Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
Barcode 825438
CHAMBER ACTION
Senate House
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04/27/2007 07:50 PM .
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11 Senator Bennett moved the following amendment:
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13 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
14 On page 25 line 686, through
15 page 36, line 1006, delete those lines
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17 and insert:
18 610.109 Public, educational, and governmental access
19 channels.--
20 (1) A certificateholder, not later than 180 days
21 following a request by a municipality or county within whose
22 jurisdiction the certificateholder is providing cable or video
23 service, shall designate a sufficient amount of capacity on
24 its network to allow the provision of public, educational, and
25 governmental access channels for noncommercial programming as
26 set forth in this section.
27 (2) A certificateholder shall designate a sufficient
28 amount of capacity on its network to allow the provision of
29 the same number of public, educational, and governmental
30 access channels or their functional equivalent that a
31 municipality or county has activated under the incumbent cable
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
Barcode 825438
1 or video service provider's franchise agreement as of July 1,
2 2007. For the purposes of this section, a public, educational,
3 or governmental channel is deemed activated if the channel is
4 being used for public, educational, or governmental
5 programming within the municipality or county. The
6 municipality or county may request additional channels or
7 their functional equivalent permitted under the incumbent
8 cable or video service provider's franchise agreement as of
9 July 1, 2007.
10 (3) If a municipality or county did not have public,
11 educational, or governmental access channels activated under
12 the incumbent cable or video service provider's franchise
13 agreement as of July 1, 2007, after the expiration date of the
14 incumbent cable or video service provider's franchise
15 agreement and within 6 months after a request by the
16 municipality or county within whose jurisdiction a
17 certificateholder is providing cable or video service, the
18 certificateholder shall furnish up to two public, educational,
19 or governmental channels or their functional equivalent. The
20 usage of the channels or their functional equivalent shall be
21 determined by a majority of all the video service provider's
22 subscribers in the jurisdiction in order of preference of all
23 video service subscribers. Cable or video service subscribers
24 must be provided with clear, plain language informing them
25 that public access is unfiltered programming and contains
26 adult content.
27 (4) If a municipality or county has not used the
28 number of access channels or their functional equivalent
29 permitted by subsection (3), access to the additional channels
30 or their functional equivalent allowed in subsection (3) shall
31 be provided upon 6 months' written notice.
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
Barcode 825438
1 (5) A public, educational, or governmental access
2 channel authorized by this section is deemed activated and
3 substantially used if the channel is being used for public,
4 educational, or governmental access programming within the
5 municipality or county for at least 10 hours per day, of which
6 at least 5 hours must be nonrepeat programming and as measured
7 on a quarterly basis. Static information screens or
8 bulletin-board programming shall not count toward this 10-hour
9 requirement. If the applicable access channel does not meet
10 this utilization criterion, the video service provider shall
11 notify the applicable access provider in writing of this
12 failure. If the access provider fails to meet this utilization
13 criterion in the subsequent quarter, the cable or video
14 service provider may reprogram the channel at its discretion.
15 The cable or video service provider shall work in good faith
16 with the access provider to attempt to provide future carriage
17 of the applicable access channel within the limits of this
18 section if the access provider can make reasonable assurances
19 that its future programming will meet the utilization criteria
20 set out in this subsection.
21 (6) A cable or video service provider may locate any
22 public, educational, or governmental access channel on its
23 lowest digital tier of service offered to the provider's
24 subscribers. A cable or video service provider must notify its
25 customers and the applicable municipality or county at least
26 120 days prior to relocating the applicable educational or
27 governmental access channel.
28 (7) The operation of any public, educational, or
29 governmental access channel or its functional equivalent
30 provided under this section shall be the responsibility of the
31 municipality or county receiving the benefit of such channel
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
Barcode 825438
1 or its functional equivalent, and a certificateholder bears
2 only the responsibility for the transmission of such channel
3 content. A certificateholder shall be responsible for the cost
4 of providing the connectivity to one origination point for
5 each public, educational, or governmental access channel up to
6 200 feet from the certificateholder's activated video service
7 distribution plant.
