the
time one subscribes to a cable system; (b) at the time of a request for any
change in service; (c) at the time of a request for any such information; and
(d) semi :annually.
Written notification to affected subscribers is required at least thirty (30)
days prior to the programming change orwithin thirty. (30) days of the date
the cable company first becomes aware of any significant programming or
network programming changes. Such notice shall inform subscribers of
their ability to downgrade or terminate service within forty-five (45) days of
receipt of the notice without charge for such termination or downgrade.
• • Additional notice shall be provided in writing or by screen visual messages
displayed on the affected television program channel or channels and on the
programming listing channel of the cable company (if any) at least once each
hour for no less than thirty (30) days.
If a network or channel is moved from one service tier to another or is
removed from the cable system altogether and a subscriber first subscribed
to the system during the nine months preceding the date of the change, a
subscriber may be entitled to a refund of installation, upgrade or other one-
time charges paid to the cable company if the subscriber chooses to
terminate or downgrade their subscription after the change.
• If a network is moved from the basic tier service to a more expensive tier,
the subscriber may also have the opportunity to upgrade to the more
expensive tier at no charge and to receive the more expensive tier also at no
charge, for a period of six months. If a network is removed from basic
cable service and is not available anywhere'on the system, a subscriber may
be entitled to a credit for a portion of their monthly service payment for a
fixed period of time after the network is removed from the cable system.
2 -
SERVICE =- Compliance Date May 12, 1990
• Credit for outages of four (4) or more hours if service out either on any one
pay service or all basic service. Credit automatic to subscriber when
company aware of outage. Subscriber can still request credit up to ninety
(90) days after outage. Minimum amount of credit is for twenty-four (24)
hours.
• Company shall make a reasonable effort to inform subscribers in writing or
electronically prior to any scheduled service outages for equipment repair or
replacement, system upgrade or rebuild, or any on-going technical
"sweeps" of the system. Prior written notice must be given to the
Commission and affected municipality of such outages.
• Subscriber can request morning, afternoon, evening, or Saturday hours for
service call. If company is a "no show" for time period, the subscriber will
not be charged for the service call or installation.
EQUIPMENT -- Compliance Date May 12, 1990
• All equipment charges for lost, stolen or damaged equipment will be
handled as a billing complaint by the Commission.
• Company must have notified subscriber in writing of potential liability for
such charges and, at time of collection, must inform the subscriber of
his/her right to seek Commission staff review of the circumstances and
charges leading to such liability.
1'1'EMIZED BILLING PRACTICES -- Compliance Date July 12, 1990
Itemized bill: company name, address, due date, levels of service, amount
due, past due, billing period, credits, charges for guides,
equipment.
Commission's Toll Free Assistance Number (1-800-342-3330) on all bills.
Due date for bill -- not less than fifteen (15) days from mailing.
No disconnect or late charges until forty-five (45) days from mailing date
(used to be 30 days).
Separate disconnect notice from bill (method of service,"5, or 8 days prior
to disconnection in Rules now).
No downgrade charge -- if subscriber six months or longer or totally
disconnecting service. Downgrade charge limited to cost for subscribers of
six months or less.
Cable operator to maintain all promotional and information materials to the
public for two (2) years and make available upon request to public.
NEW YORK. STATE COMMISSION ON CABLE TELEVISION
In the Matter of
Amendment of Consumer Service Rules and _
Regulations
90-141
DOCKET NO. 90379
MEMORANDUM ADOPTING RULES
(Released: May 24, 1990)
On February 28, 1989, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was issued in this
docket wherein the Commission proposed to amend existing provisions of its -rules and to
adopt new provisions related to cable television company billing and customer service
requirements and invited comments thereon. Comments and reply comments were
submitted by a variety of interested parties including cable television companies, and
municipal governments.
On November 1, 1989, the Commission adopted rules as attached hereto as
Appendix A and authorized the filing of a Notice of Adoption with the Secretary of State
pursuant to Section 202(5) of the State Administrative Procedure Act ("SADA").
The Notice of Adoption was filed on December 22, 1989 and published in the
State Register on January 10, 1990.' Included with the Notice of Adoption was an
Assessment of Comments in fulfillment of Section 202(5)(b) of SAPA. A copy of the
Assessment is attached hereto as Appendix B. The discussion of the rules herein is intended
to supplement the discussion in the Assessment of Comments.
Since the adoption of the rules in this docket, a new Section 824-a entitled
"Consumer Protection" has been enacted into law.' The new law was effective immediately.
' The rules became effective January 12, 1990. Pursuant to Section 590.60, cable
television companies were required to comply with the rules within 120 days of the effectivee
date or May 12, 1990. The date for compliance with Sections 590.63(a), (b) and (d) '
590.67(a) and (b) has been extended to July 12, 1990. The same date applies to Section
590.63(f) as amended in Docket No. 90403 (infra,) except Section 590.63(f)(4).
2 Chapter 9, Laws of 1990, "An act to amend the executive law in relation to
notification and refunds for changes in programming by a cable television company" effective
February 13, 1990. This law also amends Section 812 of the Executive Law.
2
By separate emergency action in Docket No. 90403, the Commission adopted temporary
rules implementing Section 824-a which rules also include amendments to certain provisions
of the rules adopted in this docket. (Order Adopting Rule and Notice of Proposed.
Rulemaking, Docket No. 90403, 90-081; Released: April 4, 1990.) These changes are
attached hereto as Appendix C. Specifically, the emergency rules affect Sections 590.61(h),
590.62(b)(3), 590.62(c), 590.63(f) and 590.69. The impact of new Section 824-a on these
sections are also discussed herein.
The rules adopted in this docket relate to such matters as billing practices,
billing disputes, advance billing, late payments, collection charges, credit for service outages,
discontinuation of service for non-payment, notice of programming changes and charges
for lost, damaged or stolen equipment. For purposes of our review herein, we shall divide
the new rules into two groups. The first group includes the rules which are not affected by
Section 824-a of the Executive Law. The second group includes the rules which are affected
by Section 824-a and .the emergency rules implementing said section.
I. Rules not affected by Section 824-a
Section 590.63 - Bill format, late charges, collection charges and downgrade
charges. Section 590.63(a) has been amended to require that a subscriber bill "(ii). . .shall
itemize each category of service and piece of equipment for which a charge is imposed;
[and] (iii) state the billing period, amount of current billing and appropriate credits or past
due balances, if any." Section 590.63(b) requires that each "bill shall specify a minimum
time for payment which shall not be less than fifteen (15) days from mailing of the bill."
In the Assessment of Comments filed with the Notice of Adoption, we noted that the rule
requires the "itemization of each category of service rather than each service." We stated
further .that the rule does not require that each bill contain a "list [of) each and every
channel or cable network received by a particular subscriber." We take this opportunity to
summarize the elements of an itemized bill as follows: installation charges, if any; the
number of outlets in the home; a description of the service provided, e.g., basic service or
a higher tier; equipment, but only if a separate charge is imposed therefor; a past due
amount and/or late charge, if any; credits, if any, and the due date. These requirements
apply to residential subscribers who are billed on a regular basis. Where coupon books are
used, a simple itemized statement attached to the booklet or printed on a separate
statement included with the booklet will suffice to comply with the rule. _
Section 590.66 - Credit for service outage. This section requires a cable
company to provide a credit for every service outage in excess of four (4) continuous hours.
The company is obligated by the rule to make a reasonable effort to determine the existence
and scope of an outage including the identification.of subscribers affected. In this regard,
if a subscriber does not receive a credit but has experienced an outage in excess of four con-
tinuous hours, the subscriber may still obtain a credit by notifying the cable company within
ninety days of the outage. The service outage must be a complete outage, i.e., no signals
are being received at the subscriber's television set. The credit to he given for an outage
that exceeds four continuous hours shall be equal to one thirtieth of the monthly charge.
Additional outages within the twenty-four hour period do not require additional credits.
Some commentors have observed that this rule creates a disincentive for prompt attention
3
to service outages after the fourth continuous hour. Such comments fail to recognize that
the rule isnot designed to induce cable companies to repair service outages or to punish
companies for poor performance. Section 824 of the Executive Law already requires cable
companies to provide safe, adequate and reliable service and contains ample remedial
provisions. The rule is designed solely to ensure that a subscriber is not obligated to pay
for services which are not received during a substantial portion of the subscriber's viewing
day.
Subdivision (f) of Section 590.66 requires a cable company to give prior
written notice of an outage that is scheduled as part of a system upgrade or rebuild. Such
notice is to be provided to the Commission and the franchising municipality. In addition,
a company is required to make a reasonable effort to inform subscribers in advance of any
service outage which is scheduled for the purpose of repairing equipment or monitoring the
system. We emphasize here that this requirement applies to outages which are scheduled
sufficiently in advance to permit notice.
Section 590.67 - Discontinuance of service for non-payment. The earliest a
cable company may commence efforts to disconnect a subscriber for non-payment of a bill
has been changed from thirty days after the due date to forty-five days after the date the
bill was mailed to the subscriber. Since, under Section 590.63(b), the due date must he at
least fifteen days from the date of mailing, this rule maintains the same minimum thirty day
period between due date and disconnect date. In fact, this amendment will only impact
those cable companies which under prior rules required payment sooner than fifteen days
from mailing.
Section 590.73 - .Auxiliary equipment.• Cable television companies commonly
provide converters or other modifying or descrambling. equipment to subscribers in
connection with the delivery of cable television programming to the home. This equipment
is valuable and often necessary to permit the delivery to a subscriber of only those services
which the subscriber has agreed to purchase. (The receipt of cable television services that
are not paid for is a crime under certain circumstances pursuant to Section 165.15 of the
Penal Law of the State of New York.) A cable company is entitled to expect reasonable
care of the equipment and the return.of the equipment when the subscription is terminated.
A cable company may impose a charge for damage to the equipment caused by a subscriber
or for failure by the subscriber to return the equipment subject to two conditions. First, the
company mustt have given advance notice to the subscriber of the potential liability for
damage to, or loss of, the equipment. Second, at the time the company seeks- to collect a
charge in a specific case, it must provide the subscriber -in writing with notice of the amount
of the charge and the opportunity to refer the matter to Commission staff for review under
Section 590.5. Such notice to subscribers should also include the Commission's toll free
telephone number and address.
Section 596.8 - Trouble call processing. Subdivision (c) has been amended to
require cable television companies to provide subscribers with the opportunity to schedule
appointments in various day parts, e_...; morning, afternoon, evening or Saturdays. If a
company fails to fulfill an appointment scheduled in this manner, it is prohibited by the
rule from imposing any charge for the service call when made. Four hour windows are.
4
suggested. The rule is not intended to preclude a cable company and an individual from
agreeing .to a more specific. time period for an appointment provided that the subscriber
remains entitled to the same remedy if such appointment is not timely met by the company.
II. Rules affected by Section 824-a
Section 590.61 - Definitions. Section 590.61 was amended by the addition of
a new subdivision (h) which defines a "downgrade charge." (Appendix A) (Section 590.63(f)
imposes restrictions upon the imposition of downgrade charges by cable television
companies, infra.) As part of the law enacting the new Section 824-a the legislature also
amended Section 812 of the Executive Law to include a definition of "downgrade." In order
to avoid redundant and potentially confusing separate definitions, the definition . of
"downgrade charge" in Section 590.61(h) was amended on an emergency basis (Appendix
C) to incorporate the statutory definition of "downgrade" in new Section 812(12).
Section 590.62 - Notification of billing practices. Section 590.62(b) was amended
to clarify the obligation of cable television companies to provide notice of billing practices
to subscribers on an annual basis. (Appendix A) The new Section 824-a affects the existing
rule. Specifically, Section 824-a(4) requires cable television companies to provide notice of
programing and other services offered on the system, the rates and charges therefor and a
statement of significant rights accorded to subscribers on at least a semi-annual basis.'
Billing practices are sufficiently related to the new statutory notice requirements including,
particularly, "significant rights accorded to subscribers", to warrant inclusion as part of a
single comprehensive notification and, accordingly, Section 590.62(b)(3) was amended on
an emergency basis to require that notice of billing practices be given on the same basis as
the new statutory notice requirements. (Appendix C)
Section 590.62(c) was amended to require cable television companies. to
maintain "promotional and general informational materials (including monthly bill stuffers)"
at its local office for public inspection for two years. (Appendix A) Section 824-a(6)(a)
now requires cable television companies to maintain copies of "all advertisements, lists or
other notifications regarding programming or made available to the public" and to make
such information available to the Commission on request. Because the rule and the statute
share a common objective, the statutory language has been embodied in Section 590.62(c)
as amended on an emergency basis. A definition of the term "advertisements, lists or other
notification" is also included in said rule. (Appendix C) Since the obligation to retain such
information now derives from a specific statutory provision, compliance is measured from
the effective date of the statute.
Section 590.63 - Bill format. Subdivision (f) .of Section 590.63 addresses the
issue of downgrade charges. Specifically, it limits the amount of any downgrade charge to
Section 824-a(4)(a) permits a cable company to apply to the Commission for an
extension of the semi-annual mailinyg requirement and also permits a cable company which
bills annually by coupon and does not make regular quarterly mailings to provide notice hy
mail annually.
5
the cost thereof and requires prior notice to subscribers of the e existencof e
su ch where a
charge.
In addition, the rule would preclude the .imposition of
subscriber is terminating all service or wheres
has maintained an additionallimitation ne pon\u
l of
service for six continuous months. Section 824-a nowimposes
the imposition of downgrade charges in the event of a "network chanconsoor iidated inn
t
programming change." The provisions concerning downgrades have been
Section 590.63(f) as amended on an emergency basis to preclude the imposition of a
downgrade charge consistent with Section 824-a(5) whenever a subscriber requests a
downgrade within 45 days of receipt of
noticeon 0 6of a 9A(f))etwork change" or "significant
programming change."(Appendix C So
Section 590.69 - Notice requirements for changes in cable television rates, charges
and programming services offered This section was amended in this docket primarily' to
include a ten day notice requirement for changes in programming servicesooffered
e by cable
on
e
television companies to subscribers. This requirement was superseded
824-a of the Executive Law and, accordingly, all rules applicable to programming or
"network changes are based on the new law and embodied in the rules implementing such
section on an emergency basis. (Appendix C) The notice requirements applicable to
changes in rates have also been transferred to Section 590.69A at paragraph (a). The rule
is intended to provide prior notice to affected subscribers of any change in rates and to
provide affected subscribers the opportunity to request a free downgrade in the event of a
rate increase.
It is noted, in conclusion, that a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is now
pending in Docket No. 90403 wherein the Commission proposes to adopt the emergency
regulations (Section 590.69A) implementing new Section 824-a on a permanent basis. (See
Order No. 90-081) The temporary changes to Sections 590.61(h),. 590.62(h) and (c),
590.63(f) and 590.69 are among the issues upon which parties may comment in that
proceeding. Comments may be submitted until June 8, 1990 and reply comments may be
submitted until June 25, 1990.
Commissioners Participating: William B. Finneran, Chairman; John A. Gussow,
Theodore E. Mulford, John A. Passidomo, Barbara T. Rochman, Commissioners.
NEW YORK STATE COMMISSION ON CABLE TELEVISION
RESOLUTION BY THE COMMISSION
Statutory Authority: Article 28 of the Executive Law, Sections 811, 815
and 816
Docket No. 90379: In the Matter of Amendment to Consumer Service Rules
and Regulations
At a meeting of the Commission on Cable Television held in the City of
Albany, New York on November 1, 1989, the Commission by unanimous vote of its
members present,
RESOLVED:
That the provisions of Section 202(1) of the State Administrative Procedure
Act and Section 101-a(2) of the Executive Law having been complied with, Title 9, Subtitle
R, Part 590, Section 590.61- 590.69 and Part 596, Section 596.8 of the Official.Compilation
of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York are hereby amended, effective
twenty-one (21) days after the date a Notice of Adoption is filed with the Secretary of State.
