020 of 1989 - Cable Communications Service Standards Ordinance SALT LAKE CITY ORDINANCE
No. 20 of 1989
(CABLE COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE
STANDARDS ORDINANCE)
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 5 OF THE SALT LAKE CITY CODE
RELATING TO CABLE COMMUNICATIONS BY ADDING A NEW CHAPTER 5 . 21
PROVIDING FOR THE CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS OF CABLE FRANCHISES.
WHEREAS, the City, in the exercise of its police power and
other regulatory authority and in compliance with federal
regulatory limitations, believes it to be in the best interests
to provide that any franchise cable television operation comply
with certain customer service standards; and
WHEREAS, the City has negotiated proposed customer service
standards with TCI Cablevision of Utah, Inc. , a prospective
franchisee; and
WHEREAS, the City believes such standards to be in the best
interest of the citizens;
NOW, THEREFORE,
Be it ordained by the City Council of Salt Lake City, Utah:
SECTION 1. That Chapter 5.21 be enacted into the Salt Lake
City Code as follows:
Sec. 5.21.010. PURPOSE. The purpose of this ordinance is
to regulate in the public interest, the service standards of
Cable Communication Systems within the City, in order to ensure
that the service provided to Subscribers within the City by cable
television companies is reasonably sufficient to meet community
needs.
Sec. 5.21.020. SHORT TITLE. This Ordinance shall
constitute the "Cable Television Service Standards
Ordinance" of the City of Salt Lake and may be referred to
as such.
Sec. 5.21.030. DEFINITION OF TERMS. For the purposes
of this Ordinance the following terms, phrases, words,
abbreviations and derivations shall have the following
meaning. Terms not defined in this ordinance shall have the
meaning defined in the Master Cable Communication Ordinance.
When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the
present tense shall include the future tense, words in the
plural number include the singular number and words in the
singular number include the plural number.
(A) "Cable Service" means
( 1 ) the one-way transmission to subscribers of
video programming or other programming
services, and
(2 ) any subscriber interaction required for the
selection of such video programming or other
programming service.
(B) "Abandoned Calls" means telephone calls that are
connected to the Grantee' s general information
number but the caller hangs up without being
attended by a representative of the Grantee or a
device capable of problem resolution (e.g. placing
a service request, placing a work order, directing
call to appropriate personnel, etc. ) . "Abandoned
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Calls" shall in no event be deemed to include
calls in which the caller hangs up within forty-
five (45) seconds of making the call.
Sec. 5.21.040. REQUIREMENTS.
(A) Grantee shall maintain an office in the City where
complaints and requests for repairs- or adjustments
may be received at any time. The current local
telephone number(s) for the office and complaint
service shall be listed in telephone directories
distributed in Grantee' s Service Area.
(B) Grantee shall maintain a written record or "log"
of system failures and customer complaints
describing the date and nature of the failure or
complaint, and the date and nature of the action
taken by Grantee. These records shall be kept at
Grantee' s local office for a period of three (3 )
years and shall be available for inspection by the
City during regular business hours.
Sec. 5.21.050. SYSTEM SERVICE STANDARDS.
(A) Grantee shall limit System failures to a minimum
time duration by locating and commencing repair
promptly. Grantee will generally respond to
Subscriber outages by the next business day. In
the event of a major system outage, however, such
as where a majority of Subscribers are without a
picture in twenty-five percent (25%) or more of
the Service Area, Grantee will respond to such
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outages within twenty-four ( 24) hours after
occurrence, irrespective of holidays or
nonbusiness hours.
(B) Grantee shall render efficient service making
system repairs promptly, and interrupting service
only for good cause and for the shortest time
possible. Planned interruptions, insofar as
possible, shall be preceded by twenty-four ( 24)
hours notice to Subscribers and shall occur during
periods of minimum viewership.
Sec. 5.21.060. SUBSCRIBER SERVICE STANDARDS.
(A) All calls to the general information number shall
be answered by an operator or a device identifying
the Grantee.
(B) Subject to Section 5.21.090 hereof, eighty-five
percent (85%) of all Customer calls shall be
attended within three minutes by a representative
of the Grantee or a device capable of problem
resolution.
(C) The rate of abandoned calls shall be less than
fifteen percent ( 15%) .
(D) Ninety-five percent (95%) of all Customer
installations shall be completed within fifteen
( 15) working days (unless the Customer requests a
later date) .
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(E) Ninety-five percent ( 95%) of all repair and
installation appointments shall be met by Grantee
on the appointed date and within the appointed
four-hour block of time, unless satisfactory
arrangements are otherwise made with the
Subscriber. An appointment shall be considered to
have been met by Grantee if the Subscriber fails
to be present to allow Grantee access during the
appointed block of time and Grantee confirms such
absence by calling the Subscriber' s home
telephone.
The Grantee shall provide the information required to
monitor these standards to the Franchise Authority on a
monthly basis. The Grantee shall be excused for not
achieving these standards during periods when
conditions exist which are outside of its reasonable
ability to control, or when there are System
interruptions, outages, or other activities designed to
maintain or improve cable service or the system. The
Grantee shall notify the Franchise Authority in advance
of any maintenance or improvement activity which
Grantee claims will make attainment of the standards
impracticable.
Sec. 5.21.070. NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY TO CURE.