8 (8) The municipality or county shall ensure that all
9 transmissions, content, or programming to be transmitted over
10 a channel or facility by a certificateholder are provided or
11 submitted to the cable or video service provider in a manner
12 or form that is capable of being accepted and transmitted by a
13 provider without any requirement for additional alteration or
14 change in the content by the provider, over the particular
15 network of the cable or video service provider, which is
16 compatible with the technology or protocol used by the cable
17 or video service provider to deliver services. To the extent
18 that a public, educational, or governmental channel content
19 provider has authority, the delivery of public, educational,
20 or governmental content to a certificateholder constitutes
21 authorization for the provider to carry such content,
22 including, at the provider's option, authorization to carry
23 the content beyond the jurisdictional boundaries of the
24 municipality or county.
25 (9) Where technically feasible, a certificateholder
26 and an incumbent cable service provider shall use reasonable
27 efforts to interconnect their networks for the purpose of
28 providing public, educational, and governmental programming.
29 Interconnection may be accomplished by direct cable, microwave
30 link, satellite, or other reasonable method of connection.
31 Certificateholders and incumbent cable service providers shall
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
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1 negotiate in good faith and incumbent cable service providers
2 may not withhold interconnection of public, educational, and
3 governmental channels. The requesting party shall bear the
4 cost of such interconnection.
5 (10) A certificateholder is not required to
6 interconnect for, or otherwise to transmit, public,
7 educational, and governmental content that is branded with the
8 logo, name, or other identifying marks of another cable or
9 video service provider, and a municipality or county may
10 require a cable or video service provider to remove its logo,
11 name, or other identifying marks from public, educational, and
12 governmental content that is to be made available to another
13 provider. This subsection does not apply to the logo, name, or
14 other identifying marks of the public, educational, or
15 governmental programmer or producer.
16 (11) A municipality or county that has activated at
17 least one public, educational, or governmental access channel
18 pursuant to this section may require cable or video service
19 providers to remit public, educational, and governmental
20 support contributions in an amount equal to a lump-sum or
21 recurring per-subscriber funding obligation to support public,
22 educational, and governmental access channels, or other
23 related costs as provided for in the incumbent's franchise
24 that exists prior to July 1, 2007, until the expiration date
25 of the incumbent cable or video service provider's franchise
26 agreement. Any prospective lump-sum payment shall be made on
27 an equivalent per-subscriber basis calculated as follows: the
28 amount of prospective funding obligations divided by the
29 number of subscribers being served by the incumbent cable or
30 video service provider at the time of payment, divided by the
31 number of months remaining in the incumbent cable or video
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
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1 service provider's franchise equals the monthly per-subscriber
2 amount to be paid by the certificateholder. The obligations
3 set forth in this subsection apply until the earlier of the
4 expiration date of the incumbent cable or video service
5 provider's franchise agreement or July 1, 2012. For purposes
6 of this subsection, an incumbent cable or video service
7 provider is the service provider serving the largest number of
8 subscribers as of July 1, 2007.
9 (12) A court of competent jurisdiction shall have
10 exclusive jurisdiction to enforce any requirement under this
11 section.
12 610.112 Cable or video services for public
13 facilities.--Upon a request by a municipality or county, a
14 certificateholder shall provide, within 90 days after receipt
15 of the request, one active basic cable or video service outlet
16 to K-12 public schools, public libraries, or local government
17 administrative buildings, to the extent such buildings are
18 located within 200 feet of the certificateholder's activated
19 video distribution plant. At the request of the municipality
20 or county, the certificateholder shall extend its distribution
21 plant to serve such buildings located more than 200 feet from
22 the certificateholder's activated video distribution plant. In
23 such circumstances, the governmental entity owning or
24 occupying the building is responsible for the time and
25 material costs incurred in extending the certificateholder's
26 activated video distribution plant to within 200 feet adjacent
27 to the building. The cable or video services provided under
28 this section shall not be available in an area viewed by the
29 general public and may not be used for any commercial purpose.
30 610.113 Nondiscrimination by municipality or county.--
31 (1) A municipality or county shall allow a
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
Barcode 825438
1 certificateholder to install, construct, and maintain a
2 network within a public right-of-way and shall provide a
3 certificateholder with comparable, nondiscriminatory, and
4 competitively neutral access to the public right-of-way in
5 accordance with the provisions of s. 337.401. All use of a
6 public right-of-way by a certificateholder is nonexclusive.