The Executive Director shall file with the Secretary of State a certificate of rulemaking
pursuant to Section 102(2) of the Executive Law and a Notice of Adoption pursuant to
Section 202(5) of the State Administrative Procedure Act.
APPENDIX A
BILLING -.PRACTICES OF CABLE TELEVISION COMPANIES
590.61 Definitions.. (a) Basic subscriber channel shall mean
any channel which is provided [for in] as part of the basic monthly
service rate.
(b) A billing dispute shall mean a disagreement
between'a subscriber and cable television company concerning:
(1) credits for payments made by the
subscriber to the cable television company;
credit or refund for service outage;
errors . in billing amount; or
assessment of late charges.
(c) Collection charge shall mean a fee or charge
imposed upon a subscriber by a cable television company for its
efforts at collecting or attempting to collect a past due account
by personal visit at a subscriber's home or place of business.
[an account due.]
(d) •Commission shall mean the New York State
Commission on Cable Television.
(e) Late charge shall mean a charge which is added
to a cable television subscriber's account or bill for nonpayment
of a previously due account.
(f) Local office shall mean the business office of
the cable television company serving the municipality in which a
billing dispute arises..
(g) Service outage -shall mean a loss of picture or.
sound on all basic subscriber channels or on one or more auxiliary
programming channels [and] which is not caused by the
subscriber's television receiver [n]or the subscriber.
(h) Downgrade charge shall mean a charge imposed
upon a subscriber for implementing a reauest for a reduction of
services in the amount or level of cable television services.
590.62 Notification of billing practices
television company shall notify each of
writing,] in a separate written notice, of
(a) Every cable
its subscribers, [in
its billing practices
2
and payment requirements [.] including the use of payment coupons.
The notice shall describe or define, [as] at a minimum, billing
procedures (including payment requirements to avoid discontinuance
of service, e.g., payment due dates) , late charges, downgrade
charges, advance billing options, if any, procedures to be followed
in billing disputes and credit to be given for service outages.
(b) Notice shall be given as follows:
(1) to new subscribers, at the time of initial
installation;
(2) to all subscribers, whenever there is a
change in the company's billing practices or
payment requirements; •
(3) to all [existing] subscribers [,within
one year of effective date of these rules.] at.
least annually,
[Thereafter, notice shall be given whenever the company changes its
billing practices.]
(c) [Copies of the company's billing practices and
billing requirements shall be filed with the commission and shall
be filed in the company's local office and shall be available upon
request by a subscriber.] Every cable television company (i) shall.
file copies of its billing practices and payment requirements with
the commission and (ii) shall maintain on file in its local office
for public inspection for a period of two years copies of its
billing practices and payment requirements and promotional and
general informational materials (including monthly bill stuffers).
590.63 Bill format, [L] late charges [and]; collection charges [.]
and downgrade charges. (a) Each subscriber bill shall (i) include
the name, address and telephone number of the company and the toll-
free subscriber assistance telephone number of the commission; (ii)
shall itemize each category of service and piece of equipment for
which a charge is imposed; (iii) state the billing period, amount
of current billing and appropriate credits or past due balances,
if any.
(b) Each subscriber bill shall specify a minimum
time for payment which shall not be less than fifteen (15) days
from mailing of the bill,
[a] (c) Any late charge permitted by law or by the
franchise, if imposed upon the subscriber, shall be itemized on the
subscriber's bill, or notice of*delinquent payment in cases where
coupon books are used.
3
(d] If a late charge is to be imposed it sha 1 not
be imposed sooner than forty-five (45) days after the mailing of
the bill to the subscriber or the due date, if coupons are used.
[b] (e) No cable television company shall impose
a collection charge upon any subscriber, except as prescribed in
subdivision 590.67(e) of this Part.
(f) A cable television company may impose a charge
for downgrading a subscriber's services provided (iZ, that such
charge does not -exceed the cost thereof to the company and_LW_
that subscribers have been notified in writing (print no smaller
than ten point) of such charges. In no event may a downgrade
charge be imposed upon a subscriber who is terminating service
completely or who has maintained the same level of cable television
services for six (6) continuous months immediately prior to a
request for reduction in services. This section shall not apply_
to pay-per-view programming.
590.66 Credit for service outage. (a) Every cable television
company shall give credit, for every service outage in excess of.
[24] four (4) continuous hours [to any subscriber who applies for
it either by written or oral notice.). The [24] four (4) - hour
period shall commence at the time the cable television company
first becomes aware of the outage.
(b) Whenever a cable television company may
reasonably determine the existence and scope of a service outage,
as, for example, a service outage caused by a major failure in the
system's headend or distribution electronic equipment, which
service outage exceeds four (4) continuous hours the cable
television company shall issue a credit to each affected
subscriber,
(c) In the event a cable television company cannot
determine all subscribers affected by a service outage in excess
of four (4) continuous hours, credit shall be given to any eliaib
subscriber who makesapplication therefor by either written or oral
notice within 90 days of the outage.
[b] (d)_ [The credit shall be prorated by
multiplying the applicable monthly service rate by a fraction whose
numerator equals the number of days (or portion thereof) of the
outage and whose denominator equals the number of days in month of
the outage. In no case shall the refund be less than 24 hours
credit.] The minimum credit shall be equal to one thirtieth times
the applicable monthly charge for each twenty-four hour period
Burin• which a service outa•e continues for at least four hours.
[c] (e) A cable television [The] company shall be
responsible for every service outage and shall provide credit to
4
each affected subscriber who [applies for it within 90 days of an.
outage.] is entitled thereto pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c)
of this section.
(f) Prior written notice of a scheduled
service outage due to system upgrade or rebuild shall be
filed with the commission and the affected municipality. Every
cable television company shall make a reasonable effort to inform
subscribers in writing or electronically, in advance, of any
scheduled service outages for equipment repair or replacement,
system upgrade or rebuild, or on-going technical "sweeps" of the
system,
590.67 Discontinuance of service for nonpayment. (a) A cable
television subscriber shall not be considered delinquent in payment
until at least [30] forty-five (45) days have elapsed from the [due
date of the bill or account] mailing of the bill to the subscriber
or due date, if coupons are used, and payment has not been received
by the company.
(b) No cable television company shall phvsicalJY
or electronically discontinue service for nonpayment of bills
rendered for service until:
(1) the subscriber is delinquent in payment
for cable television service; and
(2) at least five days have elapsed after a
separate written notice of impending discontinuance
has been served personally upon a subscriber; or
(3) at least eight days have elapsed after
mailing to the subscriber a separate written notice
of impending. discontinuance (for which postage is
paid bythe cable television company), addressed to
such person at the premises where [service is
rendered; or] the subscriber requests billing; or
(4) at least five days have elapsed after a
subscriber has either signed for or refused a
certified letter (postage to be paid by the cable
television company), containing a separate written
notice of impending discontinuance addressed to such
person at the premises where [service is rendered.]
the subscriber requests billing,
(c) Notice of service discontinuance shall clearly
state the amount in arrears, the total amount required to be paid
to avoid discontinuance of service, reconnection charges if
applicable, and the date by which, and the place where, such
payment must be made.
5
(d) No cable television company shall disconnect
service .for nonpayment on a Sunday, public holiday or a day when
the local office of the company is not open for business withoutt
providing an opportunity for the subscriber to pay [a]
the in arrears.
(e) When a company is at a subscriber's residence
or place of business to disconnect service and the subscriber, at
that time, pays the amount in arrears in lieu of disconnection, the
company may add a reasonable collection charge to the subscriber's
bill provided all other applicable provisions of this section have
been followed.
(f) Receipt of a subsequently dishonored negotiable
instrument in response to a notice of discontinuance shall not
constitute payment, and no cable television company shall be
required to issue, an additional notice prior to discontinuance.
590.69 Notice of requirements for [increase] changes in cable
television rates, [and] charges and programming services offered.
(a) Every cable television company shall provide notice of [an
increase] a change in. [a] rates [for any cable television service]
or programming services offered. The notice shall be in writing
and shall specify the service or services affected, the new rate
[,] or charge, including the amount of the [increase] change, and
the effective date thereof.
(b) Notice shall be provided as follows:
(1) to subscribers affected by the [rate
increase] changes in rates, charges or programming
services offered at least ten (10) days prior to the
effective date of such [increase] change; and
(2) to the franchising municipality and the
commission .[no later than thirty (30) days after
the] at least ten (10) days prior to the effective
date of the change in rates, charges or programming
services offered.
(c) Every cable television company which has
increased rates pursuant to Section 623 of the Cable Communications
Policy Act of 1984 prior to the effective date hereof shall serve
written notice of any such increase upon the franchising
municipality and the commission within 30 days of the effective
date of this section.
(d)In any case where a subscriber requests
cancellation or reduction of service within 30 days of the
effective date of [a rate] an increase in rates or charges for such
6
service-, the liability of the subscriber for services received
after the effective date of [the rate increase] such changes until.
the cancellation or reduction of service, shall be determined in
accordance with the rates or charges in effect prior to such
[increase] change.
(e) This section shall not apply to pay for view
programming.
590,73 Auxiliary equipment, (a) When a cable television company
supplies auxiliary equipment such as a converter or other modifying
device to a subscriber the company can expect reasonable care of
such equipment by the subscriber. A cable operator shall notify
the subscriber and the commission in writing of any char es to
subscribers for lost, stolen or damaged converters. In the event
such equipment is lost, stolen or damaged, and the cable television
company seeks to charge the subscriber for such equipment, the
company shall give written, dated notice to the subscriber of the
amount sought and the subscriber's opportunity to refer the matter
to the commission in accordance with the provisions of Section
590,5 of this subtitle. If referral is not made to the commission
within 30 days of the date of the notice, the company may commence
its collection procedures.
596.8 Trouble calling processing. (a) A telephone number shall
be made available to which subscribers may direct trouble calls.
In the event that trouble calls must be made outside the
subscriber's local dialing area, the calls must be toll free.
(b) Investigative action shall be initiated on the
same day a trouble . call is received at the local office, if
possible, but in no case later than the following business day.
(c) Whenever a service call to the subscriber's
premises is required, the company shall advise such subscriber of
the opportunity to schedule the service call for the morning or
afternoon hours (or evenings or Saturdays, if available) and shall
schedule such service call in accordance with the subscriber's
request. If, for any reason, the service call is not made within
the scheduled time frame, the subscriber shall not be charged for
such service call including anv installation or reconnection made
as a result thereof.
[ (c) ] (d)_ A report on each trouble . call in which
a cable system fault reported by a single subscriber was identified
shall be filed at the local office, and shall include the following
data:
(1) subscriber identification;
(2) date and approximate time complaint
7
was received;
(3) .date and approximate time of
response;
(4) nature of complaint;
(5) brief. description of the fault;
(6) signal level measured on each active
class I channel after corrective action,
where appropriate;
(7,) corrective steps taken (if any
required);
(8) date case is closed; and
(9) identification of technician or
[repairman] reTpairperson.
[(d)} (e)_ A report on each system fault, or on any
failure reported by more than one subscriber and affecting an area,
shall be filed at the local office and shall include the following
data:
(1) brief description of the area
affected sufficient to allow the later
determination of the number of subscribers
affected;
(2) date and approximate time of
failure;
(3) cause of failure; and
(4) date and time service is restored.
[(e)] (f) A report for each trouble call in
which. no trouble was identified, or in which further instruction
was required to enable the subscriber properly to adjust the
terminal receiving equipment, or in which the fault was in the
subscriber's receiving equipment, shall be filed at the local
office and shall include:
(1) subscriber identification;
(2) date and time complaint was received;
(3) date and time of response;
(4) nature of complaint;
8
(5) corrective steps taken (if any
required) ; and
(6) identification of technician or
[repairman] repairperson.
[(f)] (q) Any report required to be maintained
pursuant to this section shall be kept by the operator for a period
of two years from the event to which it relates.
APPENDIX B
ASSESSMENT OF:COMMENT
The rules address such issues as billing practices and payment
requirements (i d bill
t stomer service and charges
for damaged lost auxiliary equipment.
Billing
The rules, as proposed, would have required cable companies
to file with the Commission copies of all promotional and general
information materials which were distributed by the cable company
to subscribers. Most cable companies that filed comments oppose
this requirement citing, among other things, the voluminous
material that would be included within the scope of the rule as
well as the cost to the companies for providing, and the presumed
costs to the Commission for reviewing and compiling, such material.
We are persuaded by the comments that it is not necessary to
require the filing of such material with us and we have modified
the rule to require only that the materials be filed by a cable
company in its local office to be made available therein for
inspection for a period of two years subsequent to filing.
Section 590.63(a) of the proposed rules included a requirement
that each service received by the subscriber be itemized on the
bill. Certain cable television companies contend that existing
software or billing systems cannot readily accommodate itemized
billing. One company suggested that itemization would create more
confusion. Still other companies did not contest this proposal and
the Cable Television Association of New York (CTANY) observed that
• the rule should not be misinterpreted to require the attribution
of charges for equipment when, in fact, there is no separate or
direct charge for the equipment. In this regard, we note that the
fact that certain equipment is required to receive certain services
-does not mean that a charge must necessarily be attributable to the
equipment. As adopted, the rule requires the itemization of each
category of service rather than each service. This change is
intended to eliminate any confusion about the scope of the rule.
It is not necessary to list each and every channel or cable network
received by the subscriber. We have also added to the rule the
fundamental components of any bill including the billing period and
amount of current billing, past due balances and credits, if any.
We note here that Commission records show that approximately one—
third of all complaints to cable companies and the Commission are
billing disputes, many of which involve a lack of understanding as
to the precise services involved. It is' also our experience that
since Congress approved rate deregulation, service packages and
program offerings have changed with greater frequency..
Section 590.63(b),. as proposed, required that each bill
. contain a due date which is not sooner than fifteen days from
-2 -
receipt of the bill. Various cable companies objected to the
standard including the difficulty of measuring the time period
because of the uncertainty of the date the bill is received by a
subscriber. We have modified this rule such that the fifteen day.
period shall be measured from the date a bill is mailed by the
company. Of course, cable companies will be expected to maintain
complete and accurate records of the date all subscriber bills are
mailed.
In Section 590.63(d), it was proposed that a late charge not
be imposed unless payment was not made for a period of thirty days
after mailing of the bill. Various governmental entities including
the Town of Greenburgh and the Borough of Manhattan urged a longer
period for timely payment particularly in view of the fact that the
billing may occur on or before the first of the month for which
service is to be provided. We have modi,fied this section to extend
from thirty to forty-five days the period for payment without
liability for a late charge.
Our proposal at Section 590.67(a) to extend from thirty days
to forty-five days the minimum time for discontinuance of service
for non-payment remains unchanged. However, we have modified the
language to include reference to payment coupons in accordance with
the sugg:Ision of the Office of Business Permits and Regulatory
Assistance (OBPRA).
Section 590.63(f), as proposed, included limitations upon the
imposition of downgrade charges. Certain companies and CTANY
suggested that downgrade charges may be within the rates
deregulated in the. Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984. Other
parties suggested that it was unfair to limit downgrade charges to
less than cost inasmuch as it would require the subsidization of
such charges by all subscribers. We .. have modified.. Section
590.63(f) to remove an absolute dollar limitation on the amount of
the charge in favor of the company's cost for implementing a
downgrade. At the same time, we have expanded the class of
subscribers against whom a downgrade charge may not be imposed to
include any subscriber requesting a termination of all. cable
television service. We have also changed the rule to require
specific, advance notification of downgrade charges as a condition
to the imposition of same where permitted under the rule. Finally,
we. have modified the rule to include at Section 590.61(h) a
definition of downgrade charge.
Customer Service
At Section 590.63(f), we proposed a rule which would have
required cable television companies to "conduct routine
maintenance" at times which would cause the least amount of
disruption to subscribers. Staten Island Cable, among others,
commented that the rule concerning routine maintenance would deny
the flexibility needed by a cable operator. To provide some
-3 -
measure of flexibility, the rule was revised to require a
Pasonae effort on the part of cable companies to notify
subscribers in writing or electronically of scheduled outages.