(A) In the event the Grantee violates one or more
material terms, conditions or provisions of this
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Ordinance, including but not limited to, Sections
5 and 6 hereof, the City shall give the Grantee
written notice detailing the nature of the alleged
noncompliance. For violations of Section
5.21.060, the Grantee shall have fifteen ( 15 )
business days to _cure the default, or _ if the
default cannot be cured within fifteen ( 15 )
business days, to initiate reasonable steps to
remedy the default and notify the City of the
steps being taken and the projected date that they
will be completed. If the Grantee disputes the
assertion of noncompliance, it must notify the
City in writing within five ( 5 ) business days of
the original notice, stating that it disagrees
with the assertion of noncompliance, giving with
particularity the reasons for disagreement.
(B) The Mayor or the Mayor's designee shall hear
Grantee' s dispute at an executive hearing to be
held in a timely manner.
(C) Upon a determination by the Mayor or the Mayor' s
designee that a violation exists, Grantee shall
have ten ( 10) business days to cure the default or
to take reasonable steps to remedy the default if
it cannot be cured within ten ( 10) business days.
(D) In the event that Grantee fails to respond to the
notice described in Section 5.21.070(A) , or in the
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event that the default is not remedied within the
time required, the City may, without further
notice and in addition to any other applicable
remedies, implement and collect the daily fine
pursuant to Section 5.21.080.
Sec. 5.21.080. ENFORCEMENT.
(A) For violation of a term of this Ordinance, subject
to the provisions of Section 5. 21 .070 hereof, the
Grantee shall pay two hundred fifty dollars ( 250)
per day, or part thereof, for the first day that
such violation continues from and after
implementation of the daily fines, pursuant to
Section 5.21.070(D) . The fine shall increase
weekly by an additional $250 per day to a maximum
of $1, 000 per day. Grantee shall pay the fine or
penalty directly or by notifying the City to draw
down the security deposit held by the City
pursuant to the Cable Communication Ordinance. If
the Grantee fails to pay the penalty or notify the
City to draw down on the security deposit within
seven (7) days of notification of the
implementation of daily fines, the City may
proceed immediately to draw down on the security
deposit.
(B) Nothing contained in this Ordinance shall preclude
the exercise of any other right or remedy of the
City available at law or equity.
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Sec. 5.21.090. THREE-YEAR REVIEW AND MODIFICATION.
(A) Every three (3) years after the adoption of this
Ordinance, the City and Grantee shall undertake a
survey within the Service Area of cable
subscribers designed to measure cable subscriber
satisfaction of the customer service practices of
the Grantee. Such survey shall be at Grantee' s
sole expense, in a form mutually acceptable to the
City and Grantee.
(B) In the event that the survey demonstrates that the
customer service practices set forth in Section
5. 21.060(B) hereof are insufficient to meet the
reasonable community needs in light of the
anticipated costs thereof, then the percentage set
forth in Section 5.21.060(B) relating to the
attending of customer calls shall automatically be
deemed to increase by an amount sufficient to meet
such community needs. It shall be a rebuttable
presumption that such percentage increase shall be
three percent (3%) for each three (3 ) year review
period. In no event will the percentage in
Section 5.21.060(B) be greater than ninety-five
percent (95%) .
(C) Nothing in this Ordinance shall limit the City' s
and the Grantee' s ability to reduce the percentage
set forth in Section 5. 21.060(B) except that no
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reduction may be allowed below the eighty-five
percent (85%) initial standard. If, based upon
the survey results, a decrease in such percentage
is demonstrated to be sufficient to meet the
community needs, upon a request of Grantee, the
City - shall not unreasonably refuse -to reduce such
percentage.
Sec. 5.21.010. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.
(A) Preemption. If any federal or state body or
agency shall preempt and supersede or preclude the
jurisdiction of the Franchise Authority, the
jurisdiction of the Franchise Authority shall
cease while such jurisdiction is preempted,
superseded or precluded.
(B) Severability. If any section, sentence,
paragraph, term or provision hereof is for any
reason determined to be illegal, invalid,
superseded by other authority or unconstitutional
by any court of common jurisdiction or by any
state or federal regulatory authority having
jurisdiction thereof, such portion shall be deemed
a separate, distinct, and independent provision
and such determination shall have no effect on the
validity of any other section, sentence,
paragraph, term or provision hereof, all of which
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will remain in full force and effect for the term
of the Franchise or any renewal or renewals
thereof.
(C) Franchise Authority Rules. The Mayor may adopt,
in addition to the provisions herein contained in
this and other applicable ordinances, such
additional regulations as it may find necessary in
the exercise of the police power. Any such
additional regulations shall be reasonably
designed to meet the purposes of this ordinance
and shall be adopted only after notice and comment
are provided.
SECTION 2. This ordinance shall take effect
immediately upon publication
Passed by the City Council of Salt Lake City, Utah,
this day of APR 1 .8 1989 1989.
ATTES CH ON
C T R E RDER
t:y
APPR fir!c;
FINANCE DEPARTMENT
FUNDS NOT NEcC)EU
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Transmitted to the Mayor on APR 19 1999
Mayor' s Action: Approved Vetoed.
�. �,4. 4,
MAYOR
ATTEST:
Y/RFA76ADER
BRB:pp
( SEAL)
fib! of 19 .,E
Pub-I.`lied' APR 2 7 7989