7 (2) A municipality or county may not discriminate
8 against a certificateholder regarding:
9 (a) The authorization or placement of a network in a
10 public right-of-way;
11 (b) Access to a building or other property; or
12 (c) Utility pole attachment terms and conditions.
13 610.114 Limitation on local authority.--
14 (1) A municipality or county may not impose additional
15 requirements on a certificateholder, including, but not
16 limited to, financial, operational, and administrative
17 requirements, except as expressly permitted by this chapter. A
18 municipality or county may not impose on activities of a
19 certificateholder a requirement:
20 (a) That particular business offices be located in the
21 municipality or county;
22 (b) Regarding the filing of reports and documents with
23 the municipality or county that are not required by state or
24 federal law and that are not related to the use of the public
25 right-of-way. Reports and documents other than schematics
26 indicating the location of facilities for a specific site that
27 are provided in the normal course of the municipality's or
28 county's permitting process, that are authorized by s. 337.401
29 for communications services providers, or that are otherwise
30 required in the normal course of such permitting process shall
31 not be considered related to the use of the public
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
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1 right-of-way for communications service providers. A
2 municipality or county may not request information concerning
3 the capacity or technical configuration of a
4 certificateholder's facilities;
5 (c) For the inspection of a certificateholder's
6 business records; or
7 (d) For the approval of transfers of ownership or
8 control of a certificateholder's business, except that a
9 municipality or county may require a certificateholder to
10 provide notice of a transfer within a reasonable time.
11 (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a
12 municipality or county may require the issuance of a permit in
13 accordance with and subject to s. 337.401 to a
14 certificateholder that is placing and maintaining facilities
15 in or on a public right-of-way in the municipality or county.
16 In accordance with s. 337.402, the permit may require the
17 permitholder to be responsible, at the permitholder's expense,
18 for any damage resulting from the issuance of such permit and
19 for restoring the public right-of-way to its original
20 condition before installation of such facilities. The terms of
21 the permit shall be consistent with construction permits
22 issued to other providers of communications services placing
23 or maintaining communications facilities in a public
24 right-of-way.
25 610.115 Discrimination prohibited.--
26 (1) The purpose of this section is to prevent
27 discrimination among potential residential subscribers.
28 (2) A cable or video service provider may not deny
29 access to service to any individual or group of potential
30 residential subscribers because of the race or income of the
31 residents in the local area in which the individual or group
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
Barcode 825438
1 resides. Enforcement of this section shall be in accordance
2 with s. 501.2079.
3 610.116 Compliance.--If a certificateholder is found
4 by a court of competent jurisdiction not to be in compliance
5 with the requirements of this chapter, the certificateholder
6 shall have a reasonable period of time, as specified by the
7 court, to cure such noncompliance.
8 610.117 Limitation.--Nothing in this chapter shall be
9 construed to give any local government or the department any
10 authority over any communications service other than cable or
11 video services whether offered on a common carrier or private
12 contract basis.
13 610.118 Impairment; court-ordered operations.--
14 (1) If an incumbent cable or video service provider is
15 required to operate under its existing franchise and is
16 legally prevented by a lawfully issued order of a court of
17 competent jurisdiction from exercising its right to terminate
18 its existing franchise pursuant to the terms of s. 610.105,
19 any certificateholder providing cable service or video service
20 in whole or in part within the service area that is the
21 subject of the incumbent cable or video service provider's
22 franchise shall, for as long as the court order remains in
23 effect, comply with the following franchise terms and
24 conditions as applicable to the incumbent cable or video
25 service provider in the service area:
26 (a) The certificateholder shall pay to the
27 municipality or county:
28 1. Any prospective lump-sum or recurring
29 per-subscriber funding obligations to support public,
30 educational, and governmental access channels or other
31 prospective franchise-required monetary grants related to
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
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1 public, educational, or governmental access facilities
2 equipment and capital costs. Prospective lump-sum payments
3 shall be made on an equivalent per-subscriber basis calculated
4 as follows: the amount of the prospective funding obligations
5 divided by the number of subscribers being served by the
6 incumbent cable service provider at the time of payment,
7 divided by the number of months remaining in the incumbent
8 cable or video service provider's franchise equals the monthly
9 per subscriber amount to be paid by the certificateholder
10 until the expiration or termination of the incumbent cable or
11 video service provider's franchise; and
12 2. If the incumbent cable or video service provider is
13 required to make payments for the funding of an institutional
14 network, the certificateholder shall pay an amount equal to
15 the incumbent's funding obligations but not to exceed 1
16 percent of the sales price, as defined in s. 202.11(13), for
17 the taxable monthly retail sales of cable or video programming
18 services the certificateholder received from subscribers in
19 the affected municipality or county. All definitions and
20 exemptions under chapter 202 apply in the determination of
21 taxable monthly retail sales of cable or video programming
22 services.