This revision also is responsive to comments by OBPRA which
suggested that "notice. . .due to routine maintenance" be changed
to "notice due to. . .scheduled maintenance." We have maintained
the language in the proposed rule which would require cable
companies to notify the Commission and affected municipalities in
writing of any scheduled service outages due to system upgrades or
rebuilds. We believe that these types of outages can be determined
sufficiently in advance to provide notice and that such notice will
assist local officials and Commission staff in responding to
subscriber inquiries.
Section 596.8(c) of the proposed rule addressed matters
pertaining to customer service calls. Our concern here is based
upon the frustration experienced by subscribers when a cable
company fails to fulfill a scheduled appointment. Specifically,
we proposed that cable companies specify the part of the day, i.e._,
morning, afternoon or evening hours, the service call would be
made. We further proposed that a cable company make a reasonable
effort to inform the subscriber in the event such an appointment
could not be kept timely. The Town of Greenburgh commented on this
issue in which it asserted that stronger, more specific language
than "reasonable effort. . ." be required. when an appointment
cannot be kept. Upon further review, we are persauded that a
greater incentive for the timely fulfillment of service calls is
warranted. Accordingly, we have modified the proposed rule to
preclude the imposition of a charge for any service call which is
not made within the appointed time frame.
. •n -
At Section 590.73(b), we proposed a rule which would have
limited the liability of a subscriber for lost, stolen or damaged
auxiliary equipment, such as channel converters, to the net book
value of the equipment. This proposal generated many comments from
cable television companies. The comments of TKR Cable, which are
generally representative of other. comments, expressed a special
concern that equipment such as a channel converter, if not
returned, can be used for the unlawful receipt or theft
ofthable
e
television at other locations. The company suggests
ability to impose significant charges is necessary to provide an
incentive for subscribers to take care of, and return,
the
equipment. CTANY suggests that the "proper and valid valuation of
descrambling security equipment is not measured by hardware
considerations. .[and that] the loss. . .can only be measured by
its theft potential." Accordingly, CTANY asserts that:the rule as
proposed is "grossly unfair and would encourage misuse and theft"
and that the Commission should defer adoption of a rule pending
further ingorrdesc amblersmatter.
be employed unlawfully to recei
c
ve
converters ,
-4 -
cable television service. On the other hand, it is also true that
the inability of a subscriber to return equipment may be
attributable to causes.beyond the control of the subscriber such
as theft or destruction by fire and that any policy which includes
an element of deterrence or "compensation" for more than the cost
of the equipment as such, should be fairly and consistently
applied. For now, we have determined to modify the proposal by
eliminating an absolute maximum amount that can be imposed upon a
subscriber who is unable to return auxiliary equipment. .The rule
we are adopting requires any company which attempts to collect a
charge for a lost converter to notify the subscriber of an
opportunity to appeal the company's decision with Commission staff
within thirty days of receipt of notice of said charge. The
Commission will review the matter in accordance with the procedures
for review of billing complaints. If no appeal is filed by the
subscriber, a cable company can proceed with its collection
procedures. Of course, a cable television subscriber can still be
required to exercise reasonable care in the use and possession .of
the company's auxiliary equipment.
APPENDIX C
Rules pursuant to Section 824-a of the Executive Law (Ch. 9, Laws of 1990)
590.69A Notice requirements for rates, charges, programming and subscriber's
rights.
(a) Rates and charges. Every cable television company shall provide notice of
any changes in rates or charges for any cable television service. The notice shall be
in writing and shall specify the service or services affected, the new rate or charge,
including the amount of the increase and the change a and
o the he of etive vedatdaeet hereof.
Nf any
Notice shall be provided at least ten (10) days prior
changes in rates or charges to the subscribers affected thereby, the Commission and
the franchising municipality. The notice to subscribers shall inform subscribers of the
opportunity to request a downgrade or termination of service within thirty (30) days
of the receipt of the notice without any charge therefor and without any.liability for
payment of any higher rate or charge.
. (b) Significant programming change. (1) Definitions. For purposes of this
section (i) a "significant programming change" shall mean the removal or alteration
of recurring programming which materially changes the quality or level of
programming on a network; provided, hoWethater, such terms nicnations Commission,
include deletions
of programs mandated by the regulations of the Federal Comm
nor shall it include deletions of programs that are distributed by the cable television
company in lieu of such programs deleted pursuant to such regulations of the Federal
Communications Commission; (ii) a "network" shall mean a group of programs
distributed, packaged, promoted or sold to subscribers as the offering of a single
(iii) entity, including but not limited to, a channel or station; and (itt "service tier" shall
mean a category of cable television services or other services provided by a cable
television company and for which a rate or fee is charged by the cable television
company, including, but not limited to, basic services, premium networks or services,
recurring pay-per-view services and other categories of .cable services for which there
are additional charges.
(2) Notice required. Every cable television company shall provide notice of a
significant programming change to the Commission and to subscribers affected
thereby.
(3) Notice to commission. Notice shall be provided to the Commission no later
than the later occurring of forty-five (45) days prior to the effective date of the change
or within five (5) business days of the date upon which the cable television company
first knows of such change. msuchrecurring specifyoramm n
�he gwas
recurring
or rrwillning
be,
affected by the change, whetherg P
distributed as part of basic cable service or some other service tier immediately prior
to the change and the effective date of the change.
(4) Notice to subscribers. Notice shall be 'provided to subscribers who are
receiving services affected by such change in writing no later
effective date of such change orhwithh
of thirty (30) days prior to then thirty (30) days
of the date upon which the cable television company first knows of such change and
by written on-screen visual message prominently displayed on the affected television
program channel dr channels, and on the program listing channel of the cable
television system, if one is provided, at least once each hour for no less than a thirty
(30) day period.
(5) Form and content of notice to subscribers. Notice shall be directed to each
affected subscriber as follows: (i) by the mailing of a separate written notice to the
subscriber's billing address of record; or (ii) by a written notation printed on the
subscriber's regular billing statement; or (iii) by a written notice accompanying the
subscriber's regular billing statement. Such notice shall specify the recurring
programming affected by the change and the effective date of the change. Such notice
shall also inform, subscribers of the opportunity to downgrade or terminate service
within forty-five (45) days of the receipt of the notice without charge for such
termination or downgrade.
(c) Network change. (1) Definitions. For purposes of this subdivision, (i) a
"network change" shall mean the removal of a network from a service tier whether or
not added to another tier or a substantial alteration of the character of a network by
a cable television company or an affiliate it controls except that a "network change"
shall not include the removal of a network from a service tier within thirty-one (31)
days of the date upon which such network was added to such service tier for
promotional purposes; where such promotion was clearly disclosed to subscribers;
(ii) the "character of a network" shall be determined by reference to the nature, mix
and quantity of programming provided on the network and whether such programming
is supported by commercial sponsorship or other means. (The character of a network
which contains a uniform programming format, e.g., an all -shopping channel, an all-
weather channel, an all -sports channel, etc., shall be considered distinct from the
character of a network which includes various categories of programming. The
character of a network shall also include consideration of whether a network provides
programming twenty-four (24) hours per day .or some lesser period of time); and
(iii) "promotes repeatedly and in a significant manner" shall mean a promotion of
the availability of a particular network un basic cable service which is designed to
encourage the public to subscribe to basic cable service to receive such network and
which is conducted by -use of multiple media or by the multiple use of a single
medium.
(2) Notice required. Every cable television company shall provide notice of a
network change to the Commission and to the subscribers affected thereby.
(3) Notice to commission. Notice shall be provided to the Commission no later
than the later occurring of forty-five (45) days prior to the effective date of the change
or within five (5) business days of the date upon which the cable television company
first knows of such change. Notice shall specify the network affected by the change,
whether such network was, or will be, distributed as part of the basic cable service or
some other service tier immediately prior to the change and the effective date of the
change. If the network change .relates to the basic service tier, the notice to the
Commission shall also state whether said network has been repeatedly promoted by
e on its basic
service
the cable television company asal of the change and,dif the n d work has been
uring the six
months immediately preceding the date
so promoted during such period ofs time, the notice concluded and nlumbso erluof sude bscoribers who
c date
upon which such promotion
commenced their subscription to lasbasic cable t of promotion. ice of thegnehvork chae ninety ngerelates
ays
immediately before and after theday
to a network that is being deleted from
statewhetherable service
dnetwork not co be
silable
to be
on any other service tier, the no
ision
ny. For
ses
this paragraph
reasonably available to the cable available Loathe cable teleovisio�f companv'sha 1
the term "continues to be reasonably
mean a network, including a broadcast tlo its subscribers bscribers as part of station, that has been
basic cable
ully
distributed by the cable televisioncompany
service and without a substantialieon on�h f ch samee character
terms � df the conditionslas beaore
ins
available to the cable televisioncompany
or remains available to the television company
pursuant conditions terms and
as previously agreed. A network hallalso bensided to continue to be reasonably
available to a cable television company when, notwithstanding a modification of the
terms and conditions under which it may be distributed or a change in the character
of the network, the Commission so determines in writing based upon consideration
of (i) whether the cable television
company
leasedaccess, if if any,commercial
charact leased
r
access and the terms and conditions of
of the network relative to the character of other networks distributed on the system
and the manner of distribution of such other network; (iii) the terms and conditions
pursuant to which the network is available to the cable television company relative to
the terms and conditions applicable to the distribution by the cable television company
of other networks as part of basic cable television service; (iv) the extent to which
the network is currently being distributed by other cable television companies in the
state as part of basic cable television service on terms and conditions similar to the
terms and conditions at issue; and (v) the extent to which the cable television
company may have an ownership interest in any network distributed on the system
which is similar in character to the terminated network.
(4) Notice to subscribers. Every cable television company shall provide notice
of a network change .to each .subscriber affected thereby. Such notice shall be
provided to subscribers who are receiving services affected by any such change in
writing no later than the later occurring of thirty (30) days prior td the effective date
of any change or within thirty (30) days of the date upon which the cable television
company first knows of such change and by written on-screen visual message
prominently displayed on the affected television programming channel or channels,
and on the program listing channel of the cable television system, if one is provided,
at least once each hour for no less than a thirty (30) day period.
(5) Form and content of notice to subscribers. Notice shall be directed to each
affected subscriber as follows (irecord; fhe or mailing of y a writtpnrate notationen prnn printed the
the
subscriber's billing address of ( )
subscribers regular billing statement;
i) bice shaliwritten
spec fy the network affected
subscriber's red lar billing statement. Such no
by the change and the effective date of the change and shall inform subscribers of the
-4 -
opportunity to downgrade or terminate service within forty-five (45) days of the
receipt of the notice without any charge for such termination or downgrade.
(6) Additional provisions for network change affecting a premium service tier.
If the notice describes a network change that affects a network that was being
distributed as part of a premium service tier immediately prior to the change such
notice shall also inform subscribers who have incurred installation, upgrade or other
one-time charges relating to such premium service tier within six months prior to the
effective date of the change, or who have prepaid any monthly service charges for said
premium service tier, that they may elect to downgrade or terminate service within
thirty (30) days of the receipt of such notice and obtain a rebate of any such charges.
(7) Additional provisions for network change affecting basic cable service. If the
notice describes a network change which affects a network that was being distributed
as part of basic cable service immediately prior
company and
reange, in a significant manthe ner ter as
rk was
repeatedly promoted by the cable television
available as part of basic cable service at any time during the six months immediately
preceding the date of the change, such notice, or a second notice given in the same
manner as the first notice within thirty (30) days of the first notice, shall contain
additional information as follows: (i) Removal of network to premium tier. If a
network is moved from basic cable service to a more expensive tier, such notice shall
inform subscribers who commenced their subscriptions to basic cable service during
the ninety (90) day period immediately before or after the last day of the promotion,
of the opportunity, within thirty (30) days of receipt of the notice either (a) to
upgrade to the more expensive service tier which includes the network .at no charge
and to receive said service tier for up to six months also at no charge; or (b) to
terminate service and receive a refund of all installation, upgrade or other one -tine
charges paid during the six months prior to the change. (ii) Removal of network
from system. If a network (a) is deleted from basic cable service, (b) was a
substantial inducement to a significant number of subscribers, and (c) continues to
be reasonably available to the cable television company, such notice shall inform
• subscribers who commenced their subscriptions to basic cable service during the ninety
(90) day period immediately before or after the last dayof the promotion, of the
opportunity, within thirty (30) days of receipt of the notice, either (aa) to terminate
service and receive a refund of all installation, upgrade or other one-time charges paid
during the six months prior inthe notice whchange, or bbh cr) edit shall bentinue eforce a portion olve a
f the
credit in the amount specified
monthly rate for basic cable service for each month or portion thereof the network
is not available on the system during the six month period commencing with the last
day of the promotion, or (cc) to continue service and petition the commission for
determination of the amount of an appropriate credit for a portion of the monthly.
rate for basic cable service for each month or portion thereof the network is not
available on the system during the six month period commencing with the last day of
the promotion.
(d) Pay per view programming. Subdivision (a) - (c) shall not apply to pay per
view programming.
-5-
(e) Other subscriber .rights. (1) Notice required. Every cable television
company shall provide notice concerning the programming and other services offered
on the cable television system and the rates and charges therefor.
(2) Form and content of notice. (i) Notice shall be provided (a) to ne'.v
subscribers at the time of installation; (b) to any subscriber who requests a chance
in service; (c) to all subscribers at least semi-annually; provided, however, that any
cable television company that bills subscribers only by coupon book and does not
provide regular mailings to subscribers at least quarterly may provide such notice to
subscribers on an annual basis; and (d) to any person who requests such information.
(ii) Notice shall be in writing and (a) shall be provided immediately where a
request is made in person or (b) shall be provided by first class mail sent within ten
(10) business days of the date of any request made by telephone or in writing. (iii)
The notice shall contain a description, materially accurate as of the first day of the
previous month, of all service tiers and the networks provided thereon and the rates
and charges therefor and any other services offered to subscribers and the rates and
charges for such other services. The notice shall also include a statement of
significantrights accorded to subscribers pursuant to Section 824-a of the Executive
Law and the regulations promulgated by the commission. Such statement shall be in
-. a form as approved by the commission. In addition, notice to new subscribers shall
include a copy of any notice which has been sent -to current subscribers pursuant to
subdivisions (a) - (c) of this section within the previous sixty (60) days.
(f) Amendments to existing rules. (1) Section 590.61(h) of the commission's
rules is amended to read:
590.61 Definitions.
(h) Downgrade charge. shall mean a charge imposed upon a subscriber
for implementing a request [for a reduction of services in the amount or
level of cable television services.] by the subscriber for a change in service
to a less expensive tier than the tier currently subscribed to.
(2) Sections 590.62(b) and (c) of the Commission's rules are amended to read:
590.62 Notification of billing practices.
(b) Notice shall be given as follows:
(3) toall subscribers.at least [annually.] semi-annually.
-6-
(c) Every cable television company (i) shall file copies of its billing
practices and payment _requirements with the commission and (ii) shall
maintain on file in its local office for public inspection for a period of two
years copies of its billing, practices and payment requirements ar.d
[promotional and general informational materials (including. monthly bill
stuffers).] all advertisements. lists or other notifications regarding
programming sent to or made available to the oublic. For purposes of this
subdivision, "advertisements, lists or other notifications" shall mean any
commercial messages which a cable television company originates and
causes to be disseminated to the public or its subscribers bv means of
radio television or orint, or pursuant to a printed directive. which relate
to the service tiers, networks or programming offered bv said company to
its subscribers and the rates and charges therefor, except that such terms
shall not include any commercial message concerning a network or
Programming which originates with the .network or programmer
independent of the cable television comoanv.
