8.1003 Requisite Information | Medford Municipal Code

8.1003 Requisite Information.

All Applications under this ordinance shall contain the following information:

(i) State the name, address, telephone number and web site (if applicable) of the Applicant and the proposed franchisee (if different from Applicant).

(ii) State the name, address, primary telephone number and primary e-mail address of all individual(s) authorized to represent the Applicant before the City during their consideration of the franchise(s) requested, including the Applicant’s primary contact and any additional authorized contacts.

(i) Corporation:

(A) If Applicant is a corporation, please list all officers and members of the Board of Directors, their principal affiliations and their addresses;

(B) Attach a certified copy of the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws of the corporation; and

(C) State whether the Applicant is directly or indirectly controlled by another corporation or legal entity. If so, attach an explanatory statement and respond to questions (b)(i)(A) and (B) above concerning the controlling corporation.

(ii) Partnership:

(A) If Applicant is a partnership, please describe the structure of the partnership and the Interests of general and limited partners.

(B) State whether the Applicant is controlled directly or indirectly by any corporation or other legal entity. If so, respond to (b)(i)(A) – (B) or (b)(ii)(A) above, as applicable, concerning the controlling entity.

(i) Current Franchises. List whether the Applicant or any Affiliate owns more than five percent of the system. For each system include name of system, address, communities served, number of subscribers, number of homes passed, date of system award, duration (start and end date) of franchise, status of construction, and percent of penetration of homes passed as of most recently available date (indicate date). Also include name, title, and telephone number of system manager.

(ii) Potential Franchises. List communities where the Applicant or any Affiliate currently has a formal or informal request pending for an initial franchise, the renewal of a franchise, or the approval of a transfer of ownership. Include name of communities, date of application, date of expected action, estimated number of homes.

(d) Management Structure. Attach a management/organizational chart, showing the management structure of the Applicant. Also, provide a similar chart showing the relationship of the Applicant to all general partners, Parent Corporations, subsidiaries, Affiliates and all other subsidiaries of Parent Corporations, including a brief description of each entity’s relationship to the Applicant.

(e) Management Agreement. State whether there are any management agreements existing or proposed between the Applicant and any Parent Corporation or Affiliate related to construction and operation of the Applicant’s planned system. If yes, attach a copy of any such agreement.

(f) Management Fees. List all entities entitled to receive management or other fees for the income produced by the Applicant’s planned systems.

Identify amounts or percentages of fees for each such entity.

(a) Media Cross-Ownership. State whether the Applicant or an Affiliate directly or indirectly owns, operates, controls or has an Interest in any of the following, or whether the Applicant holds or operates any company or business operating jointly with any of the following:

(i) A national broadcast television network (such as ABC, CBS or NBC, etc.).

(ii) A television broadcast station whose predicted Grade B contour, computed in accordance with Section 73.684 of the FCC's rules, overlaps in whole or in part the City’s service area, or an application for license to operate such a station.

(iii) A telecommunications or telephone company whose service area includes any portion of the City’s service area. If the response to any of the above is affirmative, state the name of the Applicant or Affiliate, the nature and percentage of ownership or Interest and the company that is owned or in which the Interest is held.

(b) Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action. Applicant shall attach any current FCC certification(s) for its existing cable system holdings, if any, or indicate its intention to apply for and abide by same.

(c) Franchise Violations. State whether the Applicant or any Affiliate been found in violation by a Regulatory Authority or franchising authority of any franchise ordinance or agreement, contract or regulation governing a cable system. If so, identify the judicial or administrative proceeding, giving the date, name of tribunal and result or disposition of that proceeding.

(d) Other Violations. State whether the Applicant been found in violation by a Regulatory Authority of any other type (e.g. utility) of franchise, ordinance, agreement, permit, contract or regulation. If so, identify the judicial or administrative proceeding, giving the date, name of tribunal and result or disposition of that proceeding.

(a) For Applicants with existing operations: provide audited financial statements, including statements of income, balance sheets and cash flow statements, together with any notes necessary to the understanding of the financial statements for the last three fiscal years for the Applicant and any Parent Corporation.

(b) For Applicants who are new (start-up) entities: provide pro forma projections for the next five fiscal years, if available, but at a minimum the next three fiscal years from the date of the application.