23 (b) Payments are not due under this subsection until
24 45 days after the municipality or county notifies the
25 respective providers.
26 (c) Any certificateholder may designate that portion
27 of that subscriber's bill attributable to any fee imposed
28 pursuant to this section as a separate item on the bill and
29 recover such amount from the subscriber.
30 (2) The provisions of subsection (1) do not alter the
31 rights of a cable service or video service provider with
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
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1 respect to service areas designated pursuant to s.
2 610.104(2)(e)5. Any certificateholder providing cable service
3 or video service in a service area covered by the terms of an
4 existing cable or video service provider's franchise that is
5 subject to a court or other proceeding challenging the ability
6 of an incumbent cable or video service provider to exercise
7 its legal right to terminate its existing cable franchise
8 pursuant to s. 610.105 has the right to intervene in such
9 proceeding.
10 610.119 Reports to the Legislature.--
11 (1) The Office of Program Policy Analysis and
12 Government Accountability shall submit to the President of the
13 Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the
14 majority and minority leaders of the Senate and House of
15 Representatives, by December 1, 2009, and December 1, 2014, a
16 report on the status of competition in the cable and video
17 service industry, including, by each municipality and county,
18 the number of cable and video service providers, the number of
19 cable and video subscribers served, the number of areas served
20 by fewer than two cable or video service providers, the trend
21 in cable and video service prices, and the identification of
22 any patterns of service as they impact demographic and income
23 groups.
24 (2) By January 15, 2008, the Department of Agriculture
25 and Consumer Services shall make recommendations to the
26 President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
27 Representatives, and the majority and minority leaders of the
28 Senate and House of Representatives regarding the workload and
29 staffing requirements associated with consumer complaints
30 related to video and cable certificateholders. The Department
31 of State shall provide to the Department of Agriculture and
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
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1 Consumer Services, for inclusion in the report, the workload
2 requirements for processing the certificates of franchise
3 authority. In addition, the Department of State shall provide
4 the number of applications filed for cable and video
5 certificates of franchise authority and the number of
6 amendments received to original applications for franchise
7 certificate authority.
8 610.120 Severability.--If any provision of ss.
9 610.102-610.119 or the application thereof to any person or
10 circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect
11 other provisions or application of ss. 610.102-610.119 which
12 can be given effect without the invalid provision or
13 application, and to this end the provisions of ss.
14 610.102-610.119 are severable.
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17 ================ T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ===============
18 And the title is amended as follows:
19 On page 2, line 52, through
20 page 3, line 81, delete those lines
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22 and insert:
23 their functional equivalent; providing
24 criteria, requirements, and procedures;
25 providing exceptions; providing
26 responsibilities of municipalities and counties
27 relating to such channels; providing for cable
28 or video services for certain public
29 facilities; providing requirements for and
30 limitations on counties and municipalities
31 relating to access to public right-of-way;
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Florida Senate - 2007 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 529 (c2)
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1 prohibiting counties and municipalities from
2 imposing additional requirements on
3 certificateholders; authorizing counties and
4 municipalities to require permits of
5 certificateholders relating to public
6 right-of-way; providing permit criteria and
7 requirements; prohibiting discrimination among
8 cable and video service subscribers; providing
9 for enforcement; clarifying local government
10 and department authority over communications
11 services; providing for enforcement of
12 compliance by certificateholders; providing for
13 court-ordered operation under existing
14 franchise agreements; providing requirements
15 for cable service providers under certain court
16 orders;
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