(3) Section 590.63(f) of the Commission's rules is amended to read:
590.63 Bill format, late charges, collection charges and downgrade charges.
(f) A cable television company may impose a [charge for downgrading
a subscriber's services provided (i) that such charge does not exceed the
cost thereof to the company and (ii) that subscribers have been notified
in writing (print no smaller than ten point) of such charges. In no event
may a downgrade charge beimposed upon a subscriber who is terminating
service completely or who has maintained the same level of cable television
services for six (6) continuous months immediately prior to a request for
reduction in services. This section shall not apply • to pay-per-view
programming.] downgrade charge upon the conditions and in the
circumstances as follows:
(1) subscribers have been notified of such charge in writing in at
least 10 point type.,
(2) the charge does not exceed the cost of the downgrade to the
company:
(3) the downgrade is from a level of service which the subscriber
has not maintained continuously for six (6) months immediately preceding
the date of the downgrade.
(4) the downgrade was not requested by a subscriber affected by
a "significant programming change" or a "network change"within forty-five
(45) days of the receipt by the subscriber of the notice required by Section
590.69A(b'(4) and (c)(4).
-7-
(g) This section shall be effective immediately upon filing with the Secretary of
State and shall supersede any Commission rule inconsistent herewith including
particularly, but without limitation, Section 590.69.
•
Weekly Bulletin October 5, 1990
STATE OF NEW YORK
COMMISSION ON CABLE TELEVISION
EMPIRE STATE PLAZA
TOWER BUILDING
ALBANY, NEW YORK 12223
This Bulletin contains three categories of information:
Requests for Commission Action
Summary of Commission Action
Notes of General Interest
For a complete description and listing of all requests and actions,
or for further information regarding items in the bulletin, please
contact our Albany office at 518-474-4992.
For the period covered: September 28, 1990 through October 4, 1990.
REQUESTS FOR COMMISSION ACTION
Docket
Number
31122 Application by Cablevision Industries for
approval of a renewal of its franchise with
the Village of Honeoye Falls (Monroe
County)(Initial Franchise DN 11094)
31123 Application by Cablevision Industries for.
approval of a renewal of its franchise with
the Village of Lima (Livingston County)
(Initial Franchise DN 11145)
31124 Application by Cablevision Industries for
approval of a renewal of its franchise with
the Village of Livonia (Livingston County.)
(Initial Franchise DN 10867)
31125 Application by Cablevision Industries for
approval of a renewal of its franchise with
the Village of Scottsville (Monroe County)
(Initial Franchise DN 11146)
Date
Received
10/3/90
10/3/90
10/3/90
10/3/90
Weekly Bulletin
-2- October 5, 1990
Docket Date
Number Received
30598 Application by Paragon Cable for approval 10/4/90
of a renewal of its franchise with the
Village of Earlville (Chenango County)
(Initial.Franchise DN 10965)
30599 Application by Paragon Cable for approval 10/4/90
of a renewal of its franchise with the
Village of Hamilton (Madison County)
(Initial Franchise DN 10593)
30600 Application by Paragon Cable for approval 10/4/90
of a renewal of its franchise with the
Village of Morrisville (Madison County)
(Initial Franchise DN 11033)
30601 Application by Paragon Cable for approval 10/4/90
of a renewal of its franchise with the
Village of Sherburne (Chenango County)
(Initial Franchise DN 10830)
30775 Application by Paragon Cable for approval 10/4/90
of a renewal of its franchise with the
Town of Hamilton (Madison County)
(Initial Franchise DN 10966)
30931 Application by Paragon Cable for approval 10/4/90
of a renewal of its franchise with the
Town of Eaton (Madison County)
(Initial Franchise DN 11021)
30934 Application by Paragon Cable for approval 10/4/90
of a renewal of its franchise with the
Town.of Sherburne (Chenango County)
(Initial Franchise DN 10957)
30802 Application by AR Cable Services for 10/4/90
approval of a renewal franchise with the
Town of Putnam (Putnam County)
(Initial Franchise DN 10880)
30806 Application by AR Cable Services for 10/4/90
approval of a renewal franchise with the
Town of Somers (Westchester County)
31119 .Application by AR Cable Services for
approval of a renewal franchise with the
Village of Cedarhurst (Nassau County)
(Initial Franchise 10763)
10/4/90
Weekly Bulletin -3- October 5, 1990 !'
• 31120 Application by AR Cable Services for
approval of a renewal franchise with the
Village of East Williston (Nassau County)
(Initial Franchise DN 10922)
31121 Application by AR Cable Services for
approval of a renewal franchise with the
Village of Floral Park (Nassau County)
(Initial Franchise DN 11093)
30889 Application by Greater Rochester
Cablevision Inc for a renewal of
its franchise with the Village of
Pittsford (Monroe County)
(Initial Franchise DN 10597)
Docket
Number
10271-R88
SUMMARY OF COMMISSION ACTION
10/4/90
10/4/90
10/3/90
Date
Released
Application of Suffolk Cable of Smithtown, 09/28/90
d/b/a Viacom Cablevision for approval of 88-294-A
the renewal of its certificate of confirmation
for the Town of Smithtown (Suffolk County)
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
10286-R88 Application of Cablevision Systems Islip
Corporation for approval of the renewal
of its certificate of confirmation for the
Village of Babylon (Suffolk County)
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
Application of Samson Cablevision Corp.,
d/b/a Viacom Cablevision for approval of
the renewal of a certificate of confirmation
for the Town of Islip (Suffolk County)
Application of Cablevision Systems Islip 10/01/90
Corporation for approval of the renewal of 88-293-A
a certificate of confirmation for a
franchise for the Town of Islip (Suffolk Co.)
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATES OF CONFIRMATION
Application of Sammons Communications of
New York, Inc. for renewal of its cable
television franchise for the Town of
Mayfield (Fulton County) Initial Docket
No. 10911
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
10315-R88
10289-R88
30653
09/28/90
88-295-A
10/01/90
88-293-A
10/01/90
89-203-A
Weekly Bulletin
1990
-4- October 5, .
30654 Application of Sammons,. Communications of
New York, Inc. for renewal of its cable
television franchise for. the Village of
Mayfield (Fulton County) Initial Docket
No. 10912
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
30691 Application of Sammons Communications of
New York, Inc. for renewal of its cable
television franchise for the City of
Gloversville (Fulton County) Initial Docket
No. 10260
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
30692 Application of Sammons Communications of
New York, Inc. for renewal of its cable
television franchise for the Town of
Johnstown (Fulton County) Initial Docket No.
10913
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
10/01/90
89-202-A
10/01/90
89-200-A
10/01/90
89-201-A
30752 Application of Greene Cablevision Co.,Inc. 10/01/90
for approval of the renewal of its cable 90-300
television franchise for the Village of
Greene (Chenango County.) Initial Docket No.10253
ORDER APPROVING RENEWAL
31053 Application of Mid -Hudson Cablevision, Inc. 10/01/90
for approval of a renewal by option of its 90-301
cable television franchise for the Town
of Bethlehem (Albany County) Initial Docket
No. 11126
ORDER APPROVING RENEWAL
• 10131-R88 Application of NewChannels Corp. for 10/02/90
approval of- the renewal of its certificate 88-276-A
of confirmation for the City of Corning
(Steuben County) Initial Docket'No. 10131
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
30532 Application of NewChannels Corp. for 10/02/90
approval of the renewal of its cable 89-082-A
television franchise for the Town of
Corning (Steuben County) Initial Docket
No. 10129
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
30567 Application of NewChannels Corp. for 10/02/90
approval of the renewal of its cable 89-083-A
television franchise for the Town of
Campbell (Steuben County) Initial Docket
No. 10124
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
4
Weekly Bulletin
30568 Application of NewChannels Corp. for
approval of the renewal of its cable
television franchise for the Village
of Painted Post (Steuben County)
Initial Docket No. 10189
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
October 5, 1990
10/02/90
89-084-A
30570 Application of New Channels Corp. for 10/02/90
approval of the renewal of its cable 89-085-A
television franchise for the Village
of Riverside (Steuben County)
Initial Docket No. 10130
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
30596 Application of New Channels Corp. for 10/02/90
approval of the renewal of its cable 89-086-A
television franchise for the Village of
Addison (Steuben County) Initial Docket No. 10126
ORDER EXTENDING CERTIFICATE OF CONFIRMATION
NOTE OF GENERAL INTEREST
1990 INFORMATION SURVEY
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that at its regular meeting on
October 3, 1990, the Commission determined that any
cable television company which has not submitted a
completed 1990 INFORMATION SURVEY questionnaire
for each system it operates in New York State, by the
close of business on Tuesday,. October 15, 1990, will be
subject to a forfeiture in the amount of one hundred
dollars ($100.00), pursuant to section 827-a.2(c) of Article
28 of the Executive Law.
Frances Ann McKenzie
(607) 533-4586
P.O. Box 187, Lansing, New York 14882
8 October 1990
To: Ithaca City Cable Commission
and the
Access Advisory Board
I regretfully must resign my position as member of the Access
Advisory Board, effective November 1, 1990.
I have accepted an offer to work for WSKG as Manager of Member
Services in Binghamton and will be unable to attend meetings in
Ithaca.
I have enjoyed working with the Access Advisory Board and wish
you all continued success.
Sincerely,
CITY OF ITHACA
TV CABLE COMMSSION
Meeting
October 9, 1990
7:30 PM
Third Floor Conference Room - City Hall
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of minutes of September 18, 1990 meeting
3. Chair's report
a. Organizational Support from the City
b. Commission Records
b. Nominations of New Commission Members
4. Public comment
5. ACC's report
6. Public Comment
7. Cable Access Advisory Board Report - Peter Hess
a. Government/Educational Channel
8. Old Business
a. Rate increase - installations
b. WVIA
c. Political Endorsements on Access
d. Federal Legislation - Update
9. New Business
a. Complaints
TV CABLE COMMISSION
MEETING
Tuesday, July 10, 1990
7:30 P.M.
Third Floor Conference Room - City Hall
Ci4-t R -1 -Vo r ruy
M@IE 1:1W
JUL 3 1990 1
AGENDA
1. Call To Order
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Chairman's Report
4. Public Comments
5.' . ACC. Report . .
6. Access Advisory Board Report - P. Hess
7. Old Business:
a. Procedures regarding Senior Citizen's Discount
(See Attachment)
b. Policy on Political Endorsements over Public Access
(Richard Herskowitz)
8. New Business
a. Change in policies regarding Cable 13's City meeting
coverage (See Lauren Stefanelli's.letter attached)
b. New York State Cable Commission rule changes (Information
item - Commission documents attached)
9. Adjournment
IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE MEETING, PLEASE CALL RICHARD
HERSKOWITZ AT (607) 255-3522. .
WD/jcb
Enclosures
TrT
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION
June 15, 1990
Mary Jo Dudley, Chair
Community Access Advisory Board
312 First St.
Ithaca, NY 14850.
Dear Mary Jo:
In response. to the Access Advisory Board's request for„
information regarding the expenditure of 2% of revenues received
from City of Ithaca subscribers, I must tell you that ACC and the
City of Ithaca were. operating under Temporary Operating Authority
(TOA) granted by the New York .State Commission on Cable
Television. Under ...a TOA, a company continues operating on the
basis of the (then) existing franchise agreement.
The new franchise agreement was approved fully in February of
1989, thus 1989 was the first year of operation under the
agreement which contains the 2% clause. The full 10 years of the
franchise will expire in February of 1999 at which time ACC will
have had 10 years of supporting Community Access Studio at the 2%
rate for the full 10 years of the agreement.
I hope this explanation helps the AAB understand our position,
which is in compliance with the franchise.
Sincerely,
Barbara L. Lukens
General Manager
BLL/fw
cc: William Demo, Chair
Ithaca Cable. Commission
Lauren Stefanelli,.ACC
519 West State Street
Ithaca, New York 14850 607-272-3456
To: Ithaca Cable Commission
From: Peter Hess
Re: Community Access Advisory Board meeting, June 4, 1990
Date: June 12, 1990 •
1. Resolution on equipment requests for 1990.
Be it resolved that the Community Access Advisory Board requests that ACC submit a detailed report of all
equipment requests under consideration for calendar year 1990 including prices of various equipment
packages, for consideration by the CAAB at its August 6th meeting, so that the CAAB can respond with
recommendations and prioritize these requests. This report should be sent the the CAAB prior to its
August meeting.
The CAAB further requests that Joe Powers and Lauren Stefanelli attend the meeting so that the report
can be discussed with them.
2. Access Coordinator's report.
In Lauren's report, she noted that she had brought to Barbara Lukens, ACC General Manager, the CAAB
request for a report on the operating budget for access, and that Barbara declined to meet the request.
3. Resolution on capital equipment acquisition for access, under the franchise.
The CAAB requests the Cable Commission to vigorously pursue obtaining a detailed inventory of
expenditures under the 2% franchise requirement from January, 1988 to the present, and we resolve that
this be an ongoing process throughout the period of the franchise.
4. Expansion of access channels.
Mr. Demo and Mr. Herskowitz from the Cable Commission were in attendance to participate in this
discussion. The CAAB decided to appoint a committee to study the logistics of expanding the number of
access channels, and how they would be programmed. Bill McCormick and Eloise Green volunteered to
be on this committee.
Some suggestions for additional access channels which seemed to have broad support on the board
were:
1. Government Access channel
2. Bulletin board channel
3 Educational Access channel
4. 2nd Public Access channel
5. NFLCP Convention.
The city has received a request from Richard Herskowitz and Mary Jo Dudley to send a representative to
the NFLCP convention, meeting in Washington, DC in late July.
ti
CITY OF ITHACA
108 EAST GREEN STREET
ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850
OFFICE OF TELEPHONE: 272-1713
CODE 607
THE CHAMBERLAIN
TO: Bill Demo
FROM: Debbie Parsons
DATE: June 26, 1990
RE: Senior Citizens Cable Discount
Per our conversations at the last Cable Commission meeting, I am.
enclosing a copy of the application and proposed procedures. If this
meets witheveryone's approval, let me know, and I'll contact the Senior
Citizen's Council to proceed.
I will be .on vacation when the Commission.meets next, so I won't be
able -to attend. If.you can let me know next week if you need any other
information., .I'll try to get it t� you before I leave.
"An Equal Opportunity Employer with an Affirmative Action Program"
1) Applicant will pick up application at City Hall, the Senior Citizen's
Center, or Tompkins County Council for the Aging.
2) Designated representative will examine application and documents provided
by applicant for accuracy and completeness, and will sign the form in the
appropriate location. No copies of the documentation shall be made unless
the examiner has a question about the documentation or the form. Date of
birth is requested to determine date discountshould commence, retroactive
to March, 1989 or the first date of service, whichever is later.
3) Chamberlain's Office will collect applications and generate a list to be
sent to ACC. This list will include name, service address and date of -
birth, and will be certified by the City Chamberlain or the Office Manager.
Copies of the applications will accompany the list to ACC. Originals will
be maintained by the City.
RSVP volunteers will be available during -the initial sign up period to
assist applicants and to examine applications. Hours when they will be
available (currently suggested that they would be available at Senior
Citizen's Center) will be announced.
Senior Citizen's Center has agreed to include information regarding avail-
ability of applications on their Sunday morning radio broadcast and in
their, newsletter.
OFFICE USE ONLY
Examined by
Date
By City
APPLICATION FOR SENIOR CITIZENS DISCOUNT FOR TV CABLE SERVICES
1) Names of person(S) requesting discount (Your name as it appears on the
billing from ACC)
(please print)
2) Property address where service is provided
3) Mailing address (if different from above)
4)' Proof of age (one of the following)
Birth Certificate
Baptismal Certificate
5) Proof of residency (one of following)
Telephone Listing
Copy of Utility Bill
DATE OF BIRTH
Other (identify)
(Driver's License)
(Medicare Card)
Lease (or rental
receipt)
Other (identify)
I certify that I am 65 years of age or older, that I have a total household
income of $15,000 or less from taxable and non-taxable sources. I understand
that failure to provide proof if requested or any deliberate false statement
on this application may be grounds for disqualification from further discounts.