(a) Describe the Applicant’s planned initial and proposed cable services geographic area, including a map and proposed dates for offering service to each area;

(b) If the Applicant has or asserts existing authority to access the public right of way in any of the initial or proposed service areas listed in (4)(a) above, state the basis for such authority or asserted authority and attach the relevant agreements or other documentation of such authority;

(c) Describe with particularity the Applicant’s planned residential Cable services, including basic cable services, cable programming service tier, and any additional pay-per-view, on-demand or digital services; and the projected rates for each category or tier or service;

(d) Describe with particularity the Applicant’s planned system technical design, upstream and downstream capacity and speed, provision for analog or digital services or packages, distribution of fiber, and planned count of households per residential node;

(e) Describe with particularity the Applicant’s planned non-residential cable services;

(f) Describe the Applicant’s planned construction and extension or phase schedule, as applicable, including system extension plans or policy; describe current status of the Applicant’s existing or proposed arrangements with area utilities, including pole attachments, vault, or conduit sharing agreements as applicable;

(g) Describe the Applicant’s plan to ensure that the safety, functioning and appearance of property and convenience and safety of other persons not be adversely affected by installation or construction of the Applicant’s facilities, and that property owners are justly compensated for any damages caused by the installation, construction, operation or removal of the facilities; also state the proposed allocation of costs of installation, construction, operation or removal of facilities between the Applicant and the subscriber;

(h) Describe the availability and cost of a device to enable a subscriber to block obscene or indecent programming; and

(i) Describe the Applicant’s plan to comply with the subscriber privacy protections set forth in 47 U.S.C. §551.

(5) PROPOSED FRANCHISE TERMS. State the franchise terms proposed by the Applicant for each of the following:

(a) Term (Duration) of Franchise (not to exceed 20 years);

(b) With respect to PEG:

(i) PEG access, including channel capacity, programming, a description of proposed services, facilities and equipment, and the Applicant’s plan for interconnections with existing PEG facilities and designated PEG providers in existing CITY cable franchise areas to provide PEG programming of adequate technical quality; and

(ii) PEG capital support;

(i) Capacity and services to be provided, including a description of the network and equipment to be installed, activated, maintained or interconnected with existing institutional networks, potential sites to be served, and proposed technical means of interconnection, where applicable; and

(ii) Institutional network capital support;

(d) Franchise fee payments, including a statement of all planned categories of cable revenue included in “gross revenues” for purposes of the fee (or a detailed description of the fee base if not based on gross revenues), and any proposed limitation on the City’s access to relevant books and records to verify timely and accurate payment;

(e) Amount of insurance coverage planned for Applicant operations, services and activities on behalf of the City; the scope of the coverage; and the length of time the policy is planned to be effective;

(f) Amount of performance bond in favor of the City to ensure the Applicant observes, fulfills and performs each term and condition of the franchise; any limitations on the exercise of the bond; and length of time the bond is planned to be effective;

(g) Terms of indemnity to be provided to the City;

(h) Existing Public Way authority, if any, and terms of use of the Public Way in the City;

(i) Technical and operational standards, including performance testing and appropriate sanctions for failure to meet standards; and

(j) Customer service and consumer protection standards or policies, including but not limited to telephone, billing and repair response times, customer service representative (CSR) ratio to subscriber base, the method of evaluating the adequacy of customer service, reporting procedures and penalties for failure to meet standards.

For each item listed above, the Applicant shall provide a summary with sufficient detail to demonstrate the manner in which each term proposed by the Applicant compares to corollary or reasonably related terms in any cable franchise currently in effect in the City, the most recent needs ascertainment conducted by or on behalf of the City, and local customer service standards.

(a) State whether the Applicant contemplates the provision of any cable services on its system under an Open Video Systems (“OVS”) regulatory regime, within the meaning of Section 653 of the 1934 Communications Act (47 U.S.C. §573).

(b) Provide a short narrative describing the Applicant’s experience in and plans for providing Equal Employment Opportunity, Affirmative Action and Minority Business Enterprise utilization.

(c) Provide a short narrative describing the Applicant’s experience in and/or goals for satisfactory cable subscriber customer service.

(d) Explain how the Applicant is competitive.