SIGNATURE DATE
William Demo, Chairman
Ithaca City Cable Commission
c/o City Hall
10.8 E. Green St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
Dear Mr. Demo.:
CABLE?
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION
May 10, 1990
519 WEST STATE STREET
ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850
607-272-7272
This letter is by way of explanation of a change in staff policy for
coverage of City, Hall meetings: for meetings which go into executive
- session for Longer than 40 minutes or after llpm, our camera coverage,
will end at this point.
.We have run into a problem with camera.coverage of meetings -which go
into extended and repeated executive session. Until now, we have dealt
with executive sessions by having a camera crewperson ask councilmembers
whether they. thought it would be useful to have the cameras stay until
the, public meeting was reconvened. This has -not proven to be effective
in some cases, because the councilmembers themselves ,are often not
certain how long executive sessions may last, or whether the members
will. vote to continue the meeting late at night.
In April, for example, one meeting which we covered went into executive
session for one and a half:hhours, from 9:30 .pm until 11 pm. At 11 pm,
the public meeting reconvened. until 12am. Another executive session was
called at midnight; , this one lasted until 12:30 am, when the public
.meeting reconvened for about 5 minutes - just long enough to wrap up.
Having. a two -person camera crew waiting for such extended periods 'Of
time or, as in the later executive session described above, to no
purpose, is counterproductive and wasteful of access staff. On the
other hand, most executive sessions last about a half hour or so. Having
the crew wait that' lengthof time seems reasonable if there are
important issues to be discussed after -wards. Rather than have the crew
make` judggment calls' and guesstimates on their own as to when they
should ,or shouldn't wait`out an executive session, we felt the need to
give them some sort of gu4deline, and came up with tie rule of thumb
above. Listing this policy in the monthly letters to you, copied to
committee chairs, lets the committee chairpersons plan their agendas
with knowledge' of the scope of camera coverage.
If you have any questions about CABLE 13-s City Hall video coverage,
please feel free to contact me at any time.
cc:
Cordially,
- L,aur-r S•te'fan l i
Commyi ty c v s Cc(o • inator
Barbara Lukens, General Manager, ACC
"Television for Tompkins County"
Mailing Address:
519 W. State Street
Ithaca, N.Y. 14850
ABLE
AMERICAN COMMUNITY CABLEVISION1
William Demo, Chairman
Ithaca City Sable Commission
City Hall
108 E. Green St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
June 20, 1990
Dear Mr. Demo:
Studio Address:
612 W. Green Street
Ithaca, N.Y. 14850
607-272-7272
ACC's coverage of City Hall meetings in July are listed below:
Committee meetings are selected on a rotating basis. The regular monthly
datts were given to us by the City Clerk's office.
Common Council Meeting
Second Wednesday, July 11, 1990, from 7pm-lam.
Cablecast live.
Planning & Development Committee Meeting
Third Monday, July lb, 1990, from 7:30-11pm.
Taped for cablecast Saturday, July 21,.1pm.,
Human Services Committee Meeting
Fourth Monday, July 23, 1990, from 4:30pm-9pm.
Taped for cablecast Saturday, July 28, 1pm.
Please notify ,us of any changes in these meeting dates. We need a
minimum of two weeks notice to arrange coverage with our two -camera
portable unit, and to assure accurate TV listings. Also, please note
that for meetings which go into executive session for longer than 4Q
minutes or after 11pm, our camera coverage will end at this point.
cc:
Cordially,
Lauren
Community Acce= ••rdinat
CABLE 13
Cellists .Paolangeli, Ithaca Cj.ty Clerk
Richard Booth, .Chair, Budget and Administration Comm.
Dan Hoffman, Chair, Planning and Development Comm.
Carolyn Peterson, Chair, Charter and Ordinance Comm.
John Johnson, Chair, Human Services Comm.
Barbara Lukens, General Manager, ACC
"Television for Tompkins County"
NEW YORK STATE COMMISSION ON CABLE TELEVISION
In the Matter of 90-141
Amendment of Consumer Service Rules and
Regulations
DOCKET NO. 90379
MEMORANDUM ADOPTING RULES
(Released: May 24, 1990)
On February 28, 1989, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was issued in this
docket wherein the Commission proposed to amend existing provisions of its rules and to
adopt new provisions related to cable television company billing and customer service
requirements and invited comments thereon. Comments and reply comments were
submitted by a variety of interested parties including cable television companies, and
municipal governments.
On November 1, 1989, the Commission adopted rules as attached hereto as
Appendix A and authorized the filing of a Notice of Adoptio.n.with the Secretary of State.
pursuant to Section 202(5) of the State Administrative Procedure Act ("SAPA").
The Notice of Adoption was filed on December 22, 1989 and published in the
State Register on January 10, 1990.1 Included with the Notice of Adoption was an
Assessment of. Comments in fulfillment of Section 202(5)(b) of SAPA. A copy of the
Assessment is attached hereto as Appendix B. The discussion of the rules herein is intended
to supplement the discussion in the Assessment of Comments.
Since the adoption_ of the rules in this docket, a new Section 824-a entitled
"Consumer Protection" has been enacted into law.2. The new law was effective immediately.
1 The rules became effective January 12, 1990. Pursuant to Section 590.60, cable
television companies were required to comply with the rules within 120 days of the effective
date or May 12, 1990. The date for compliance with Sections 590.63(a), (b) and (d) and
590.67(a) and (b) has been extended to July 12, 1990. The same date applies to Section
590.63(f) as amended in Docket No. 90403 (infra,) except Section 590.63(f)(4).
2 Chapter 9, Laws of 1990, "An act to amend the executive law in relation to
notification and refunds for changes in programming by a cable television company" effective
February 13, 1990. This law also amends Section 812 of the Executive Law.
(
2
By separate emergency action in Docket No. 90403, the Commission adopted ternporary
rules implementing Section 824-a which rules also include amendments to certain provisions
of the rules adopted in this docket. (Order Adopting Rule and Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking, Docket No. 90403, 90-081; Released: April 4, 1990.) These changes are
attached hereto as Appendix C. Specifically, the emergency rules affect Sections 590.61(h),
590.62(b)(3), 590.62(c), 590.63(f) and 590.69. The impact of new Section 824-a on these
sections are also discussed herein.
The rules adopted in this docket relate to such matters as billing practices,
billing disputes, advance billing, late payments, collection charges, credit for service outages,
discontinuation of service :for non-payment, notice of programming changes and charges
for lost, damaged or stolen equipment. For purposes of our review herein, we shall divide
the new rules into two groups. The first group includes the rules which are not affected by
Section 824-a of the Executive Law. The second group includes the rules which are affected
by Section 824-a and the emergency rules implementing said section.
I. Rules not affected by Section 824-a
Section 590.63 - Bill format, late charges, collection charges and downgrade
charges. Section 590.63(a) has been amended to require that a subscriber bill "(ii):: ".shall
itemize each category of service and piece of equipment for which a charge is imposed;
[and] (iii) state the billing period, amount of current billing and appropriate credits or past
due balances, if any." Section 590.63(b) requires that each "bill shall specify a minimum
time for payment which shall not be less than fifteen (15) days from mailing of the bill."
In the Assessment of Comments filed with the Notice of Adoption, we noted that the rule
requires the "itemization of each category of service rather than each service." We stated
further that the rule does not require that each bill contain a "list [of] each and every
channel or cable network received by a particular subscriber." We take this opportunity to
summarize the elements of an itemized bill as follows: installation charges, if any; the
number of outlets in the home; a description of the service provided, e.g., basic service or
a higher tier; equipment, but only if a separate charge is imposed therefor; a past due
amount and/or late charge, if any; credits, if any, and the due date. Thee requirements
apply to residential subscribers who are billed on a regular basis. Where coupon books are
used, a simple itemized statement attached to the booklet or printed on a separate
statement included with the booklet will suffice to comply with the rule.
Section 590.66 - Credit for service outage. This section requires a cable
company to provide a credit for every service outage in excess of four (4) continuous hours.
The company is obligated by the rule to make a reasonable effort to determine the existence
and scope of an outage including the identification of subscribers affected. In this regard,
if a subscriber does not receive a credit but has experienced an outage in excess of four con-
tinuous hours, the subscriber may still obtain a credit by notifying the cable company within
ninety days. of the outage. The service outage must be a complete outage, Le., no signals
are being received at the subscriber's television set. The credit to be given for an outage
that exceeds four continuous hours shall be equal to one thirtieth of the monthly charge.
Additional outages within the twenty-four hour period do not require additional credits.
Some commentors have observed that this rule creates a disincentive for prompt attention
3
to service outages after the fourth continuous hour. Such comments fail to recognize that
the rule is not designed to induce cable companies to repair service outages or to punish
companies for poor performance. Section 824 of the Executive Law already requires cable
companies to provide safe, adequate and reliable service and contains ample remedial
provisions. The rule is designed solely to ensure that a subscriber is not obligated to pay
for services which are not received during a substantial portion of the subscriber's viewing
day.
Subdivision (f) of Section 590.66 requires a cable company to give prior.
written notice of an outage that is scheduled as part of, a: system upgrade .or rebuild. Such
notice is to be provided to the Commission and the franchising municipality. In addition,
a company is required to make a reasonable effort to inform subscribers in advance of any
service outage which is scheduled for the purpose of repairing equipment or monitoring the
system. We emphasize here that this requirement_applies to outages which are scheduled
sufficiently in advance to permit notice.
Section 590.67 - Discontinuance of service for non-payment. : The _earliest a
cable company may commence efforts to disconnect a subscriber fornon-payment of a bill
has been changed from thirty days after the due date to forty-five days after the date the
hill was mailed to the subscriber. Since, under Section 590.63(b), the due date must he at
least fifteen days from the date of mailing, this rule maintains the same minimum thirty day
period between due date and disconnect date. In fact, this amendment will only impact
those cable companies which under prior rules required -payment sooner than fifteen days
from mailing.
Section 590.73 - Auxiliary equipment. Cable television companies commonly
provide converters or other modifying or descrambling equipment to subscribers in
connection with the delivery of cable television programming to the home. This equipment
is valuable and often necessary to permit the delivery to a subscriber of only those services
which the subscriber has agreed to purchase. (The receipt of cable television services that
are not paid for is a crime under certain circumstances pursuant to Section 165:15 of the
Penal Law of the State of New York.) A cable company is 'entitled to expect reasonable
care of the equipment and the return of the equipment when the subscription is terminated.
A cable company may impose a charge for damage to the equipment caused by a subscriber
or for failure by the subscriber to return the equipment subject to two conditions. First, the
company must have given advance notice to the subscriber of the potential liability for
damage to, or loss of, the equipment. Second, at the time the company seeks to collect a
charge in a specific case, it must provide the subscriber in writing with notice of the amount
of the charge and d the opportunity to refer the matter to Commission staff for review under
Section 590.5. Such notice to subscribers should also include the Commission's toll free
telephone number and address.
Section 596.8 - Trouble call processing. Subdivision (c) hasbeen amended to
require cable television companies to provide subscriberswith the opportunity to schedule
appointments in various day parts, e.g., morning, afternoon, evening or Saturdays. If a
company fails to fulfill an appointment scheduled in this manner, it is prohibited by the
rule from imposing any charge for the service call when made. Four hour windows are
4
suggested. The rule is not intended to preclude a cable company and an individual from
agreeing to a more specific time period for an appointment provided that the subscriber
remains entitled to the same remedy if such appointment is not timely met by the company.
II. Rules affected by Section 824-a
Section 590.61 - Definitions. Section 590.61 was amended by the addition of
a new subdivision (h) which defines a "downgrade charge." (Appendix A) (Section 590.63(f)
imposes restrictions upon the imposition of downgrade charges by cable television
companies,, infra.) As part of the law enacting the new Section 824-a the legislature also
amended Section 812 of the Executive Law to include a definition of "downgrade." In order
to avoid redundant and potentially confusing separate definitions, the definition of
"downgrade charge" in Section 590.61(h) was amended on an emergency basis (Appendix
C) to incorporate the statutory definition of "downgrade" in new Section 812(12).
Section 590.62 - Notification of billing practices. Section 590.62(b) was amended
to clarify the obligation of cable television companies to provide notice of billing practices
to subscribers on an annual basis. (Appendix A) The new Section 824-a affects the existing
rule. Specifically, Section 824-a(4) requires cable television companies to provide notice of
programing and other services offered on the system, the rates and charges therefor and a
statement of significant rights accorded to subscribers on at least a semi-annual basis.3
Billing practices are sufficiently related to the new statutory notice requirements including,
particularly, ."significant rights accorded tosubscribers",to warrant inclusion as part of a
single comprehensive notification and, accordingly, Section 590.62(b)(3) was amended on
an emergency basis to require that notice of billing practices be given on the same basis as
the new statutory notice requirements. (Appendix C)
Section 590.62(c) was amended to require cable television companies to
maintain "promotional and general informational materials (including monthly bill stuffers)"
at its local office for public inspection for two years. (Appendix A) Section 824-a(6)(a)
now requires cable television companies to maintain copies of "all advertisements, lists or
other notifications regarding programming or made available to the public" and to make
such information available to the Commission on request. Because the rule and the statute
share a common objective, the statutory language has been embodied in Section 590.62(c)
as amended on an emergency basis. A definition of the term "advertisements, lists or other
notification" is also included in said rule. (Appendix C) Since the obligation to retain such
information now derives from a specific statutory provision, compliance is measured from
the effective date of the statute.
Section 590.63 - Bill format Subdivision (f) of Section 590.63 addresses the
issue of downgrade charges. Specifically, it limits the amount of any downgrade charge to
3 Section 824-a(4)(a) permits a cable company to apply to the Commission for an
extension of the semi-annual mailing requirement and also permits a cable company which
hills annually by coupon and does not make regular quarterly mailings to provide notice by
mail annually.
5
the cost thereof and requires prior notice to subscribers of the existence of such charge.
In addition, the rule would preclude the imposition of a downgrade charge where a
subscriber is terminating all service or where a subscriber has maintained the same level of
service for six continuous months. Section 824-a now imposes an additional limitation upon
the imposition of downgrade charges in the event of a "network change" or "significant
programming change." The provisions concerning downgrades have been consolidated in
Section 590.63(f) as amended on an emergency basis to preclude the imposition of a
downgrade charge consistent with Section 824-a(5) whenever a subscriber requests a
downgrade within 45 days of receipt of notice of a "network change" or "significant
programming change." (Appendix C - Section 590.69A(f))
Section 590.69 - Notice requirements for changes in cable television rates, charges
and programming services offered. This section was amended in this docket primarily to
include a ten day notice requirement for changes in programming services offered by cable
television companies to subscribers. This requirement was superseded by the new Section
824-a of the Executive Law and, accordingly, all rules applicable to programming or
"network" changes are based on the new law and embodied in the rules implementing such
section on an emergency basis. (Appendix C) The notice requirements applicable to
changes in rates have also been transferred to Section 590.69A at paragraph (a). The rule
is intended to provide prior notice to affected subscribers of any change in rates and to
provide affected subscribers the opportunity to request a free downgrade in the event of a
rate increase.
It is noted, in conclusion, that a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is now
pending in Docket No. 90403 wherein the Commission proposes to adopt the emergency
regulations (Section 590.69A) implementing new Section 824-a on a permanent basis. (See
Order No. 90-081) The temporary changes to Sections 590.61(h), 590.62(b) and (c),
590.63(f) and 590.69 are among the issues upon which parties may comment in that
proceeding. Comments may be submitted until June 8, 1990 and reply comments may he
submitted until June 25, 1990.
Commissioners Participating: William B. Finneran, Chairman; John A. Gussow,
Theodore E. Mulford, John A. Passidomo, Barbara T. Rothman, Commissioners.
NEW YORK STATE COMMISSION ON CABLE TELEVISION
RESOLUTION BY THE COMMISSION
Statutory Authority: Article 28 of the Executive Law, Sections 811, 815
and 816
Docket No. 90379: In the Matter of Amendment to Consumer Service Rules
and Regulations
At a meeting of the Commission on Cable Television held in the City of
Albany, New York, on November 1, 1989, the Commission by unanimous vote of its
members present,
RESOLVED:.
That the provisions of Section 202(1) of the State Administrative Procedure
Act and Section 101-a(2) of the Executive Law having been complied with, Title 9, Subtitle
R, Part 590, Sections 590.61 - 590.69 and Part. 596, Section 596.8 of the Official Compilation
of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State -of New York are hereby amended, effective
twenty-one (21) days after the date a Notice of Adoption is filed with the Secretary of State.
The Executive Director shall file with the Secretary of State a certificate of rulemaking
pursuant to Section 102(2) of the Executive Law and a Notice of Adoption pursuant to
Section 202(5) of the State Administrative Procedure Act.
APPENDIX A
BILLING PRACTICES OF CABLE TELEVISION COMPANIES
590.61 Definitions. (a) Basic subscriber channel shall mean
any channel which is provided [for in] as part of the basic monthly
service rate.
(b) A billing dispute shall mean a disagreement
between a subscriber and cable television company concerning:
(1) credits for payments made by the
subscriber to the cable television company;
(2) credit or refund for service outage;
(3) errors in billing amount; or
(4) assessment of late charges.
(c) Collection charge shall mean a fee or charge
imposed upon a subscriber by a cable television company for its
efforts at collecting or attempting to collect a past due account
by personal visit at a subscriber's home or place of business.
[an account due.]
(d) Commission shall mean the New York State
Commission on Cable Television.
(e) Late charge shall mean a charge which is added
to a cable television subscriber's account or bill for nonpayment
of a previously due account.
(f) Local office shall mean the business office of
the cable television company serving the municipality in which a
billing dispute arises.
(g) Service outage shall mean a loss of picture or
sound on all basic subscriber channels or on one or more auxiliary
programming channels [and] which is not caused by the
subscriber's television receiver [n]or the subscriber.
(hi Downgrade charge shall mean a charge imposed
upon a subscriber -for implementing a request for a reduction of
services in the amount or level of cable television. services.
590.62 Notification of billing practices. (a) Every cable
television:company shall notify, each of its . subscribers, [in
writing,] .. in a separate written notice, of its billing practices
and payment requirements [.] including the use of payment coupons.
The notice shall describe or define, [as] at a minimum, billing
procedures (including payment requirements to avoid discontinuance
of service, e.g., payment due dates) , late charges, downgrade
charges, advance billing options, if any, procedures to be followed
in billing disputes and credit to be given for service outages.
(b) Notice shall be given as follows
(1•).w,,-to:new subscribers, at the time of initial -
"inst al lation;
all subscribers, ,whenever there is a
change in the company's billing practices or
.:payment requi cements;
(3) _to =a11 [existing] subscribers .[,within
one year of effective date of these rules.] at
:least =annually:
[Thereafter, notice shall be given whenever the company changes its
billing practices.]
(c) [Copies of the company's billing practices and
billing requirements shall be filed with the commission and shall
be filed in the company's local office and shall be available upon
request by a subscriber.] Every cable television company (i) shall.
file copies of its billing practices and payment requirements with
the commission and (ii) shall maintain on file in its local office
for public inspection for a period of two years copies of its
billing practices and payment requirements and promotional and
general informational materials (including monthly bill stuffers) ,
590.63 Bill format, [L] late charges [and], collection charges [.]
and downgrade charges t (a) Each subscriber bill shall (i) include
the name, address and telephone number of the company and the toll-
free subscriber assistance telephone number of the commission; (ii)
shall itemize each category of service and piece of equipment for
which a charge is imposed; (iii) state the billing period, amount
of current billing and appropriate credits or past due balances
if any.
(b) Each subscriber bill shall specify a minimum
time for payment which shall not be less than fifteen (15) days
from mailing of the bill.
[a] (c) Any late charge permitted by law or by the
franchise, if imposed upon the subscriber, shall be itemized on the
subscriber's bill, or notice of delinquent payment in cases where
coupon books are used.
3
Ld) If a late charge is to be imposed, it shall not
be imposed sooner than forty-five t45) days .after the mailing of
the bill to the subscriber or the due date, if coupons are used.
[b] (e) No cable television company shall impose
a collection charge upon any subscriber,, except as prescribed in
subdivision 590.67(e) of this Part.
<(f) " A'cable =television company may ``impose a''charge
for'�downgrading a subscriber's --services "provided (1.Y -that such
charge does -. not exceed the cost thereof to .the company and (ii)
that subscribers have been notified in writing (print no smaller'
than ten point) of such charges, In no event may a downgrade
charge be imposed upon a subscriber who is terminating service
completely or who has maintained the :same' level'of 'cable television
services ,for :;six r(6) continuous months` immediately=prior to a
request .for xreduction in services, This section shall not apply
to pay-per-view programming,
590.66 Credit for service outage. (a) Every cable television
company shall give credit, for every service outage in excess of
[24] four (4) continuous hours [to any subscriber who applies for
it either by written or oral notice.]. The [24] four (4) - hour
period shall commence at the time the cable television company
first becomes aware of the outage.
(b) Whenever a cable television company may
reasonably determine the existence and scope of a service outage,
as, for example, a service outage caused by a major failure in the
system's headend or distribution electronic equipment, which
service outage exceeds four 00 continuous hours, the cable
television company shall issue a credit to each affected
subscriber .
(c) ;,.In the event=a cable television company cannot
determine all subscribers affected by:a service -outage in excess
of four L4) continuous hours, -credit shall, be given to any eligible
subscriber who makes application therefor by either written or oral
notice. within -90 days of 'the outage.
[b] (di [The credit shall be prorated by
multiplying the applicable monthly service rate by a fraction whose
numeratorequals the number of days (or portion thereof) of the
outage and whose denominator equals 'the number of days in month of
the outage. In no case shall the refund be less than 24 hours
credit.] The minimum credit shall be equal to one thirtieth times
the applicable monthly charge for each twenty-four hour period
during which a service outage continues for at least four hours.
[c] (e) A cable television [The] company shall be.
responsible for every service outage and shall provide credit to
4
each affected subscriber who [applies for it within 90 days of an
outage.] is entitled thereto pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c)
of this section.
(f) Prior written notice of a scheduled
service outage due to system upgrade or rebuild shall be
filed with the commission and the affected municipality. Every
cable television company shall make a reasonable effort to inform
subscribers in writing_ or electronically, in advance, of any
scheduled service outages for equipment repair or replacement,
system upgrade or rebuild, or on-going technical "sweeps" of the
system,
590.67 Discontinuance.. ofservice fo.r •.,nonpayment. (a) . A cable
television_subscriber.Tshall not -be considered .delinquent in payment
untilat least- [30] forty -five -(45) days have elapsed from the [due
date of the bill or account] mailing of the bill to the subscriber
or due date, if coupons are used, and payment has not been received
by the company.
(b) No cable television company shall physically
or electronically discontinue service for nonpayment of bills
rendered for service until:
(1) the subscriber is delinquent in payment
for cable television service; and
(2) at least five days have elapsed after a
separate written notice of impending discontinuance
has been served personally upon a subscriber; or
(3) at least eight days have elapsed after
mailing to the subscriber a separate written notice
of impending discontinuance (for which postage is
paid by the cable television company), addressed to
such person at the premises where [service is
rendered; or] the subscriber requests billings or
(4) at least five days have elapsed after a
subscriber has either signed for or refused a
certified letter (postage to be paid by the cable
television company), containing a separate written
notice of impending discontinuance addressed to such
person at the premises where [service is rendered.]
the subscriber requests billing.
(c) Notice of service discontinuance shall clearly
state the amount in arrears, the total amount required to be paid
to avoid discontinuance of service, reconnection charges if
applicable, and the date by which, and the place where, such
payment must be made.
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(d) No cable television company shall disconnect
service for nonpayment on a Sunday, public holiday or a day when
the local office of the company is not open for business without
providing an opportunity for the subscriber to pay [a] the amount
in arrears. -
(e) When a company is at a -subscriber's residence
or place of business to disconnect service and the subscriber, at
that time,, pays the amount in arrears in lieu of disconnection, the
company may add a reasonable collection charge to the subscriber's
bill provided all other applicable provisions- of this section have
been followed.
(f) Receipt of a subsequently dishonored negotiable -
instrument in response to a notice of discontinuance shall not'
constitute payment, and no cable television company shall be
required to issue an. additional notice prior to discontinuance.
59039 Notice of requirements for [increase] changes in cable
television rates [and] charges and programming services offered.
=.(a) Every cable television company shall provide notice of [an
increase] a change in [a] rates [for any cable television service]
or programming services offered. The notice shall be in writing
and shall specify the service or services. affected; the new rate'
[,] or charge, including the amount of the [increase] change, and
the effective 'date thereof.
(b) Notice shall be provided as follows:
(1) to subscribers 'affected by the [rate
increase] changes in rates, charges or programming
services offered at least ten (10) days- prior to the
effective date of such [increase] change; and
(2) to the franchising municipality and the
commission [no later than thirty (.30) days after
the] at least ten (10) days prior to the effective
date of the change in rated charges or programming
services offered.
(c) Every cable television company which has
increased rates pursuant to Section 623 of the Cable Communications
Policy Act of 1984 prior to the ,effective date hereof shall serve
written notice of any such increase upon the franchising
municipality and the commission within 30 days of the effective
date of this section.
(d) In any case where a subscriber requests
cancellation or reduction of service within 30 days of the
effective date of [a rate] an increase in rates or charges for such.
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service, the liability of the subscriber for services received
after the effective date of [the rate ,increase] such changes until
the cancellation orreduction of service, shall- be determinedin
accordance with, the rates or charges in effect prior to such
[increase] change.
(e) This section shall not apply to pay for view
programming.
590,73 Auxiliary equipment, (a) When a cable --television company
supplies auxiliary equipment such as a converter'or other modifying:
device to a subscriber the company can. expect reasonable 'care of
such equipment by the a subscriber. A cable operator shall notify
the subscriber and the commission in writing of any charges to
subscribers for lost, stolen or damaged converters. In the event
such equipment is lost, stolen or damaged, and the cable television
company.seeks to charge the subscriber for such equipment, the
company shall give written, dated notice to the subscriber of the
amount sought and the subscriber's opportunity to refer the matter
to the commission in accordance with the provisions of Section
590.5 of this subtitle 'If- referral is not made to the commission
within 30 days of the date of the notice, the company may commence
its collection procedures.
596.8 Trouble calling processing. (a) .A telephone number shall
be made available to which subscribers may direct trouble -calls..
In the event that trouble calls must be made outside the
subscriber's local dialing area, the 'calls must be toll free.
(b) Investigative action shall be initiated on the
same day a trouble call is received at the local office, if.
possible, but in no case later than the following business day.
(c) Whenever a service call to the subscriber's
premises is required, the company shall advise such subscriber of
the opportunity to schedule the service call for the morning or
afternoon hours Cor evenings or Saturdays, if available) and shall
schedule such service call in accordance with the subscriber's
request, If, for any reason, the service call is not made within
the scheduled time frame, the subscriber shall not be charged for
such service call including any installation • or reconnection- made
as a result thereof, ••
[(c) ] (d) A report on each trouble call in wh-ich
a cable system fault reported by a single subscriberwasidentified
shall be filed at the local office, and shall include the following.
data: . .
(1) subscriber identification;
(2) date and approximate time complaint
7
was received;
(3) date and approximate time of
response;
(4) nature of complaint;
(5) brief description of the fault;
(6) signal level measured on each active
class I channel after corrective action,
where appropriate;
(7) corrective steps taken (if any
required);
(8) date case is closed; and
(9) identification of.. technician or
[repairman] repairperson.
[(d)] (e) A report on each system fault, or on any
failure reported by more than one subscriber and affecting an area,.
shall be filed at the local office and shall include the following
data:
(1) , brief description of the area
affected sufficient to allow the later
determination ' of the number of subscribers
affected;
(2) date and approximate time of
failure;
(3) cause of failure; and
(4) date and time service is restored.
[(e)] (f) A report for each trouble call in
which no trouble was identified, or in which further instruction
was required to enable the subscriber properly to adjust the
terminal receiving equipment, or in which the fault was in the
subscriber's receiving equipment, shall be filed at the local
office and shall include:
(1) subscriber identification;.
(2) date and time complaint was received;
(3) date and time of response;
(4) nature of complaint;
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(5) corrective steps taken (if any
required); and.
(6) identification of technician or
[repairman] repairperson.
[(f)] (g) Any report required to be maintained
pursuant to this section shall be kept by the operator for a period
of two years from the event to which it relates.
APPENDIX B
ASSESSMENT OF COMMENT -
The rules :address such issues as billing practices and payment
requirements (including bill format), customer service and charges
for damaged or lost auxiliary equipment.
Billing
. The rules, as .proposed, would have required cable companies
to file with the Commission copies of all promotional and general
information materials which were distributed by the cable company
to subscribers. Most cable companies that-filed.comments oppose
this. requirement citing, among. other things, the voluminous
material that would be included within the.scope of the rule as
well as the. cost to the companies for providing, and the presumed
costs to the Commission for reviewing and compiling, such material.
We::,are, •persuaded, by.. the...comments that it .-.is ; not;,;necessary __to
require "the filing .'of such material with.• us _.and, :.we ;;have, modified
the.rule.to.require only'that the materials be filed,by a cable
company..; _in ,_.its local -. off i__ce to. be made ,._.available °;,therein . for
inspectior a period of two years -sub
on•,fsubsequent to „filing'. •
Section 590.63(a) of the proposed rules included a requirement
that each service received by the subscriber be itemized on the
bill. Certain cable television companies contend that existing
software or billing systems -cannot 'readily accommodate itemized
billing. One company suggested that itemization would create more
confusion. Still other companies did. not contest this proposal and
the Cable Television Association of New York (CTANY) observed that
'the rule should not be misinterpreted to require the attribution
of .charges for equipment when, in fact, there . is no separate or
direct charge for the equipment. In this regard, we note that the
fact that certain equipment is required to receive certain services
does not mean that a charge must necessarily be attributable to the
equipment. As adopted, the•rule requires the itemization of each
category of se.rvice.rather than each service. This change is
intended'to eliminate any confusion about the scope of the rule.
It is not necessary to list each and every. channel or cable network
received by the subscriber. We have also added to the rule the
fundamental components of any bill including the billing period and'
amount of current billing, past due balances and credits, if any.
We note here that Commission records show that approximately one-
third of all complaints to cable companies and the Commission are
billing disputes, many of which involve a lack of understanding as
to'the precise services involved. It is also our experience that'
since Congress approved rate deregulation, service' packages and
program offerings have changed with greater frequency.
Section 590.63(b)., as proposed, required that each bill
contain a due date which is not sooner than fifteen days from
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receipt of the bill. Various cable companies objected to the
standard including the difficulty of measuring the time period
because of the uncertainty of the date the bill is received by a
subscriber. We have modified this rule such that the fifteen day
period shall be measured from the date a bill .is mailed by the
company. Of course, cable companies will be expected to maintain
complete and accurate records of the date all subscriber bills are
mailed.
In Section 590.63(d), it was proposed that a late charge not
be imposed unless payment was not made for a period of thirty days
after mailing of the bill. Various governmental entities including
the Town of Greenburgh and the Borough of Manhattan urged a longer
period for timely payment particularly in view of the fact that the
billing may occur on or before the first of the month for which
service is to be provided. We have modified this section to extend
from thirty to forty-five days the period for payment without
liability for a late charge.
Our proposal at Section 590.67(a) to extend from thirty days
to forty-five days the minimum time for discontinuance of service
for non-payment remains unchanged. However, we have modified the
language to include reference to payment coupons in accordance with
the suggesion of the Office of Business Permits and Regulatory
Assistance (OBPRA).
Section 590.63(f), as proposed, included limitations upon the
imposition of downgrade charges. Certain companies and CTANY
suggested that downgrade ,charges may be within the rates
deregulated in the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984. Other
parties suggested that it was unfair to limit downgrade charges to
less than cost inasmuch as it would require the subsidization of
such charges by all subscribers. We have modified Section
590.63(f) to remove an absolute dollar limitation on the amount of
the charge in favor of the company's cost for implementing a
downgrade. At the same time, we have expanded the class of
subscribers against whom a downgrade charge may not be imposed to
include any subscriber requesting a termination of all cable
television service. We have also changed the rule to require
specific, advance notification of downgrade charges as a condition
to the imposition of same where permitted under the rule. Finally,
we have modified the rule to include at Section 590.61(h) a
definition of downgrade charge.
Customer Service
At Section 590.63(f), we proposed a rule which would have
required cable television companies to "conduct routine
maintenance" at times which would cause the least amount of
disruption to subscribers. Staten Island Cable, among others,
commented that the rule concerningroutine maintenance would deny
the flexibility needed by a cable operator. To provide some
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measure of- flexibility, the rule was revised to require a
reasonable effort on the part of cable companies to notify
subscribers in writing Q.. electronically of scheduled outages.
This revision also is responsive to comments by.OBPRA which
suggested. that "notice. . .due to routine maintenance" be changed
to "notice due to. . .scheduled maintenance." We have maintained
the language in the, proposed rule which would require cable
companies' to notify the Commission and affected municipalities in
writing of any scheduled service outages due to system upgrades or
rebuilds. We believe that these types of outages can be determined
sufficiently in advance to provide notice and that such notice will
assist local officials and Commission staff in responding to
subscriber inquiries.
-Section. 596.8(c) of the proposed ruleaddressed. matters
pertaining to customer service calls_. Our concern here is based
upon the frustration experienced by subscribers when. a cable
company fails to fulfill a scheduled appointment. Specifically,
we proposed that cable companies specify the part of the day, i.e.,
morning, afternoon or evening hours, the' service call would be
made. We further proposed that a cable company make a reasonable.
effort to inform the subscriber in the event such an appointment
could not be kept timely. The Town of Greenburgh:commented on this
issue in which it asserted that stronger, more specific language
than "reasonable' effort. ." be required when an appointment
cannot be kept. Upon further review, we are persauded that -a
greater incentive for the timely fulfillment of service calls is
warranted. Accordingly, wehave modified the proposed rule to
preclude the imposition of a charge for any service call which is
not made within the appointed time frame.
Auxiliary Equipment
At Section 590.73(b), we proposed a rule which would have
limited the liability of a subscriber for lost, stolen or damaged
auxiliary equipment, such as channel converters, to the net book
value of the. equipment. This proposal generated many comments from
cable television companies. The comments of TKR Cable, which are
generally representative of other comments, expressed a special
concern that equipment such as a channel converter, if not
returned, can be used for the unlawful receipt or theft of cable
television at other locations. The company suggests that the.
ability to impose significant charges is necessary to provide an
incentive for subscribers to take care of, and return, the
equipment. CTANY suggests that the "proper and valid valuation of
descrambling security equipment is not measured by hardware
considerations. . .[and that] the loss. . .can only be measured by
its theft potential." Accordingly, CTANY asserts that the rule as
proposed is "grossly unfair and would encourage misuse and theft"
and that the Commission should defer adoption of a rule pending
further inquiry into the matter. We are mindful that certain
converters or descramblers can be employed unlawfully to receive
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cable television service. On the other hand, it is also true that
the inability of a subscriber to return equipment may be
attributable to causes beyond the control of the . subscriber such
as theft or destruction by fire and that any policy, which includes
an element of deterrence or "compensation" for more than the cost.
of the equipment as such, should be fairly and consistently'
applied. For,'"now,'-"we have` determined = to-,r modify _the proposal by
eliminating1an-absolute `maximum ainount that can :be-`'imposed upon ` a
subscr=iber><who is:-"unable' ' to -return `auxiliary.'equipment. The rule
we are== adopting -requires -any company =which. attempts :to collect -a
charge for a :lost - "converter •to notify the subscriber... of. an
opportunity_ to appeal the company's decision with Commission staff
within thirty days - of receipt of notice of •-said :' charge. -; The
Commission will review the matter in accordance with the procedures
for-; review-`of,fb_illing`°complaints'. If no `appeal is filed :by the
subscriber'.`=ar - cable—company can proceed with its collection
procedures. Of course, a cable television subscriber can still be
required to exercisereasonab1e care -in the use. and possession of
the company's "auxiliary equipment.
APPENDIX C
Rules pursuant to Section 824-a of the Executive Law (Ch. 9, Laws of 1990)
590.69A Notice requirements for rates, charges, programming and subscriber's
rights.
(a) Rates and charges. Every cable television company shall provide notice of
any changes in rates or charges for any cable television service. The notice shall be
in writing and shall specify the service or services affected, the new rate or charge,
including the amount of the increase and the change and the effective date thereof.
Notice shall be provided at least ten (10) days prior to the effective date of any
changes in rates or charges to the subscribers affected thereby, the Commission and
the franchising municipality. The notice to subscribers shall inform subscribers of the
opportunity to request a downgrade or termination of service within thirty (30) days
of the receipt of the notice without any charge therefor and without any liability for
payment of any higher rate or charge.
(b) Significant programming change. (1) Definitions. For purposes of this
section (i) a "significant programming change" shall mean the removal or alteration
of recurring programming which materially changes the quality or level of
programming on a network; provided, however, such terms shall not include deletions
of programs mandated by the regulations of the Federal Communications Commission,
nor shall it include deletions of programs that are distributed by the cable television
company in lieu of such programs deleted pursuant to suchregulations of the Federal
Communications Commission; (ii) a "network" shall mean a group of programs
distributed, packaged, promoted or sold to subscribers as the offering of a single
entity, including but not limited to, a channel or station; and (iii) "service tier" shall
mean a category of cable television services or other services provided by a cable
television company and for which a rate or fee is charged by the cable television
company, including, but not limited to, basic services, premium networks or services,
recurring pay-per-view services and other categories of cable services for which there
are additional charges.
(2) Notice required. Every cable television company shall provide notice of a
significant programming change to the Commission and to subscribers affected
thereby.
(3) Notice to commission. Notice shall be provided to the Commission no later
than the later occurring of forty-five (45) days prior to the effective date of the change
or within five (5) business days of the date upon which the cable television company
first knows of such change. The notice shall specify the recurring programming
affected by the change, whether such recurring programming was, or will be,
distributed as part of basic cable service or some other service tier immediately prior
to the change and the effective date of the change..
(4) Notice to subscribers. Notice shall be provided to subscribers who are
receiving services affected by such change in writing no later than the later occurring
of thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of such change or within thirty (30) days
of the date upon which the cable television company first knows of such change and
by written on-screen visual message prominently displayed on the affected television
program channel dr channels, and on the program listing channel of the cable
television system, if one is provided; at least once each hour for no less than a thirty
(30) day period.
(5) Form and content of notice to subscribers. Notice shall be directed to each
affected subscriber as follows: (i) by the mailing of a separate written notice to the
subscriber's billing address of record; or (ii) by a written notation printed on the
subscriber's regular billing statement; or (iii) by a written notice accompanying the
subscriber's regular billing statement. Such notice shall specify the recurring
programming affected by the change and the effective date of the change. Such notice
shall also inform subscribers of the opportunity to downgrade or terminate service
within forty-five (45) days of the receipt of the notice without charge for such
termination or downgrade.
(c) Network change. (1) Definitions. For purposes of this subdivision, (i) a
"network change" shall mean the removal of a network from a service tier whether or
not added to another tier or a substantial alteration of the character of a network by
a cable television company or an affiliate it controls except that a "network change"
shall not include the removal of a network from a service tier within thirty-one (31)
days of the date upon which such network was added to such service tier for
promotional purposes, where such promotion was clearly disclosed to subscribers;
(ii) the "character of a network" shall be determined by reference to the nature, mix
and quantity of programming provided on the network and whether such programming
is supported by commercial sponsorship or other means. (The character of a network
which contains a uniform programming format, e.g., an all -shopping channel, an all-
weather channel, an all -sports channel, etc., shall be considered distinct from the
character of a network which includes various categories of programming. The
character of a network shall also include consideration of whether a network provides
programming twenty-four (24) hours per day or some lesser period of time); and
(iii) "promotes repeatedly and in a significant manner" shall mean a promotion of
the availability of a particular network on basic cable service which is designed to
encourage the public to subscribe to basic cable service to receive such network and
which is conducted by use of multiple media or by the multiple use of a single
mediu m.
(2) Notice required. Every cable television company shall provide notice of a
network change to the Commission and to the subscribers affected thereby.
(3) Notice to commission. Notice shall be provided to the Commission no later
than the later occurring of forty-five (45) days prior to the effective date of the change
or within five (5) business days of the date upon which the cable television company
first knows of such change. Notice shall specify the network affected by the change,
whether such network was, or will be, distributed as part of the basic cable service or
some other service tier immediately prior to the change and the effective date of the
change.. If the network change relates to the basic service tier, the notice to the
Commission shall also state whether said network has been repeatedly promoted by
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the cable television company as available on its basic cable service during the six
months immediately preceding the date of the change and, if the network has been
so promoted during such period of time, the notice shall also include the specific date
upon which such promotion was concluded and the number of subscribers who
commenced their subscription to basic cable service during the ninety (90) days
immediately before and after the last day of promotion. If the network change relates
to a network that is being deleted from basic cable service and will not be available
on any other service tier, the notice shall state whether said network continues to be
reasonably available to the cable television company. For purposes of this paragraph
the term "continues to be reasonably available to the cable television company" shall
mean a network, including a broadcast television station, that has been lawfully
distributed by the cable television company to its subscribers as part of its basic cable
service and without a substantial alteration of the character of the network remains
available to the cable television company on the same terms and conditions as before
or remains available to the cable television company pursuant to terms and conditions
as previously agreed. A network shall also be considered to continue .to be reasonably
available to a cable television company when, notwithstanding a modification of the
terms and conditions underwhich it may be distributed or a change in the character
of the network, the Commission so determines in writing based upon consideration
of (i) whether the cable television company is required to offer commercial leased
access and the terms and conditions of such leased access, if any, (ii) the character
of the network relative to the character of other networks distributed on the system
and the manner of distribution of such other network; (iii) the terms and conditions
pursuant to which the network is available to the cable television company relative to
the terms and conditions applicable to the distribution by the cable television company
of other networks as part of. basic cable television service; (iv) the extent to which
the network is currently being distributed by other cable television companies in the
state as part of basic cable television service on terms and conditions similar to the
terms and conditions at issue; and (v) the extent to which the cable television
company may have an ownership interest in any network distributed on the system
which is similar in character to the terminated network.
(4) Notice to subscribers. Every cable television company shall provide notice
of a network change to each subscriber affected thereby. Such notice shall be
provided to subscribers who are receiving services affected by any such change in
writing no later than the later occurring of thirty (30) days prior to the effective date
of any change or within thirty (30) days of the date upon which the cable television
company first knows of such change and by written on-screen visual message
prominently displayed on the affected television programming channel or channels,
and on the program listing channel of the cable television system, if one is provided,
at least once each hour for no less than a thirty (30) day period.
(5) Form and content of notice to subscribers. Notice shall be directed to each
affected subscriber as follows: (i) by the mailing of a separate written notice to the
subscriber's billing address of record; or (ii) by a written notation printed on the
subscriber's regular billing statement; or (iii) by a written notice accompanying the
subscriber's regular billing statement. Such notice shall specify the network affected
by the change and the effective date of the change and shall inform subscribers of the
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opportunity to downgrade or terminate service within forty-five (45) days of the
receipt of the notice without any charge for such termination or downgrade.
(6) Additional provisions for network change affecting a premium service tier.
If the notice describes a network change that affects a network that was being
distributed as part of a premium service tier immediately prior to the change such
notice shall also inform subscribers who have incurred installation, upgrade or other
one-time charges relating to such premium service tier within six months prior to the
effective date of the change, or who have prepaid any monthly service charges for said
premium service tier, that they may elect to downgrade or terminate service within
thirty (30) days of the receipt of such notice and obtain a rebate of any such charges.
(7) Additional provisions for network change affecting basic cable service. If the
notice describes a network change which affects a network that was being distributed
as part of basic cable service immediately prior to the change, and the network was
repeatedly promoted by the cable television company and in a significant manner as
available as part of basic cable service at any time during the six months immediately
preceding the date of the change, such notice, or a second notice given in the same
manner as the first notice within thirty (30) days of the first notice, shall contain
additional information as follows: (i) Removal of network to prerniun2 tier. If a
network is moved from basic cable service to a more expensive tier, such notice shall
inform subscribers who commenced their subscriptions to basic cable service during
the ninety (90) day period immediately before or after the last day of the promotion,
of the opportunity, -within thirty, (30) days of. receipt. of the notice either (a) to
upgrade to the more expensive service tier which includes the network at no charge
and to receive said service tier for up tosix months also at no charge; or (b) to
terminate service and receive a refund of all installation, upgrade or other one-time
charges paid during the six months prior to the change. (ii) Removal of network
from system. If a network (a) is deleted from basic cable service, (b) was a
substantial inducement to a significant number of subscribers, and (c) continues to
be reasonably available to the cable television company, such notice shall inform
subscribers who commenced their subscriptions to basic cable service during the ninety
(90) day period immediately before or after the last day of the promotion, of the
opportunity, within thirty (30) days of receipt of the notice, either (aa) to terminate
service and receive a refund of all installation, upgrade or other one-time charges paid
during the six months prior to the change, or (bb) to continue service and receive a
credit in the amount specified in the notice which credit shall be for a portion of the
monthly rate for basic cable service for each month or portion thereof the network
is not available on the system during the six month period commencing with .the Last
day of the promotion, or (cc) to continue service and petition the commission for
determination of the amount of an appropriate credit for a portion of the monthly
rate for basic cable service for each month or portion thereof the network is not
available on the system during the six month period commencing with the last day of
the promotion.
(d) Pay per view programming. Subdivision (a) - (c) shall not apply to pay per
view programming.
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(e) Other subscriber rights. (1) Notice required. Every cable television
company shall provide notice concerning the programming and other services offered
on the cable television system and the rates and charges therefor..
(2) Form and content of notice. (i) Notice shall be provided (a) to new
subscribers at the time of installation; (b) to any subscriber who requests a change
in service; (c) to all subscribers at least semi-annually; provided, however, that any
cable television company that bills subscribers only by coupon book and does not
provide regular mailings to subscribers at least quarterly may provide such notice to
subscribers on an annual basis; and (d) to any person who requests such information.
(ii) _ Notice shall be in writing and (a) shall be provided immediately where a
request is made in person or (b) shall be provided by first class mail sent within ten
(10) business days of the date of any request made by telephone or in writing. (iii)
The notice shall contain a description, materially accurate as of the first day of the
previous month, of all service tiers and the networks provided thereon and the rates
and charges therefor and any other services offered to subscribers and the rates and
charges for such other services. The notice shall also include a statement of
significant rights accorded to subscribers pursuant to Section 824-a of the Executive
Law and the regulations promulgated by the commission. Such statement shall be in
a form as approved by the commission. In addition, notice to new subscribers shall
include a copy of, any notice which has been sent to current subscribers pursuant to
Subdivisions (a) - (c) of this section within the previous sixty (60) days.
(f) . Amendments to existing rules. .(1). Section 590.61(h) of the commission's
rules is amended to read:
590.61 Definitions.
(h) Downgrade charge shall mean a charge imposed upon a subscriber
for implementing a request [for a reduction of services in the amount or
level of cable television services.] by the subscriber for a change in service
to a less expensive tier than the tier currently subscribed to.
(2) Sections 590.62(b) and (c) of the Commission's rules are amended to read:
590.62 Notification of billing practices.
(b) Notice shall be given as follows:
(3) to all subscribers at least [annually.] semi-annually.
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(c) Every cable television company (i) shall file copies of its billing
practices and payment requirements with the commission and (ii) shall
maintain on file in its local office for public, inspection for a period of two
years copies of its billing practices and payment requirements and
[promotional and general informational materials (including monthly bill
stuffers).] all advertisements. lists or other notifications regarding
programming sent to or made available to the public. For purposes of this
subdivision. "advertisements, lists or other notifications" shall mean any
commercial messages which a cable television company originates and
causes to he disseminated to the public or its subscribers by means of
radio, television or print, or pursuant to a printed directive, which relate
to the service tiers, networks or programming offered by said company to
its subscribers and the rates and charges therefor, except that such terms
shall not include any commercial message concerning a network or
programming which originates with the network or programmer
independent of the cable television company.
(3) Section 590.63(f) of the Commission's rules is amended to read:
590.63 Bill format, late charges, collection charges and downgrade charges.
(f) A.cable_television company may impose a [charge for downgrading..
a subscriber's services provided (i) that such charge does not exceed the
cost thereof to the' company and (ii) that subscribers have been notified
in writing (print no smaller than ten point) of such charges. In no event
may a downgrade charge be imposed upon a subscriber, who is terminating
service completely or who has maintained the same level of cable television
services for six (6) continuous months immediately prior to a request for
reduction in services. This section shall not apply to pay-per-view
programming.] downgrade • charge upon the conditions and in the
circumstances as follows:
(1) subscribers have been notified of such charge in writing in at
least 10 point type;
(2) the charge does not exceed .the cost of the downgrade to the
company;
(3) the downgrade is from a level of service which the subscriber
has not maintained continuously for six (6) months immediately preceding
the date of the downgrade;
(4) the downgrade was not requested by a subscriber affected by
a "significant programming change" or a "network change" within forty-five
(45) days of the receipt by the subscriber of the notice required by Section
590.69A(b)(4) and (c)(4).
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(g) This section shall be effective immediately upon filing with the Secretary of
State and shall supersede any Commission rule inconsistent herewith including
particularly, but without limitation, Section 590.69.
May 18, 1990
TO: Cable Systems Operators, Municipal Officials
and Interested Parties
FROM: The New York State Commission On Cable Television
The Commission proposes, in Docket No. 90400,. to amend the
primary service area threshold in Part 595.5(a) (1) (iii) and Part
595.5(b)(2) of its Rules. The threshold is the minimum number
of dwelling units per mile of aerial cable plant, above which
level companies are required to provide service at normal rates
and charges. The threshold is currently set at 35 dwelling
units per aerial mile, which number was adopted in 1982 based
on data for the period 1979-1980.
Our staff has analyzed the latest financial and other
available- data (for the period 1988'-1989). Based- upon this •
review, staff proposes that the primary service area benchmark
be set at twenty (20) dwelling units per linear mile of aerial
.cable. The basis for this new threshold is staff's finding that
this is the minimum level at which it is economically feasible
for the- average cable operator to offer cable service to
residents in an area contiguous to existing plant while'allowing
for a 10 year amortization of debt.
•Under the proposed rule change:
1. All subscribers requesting service in an area
containing at least twenty (20) dwelling units per
linear mile of aerial cable shall receive service, at
normal rates and charges, and
2. All residents located in an area with less than twenty
(20) dwelling units per mile shall be provided cable
television service upon their request if they
contribute to the cost of construction (SC), which
shall be determined by •application of the formula
included in the rules or by a formula or policy of the
cable operator, provided, however, that said formula
or policy is no less favorable to the subscriber than
that set forth in the Commission's rules.
Page 2
May 18, 1990
All other provisions of Part 595.5 of the Rules would
remain unchanged and continue in effect. The rule changes
being considered are not directly applicable 'to exempt
companies.
Before issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the
Commission asked staff to solicit comments upon this proposal.
Therefore, we ask you torespond to this proposal. Your
responses or comments should be limited to the proposed rule
change. In so doing, please include information concerning the
following: a description -of areas cabled and not cabled; the
amount and number of line extensions built in 1989; technologies
used; construction and debt costs; depreciation and amortization
periods; and other relevant information to support your
position.
Small businesses in particular are asked to comment upon
whether there are alternative approaches, for ensuring the
extension of cable. television services. to-.-th.e •maximum .extent
practicable in a manner that is economically feasible.
All comments should be submitted on or before June 15,
1990.
•
PROPOSED AMENDMENT
PARTS 595.5
595.5 Requirements for construction of cable television
plant and provision of cable television services.
a) Definitions.
(1) CFrimary service area shall include each of the
following within the franchised area:
(i) thoseareas where cable television plant has
built without a contribution -in -aid -of -construction
by subscribers;
(ii) those areas where the cable television company
is obligated by the terms of its franchise to provide
cable television service without a contribution -in -
aid -of -construction by subscribers;
(iii) any area adjoining an area described in
subparagraph (i) or (ii) of this paragraph and which
contains dwelling units at a minimum rate:of 20 [35]
dwelling units per -linear mile of aerial cable;
(iv) any area adjoining an area described in
subparagraph (i) and (ii) of this paragraph and which
contains at least the same number of dwelling units
per linear mile of aerial cable as is the average
number of dwelling units per linear mile of cable in
areas described in subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of this
paragraph. The average is to be determined by
dividing the sum of the dwelling units in areas
described in subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of this
paragraph by the number of linear miles of cable in
the same areas.
(2) ne extension_ areaashall be any area within the
franchised area which is not the primary service area.
(b) Where a cable television franchise is awarded,
renewed or amended after October 1, 1982 the
franchise will be confirmed or the amendment will
cirbe approvedby the commission oriT rit the franchise
contains the following additional minimum franchise
standards:
(1). That, within five years after receipt
of all necessaryoperating
-2 -
authorizations, cable television
service will be offered throughout the
authorized area to all subscribers
requesting service in any primary
service area.
(2) That cable television service will
not be denied to potential subscribers
located in line extension areas who are
willing to contribute to the cost of
construction in accordance with the
following formula:
C - CA = SC
LE • P.
C equals the cost of construction of new plant;
CA equals the average cost of construction per
mile in the primary service area; P equals the
lower of 20 [35] or the average number of
dwelling units per linear mile of cable in areas
described in subparagraphs(a) (1) (i) and (ii) of
this section; LE equals the number of dwelling
units requesting service in the line extension
area; and SC equals subscriber contribution -in -
aid -of -construction in the line extension area.
(i) Whenever a potential subscriber
located in a line extension area
requests service, the cable television
company shall, within 30 days of the
request, conduct a survey to determine
the number of potential subscribers
located in the line extension area, and
shall inform each of the potential
subscribers of the contribution -in -aid -
of -construction that may be charged.
The cable television company may
require pre -payment of the
contribution -in -aid -of -construction.
The cable television company shall
apply for pole attachment agreements
within 30 days of its receipt of the
contribution -in -aid -of -construction.
Cable television services must be made
available to those who made a
contribution -in -aid -of -construction
within 90 days from the receipt of pole
attachment agreements by the cable
television company.
-3 -
(ii) The contribution -in -aid -of -
construction shall be in addition to
the installation rate set forth in the
franchise.
(iii) During a five-year period
commencing at the completion of a
particular line extension, pro rata
refund shall be paid to previous
subscribers as new subscribers are
added to the particular line extension;
the amount of the refund, if any, shall
be determined by application of the
formula annually. The refunds shall be
paid annually to subscribers, or former
subscribers, entitled to receive them.
The company shall not be required to
provide refunds to any previous
subscriber otherwise entitled to a
refund, who is no longer at the same
address and who has not informed the.
company of the subscriber's address..
(3) That cable television service will be
provided to any subscriber who demands
service and who is located within 150 feet
of aerial feeder cable, and that the charge
for the installation for any subscriber so
situated will not be in excess of the
installation charge specified in the
franchise.
(4) Nothing in paragraph (1) of this
subdivision shall be construed to preclude:
(i) the provision of cable
television services by the
franchisee in a line extension
area without assessing a
contribution -in -aid -of -
construction; or
(ii) the inclusion in a cable
television franchise of a
provision establishing a primary
service area which includes at
least all of those areas which
are in the primary service area
as defined in subdivision (a) of
this section.
(5) Nothing in paragraph (2) of this
subdivision shall be construed to preclude:
-4-
(i) the discounting or the waiver
of the maximum contribution -in -
aid -of -construction charge a
cable television company can
charge a subscriber pursuant to
paragraph (2) of this
subdivision; or
(ii) the inclusion of a provision
in a cable television franchise
establishing a formula to be used
to determine the contribution -in -
aid -of -construction charge, which
formula is different than the
formula set forth in paragraph
(2) of this subdivision, provided
that the formula included in the
franchise does not require
payment by the subscriber in a
line extension area of a higher
contribution -in -aid -of -
construction charge than would
result from the use of the
formula set forth in paragraph
(2) of this subdivision.
(c) All cable television companies operating in
the State of New York shall make cable television
service available to all potential subscribers
requesting service who are located in a primary
service area as defined in paragraph (a)(1) of
this section, and shall make services available
in line extension areas as defined in paragraph
(a)(2) of this section atcharges which may not'
exceed those provided for in paragraph (b)(2) of
this section within the following schedule of
compliance:
(1) prior to January 1, 1984 in any
franchise area for which the original
certificate of confirmation of the franchise
was granted by this commission prior to
January 1, 1979;
(2) within five years from the date the
certificate of confirmation was granted by
this commission, in any franchise area for
which the original certificate of
confirmation of the franchise was granted by
this commission after January 1, 1979.
(d) The provisions of this section may be waived
by the commission if the commission determines
that compliance with the section would not be
possible within the limitations of economic
feasibility.
1.
TV CABLE COMMISSION
MEETING
Tuesday, July 10, 1990
7:30 P.M.
Third Floor Conference Room - City Hall
Call To Order
AGENDA
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Chairman's Report
4. Public Comments
5. ACC Report
6. Access Advisory Board Report - P. Hess
7. Old Business
a. Procedures regarding Senior Citizen's Discount
(See Attachment)
b. Policy on Political Endorsements over Public Access
(Richard Herskowitz)
8. New Business
a. Change in policies regarding Cable 13's City meeting
coverage (See Lauren Stefanelli's letter attached)
b. New York State Cable Commission rule changes (Information
item - Commission documents attached)
9. Adjournment
IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE MEETING, PLEASE CALL RICHARD
HERSKOWITZ AT (607) 255-3522.
WD/jcb
Enclosures
1) Applicant will pick up application at City Hall, the Senior Citizen's
Center, or Tompkins County Council for the Aging.
2) Designated representative will examine application and documents provided
by applicant for accuracy and completeness, and will sign the form in the
appropriate location. No copies of the documentation shall be made unless
the examiner has a question about the documentation or the form. Date of
birth is requested to determine date discount should commence, retroactive
to March, 1989 or the first date of service, whichever is later.
3) Chamberlain's Office will collect applications and generate a list to be
sent to ACC. This list will include name, service address and date of
birth, and will be certified by the City Chamberlain or the Office Manager.
Copies of the applications will accompany the list to ACC. Originals will
be maintained by the City.
4) RSVP volunteers will be available during—the initial sign up period to
assist applicants and to examine applications. Hours when they will be
available (currently suggested that they would be available at Senior
Citizen's Center) will"be announced.
5) Senior Citizen's Center has agreed to include information regarding avail-
ability of applications on their Sunday morning radio broadcast and in
their newsletter.
OFFICE USE ONLY
Examined by
Date
By City
APPLICATION FOR SENIOR CITIZENS DISCOUNT FOR TV CABLE SERVICES
1) Names of persons) requesting discount (Your name as it appears on the
billing from ACC)
(please print)
2) Property address where service is provided.
3) Mailing address (if different from above)
4) Proof of age (one of the following)
Birth Certificate
Baptismal Certificate
5) Proof of residency (one of following)
Telephone Listing
Copy of Utility Bill
DATE OF BIRTH
Other (identify)
(Driver's License)
(Medicare Card)
Lease (or rental
receipt)
Other (identify)
I certify that I am 65 years of age or older, that I have a total household
income of $15,000 or less from taxable and non-taxable sources. .I understand
that failure to provide proof if requested or any deliberate false statement
on this application may be grounds for disqualification from further discounts.
SIGNATURE
DATE
-TV CABLE COMMISSION
MEETING
Tuesday, June 12, 1990
7:30 P.M.
Third Floor Conference Room - City Hall
Chug Gu.+a-ri nn
AGENDA
1. Call To Order
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Chairman's Report
4. Public Comments
5. ACC Report
6. Access Advisory Board Report --P. Hess
7. Old Business
a. Procedures regarding Senior Citizen's Discount
(With Debra Parsons, City Chamberlain)
b. Policy on Political Endorsements over Public Access
(Richard Herskowitz)
8. New Business
a. New York State Cable Commission proposed revision of
primary service area threshold.
9. Adjournment
IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE MEETING, PLEASE CALL BILL
DEMO (607) 844-8211, EXTENSION 354.
CC: Debra Parsons
WD/j cb
Enclosures
-TV CABLE COMMISSION
MEETING
Tuesday, May 15, 1990
7:30 P.M.
Third Floor Conference Room - City Hall
�i% csv t j Git it
AGENDA
1. Call To Order
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Chairman's Report
4. Public Comments
5. ACC Report
6. Old Business
a. Procedures regarding Senior Citizen's Discount
(With Debra Parsons, City Chamberlain)
b. Policy on Political Endorsements over Public Access
c. Complaint Response Letters
d. Access Advisory Board Resolution Regarding Equipment
Costs
7. New Business
8. Adjournment
IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE MEETING, PLEASE CALL BILL
DEMO (607) 844-8211, EXTENSION 354.
CC: Debra Parsons
WD/jcb
5-7-90
CITY OF ITHACA
108 EAST GREEN STREET
ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850
OFFICE OF TELEPHONE: 272-1713
CITY CLERK
TV CABLE COMMISSION
APRIL 10, 1990
3RD FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM
7:30 P.M.
AGENDA
1. CaII to Order
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Chairman Report
4. Public Comment
5. ACC Report
6. Public Comment
7. Old Business
a. Procedure for Senior Citizen discount
b. Policy on Political Endorsements on Public Access
8. New Business -
a. Access Advisory Board Vacancy
9. Adjournment
If unable to attend the meeting please contact Bill Demo at
844-8211 extention 354.
BD/cjh
"An Equal Opportunity Employer with an 'Affirmative Action Program"
CODE 607
0:'
-TV CABLE. COMMISSION
MEETING
Tuesday, March 13, 1990
7:30 P.M.
Common Council Chambers - City Hall
AGENDA
1. Call To Order
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Chairman's Report
4. Public Comments
5. ACC Report
6. Public Comments
7. Old Business
a. Senior Citizen's Discount
b. Policy on Political Endorsements over Public Access
8. New Business
9. Adjournment
WD/j cb
3-6-90
TV CABLE COMMISSION
MEETING
Tuesday, February 13., 1990
7:30 P.M.
Common Council Chambers - City Hall
AGENDA
1. Call To Order
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Chairman's Report
4. Public Comments
5. ACC Report
6. Public Comments
i24 `ct �/71co
7. Old Business
a. Selection of ACC Board Members
b. Senior Citizen's Discount
c. Policy on Political Endorsements over Public Access
d. OP ED Piece
8. New Business
9. Adjournment
Please, note change in meeting date! (City Hall closed on 2/12/90)
Call Bill Demo at 844-8211, ext. 354 if you will be unable to
attend meeting.
WD/cp
2/6/90
TV CABLE COMMISSION
MEETING
TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1990
7:30 P.M.
COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS
AGENDA
1. CaII the Meeting to Order
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Chairman's Report and Correspondence
4. Public Comments
5. ACC Report
6. Public Comments
7. Access Advisory Board Report
8. Old Business - Senior Citizen's Discount
9. New Business - Election of Chairman and Vice -Chairman
10. Adjournment
CP/br
1/3/90