Connecticut 2020 2020 Regular Session

Connecticut Senate Bill SB00176 Introduced / Bill

Filed 02/19/2020

                        
 
LCO No. 1642  	1 of 8 
 
General Assembly  Raised Bill No. 176  
February Session, 2020  
LCO No. 1642 
 
 
Referred to Committee on ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY  
 
 
Introduced by:  
(ET)  
 
 
 
 
AN ACT CONCERNING ES TABLISHMENT OF A FEE PAID BY 
MULTICHANNEL VIDEO P ROGRAMMING DISTRIBUTORS TO 
COMPANIES OR ORGANIZ ATIONS RESPONSIBLE F OR COMMUNITY 
ACCESS PROGRAMMING. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General 
Assembly convened: 
 
Section 1. Section 16-331a of the general statutes is repealed and the 1 
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 2 
(a) As used in this section: [,] 3 
(1) ["multichannel video programming distributor"] "Multichannel 4 
video programming distributor" means a multichannel video 5 
programming distributor, as defined in 47 CFR 76.1300, as from time to 6 
time amended, and includes an owner of an open video system, as 7 
defined in 47 CFR 76.1500, as from time to time amended;  8 
(2) "Subscriber" means any residential or commercial customer who 9 
purchases one or more of the following services (A) video streaming, (B) 10 
Internet access, or (C) cable television; and 11 
(3) "Video streaming" means the delivery of video content sent in 12  Raised Bill No.  176 
 
 
 
LCO No. 1642   	2 of 8 
 
compressed form over the Internet and displayed by the viewer in real 13 
time for a fee on a subscription basis. 14 
(b) Each company or organization selected pursuant to subsection (c) 15 
of this section, in consultation with the franchise's advisory council, 16 
shall provide facilities, equipment, and technical and managerial 17 
support to enable the production of meaningful community access 18 
programming within its franchise area. Each company shall include all 19 
its community access channels in its basic service package. Each 20 
company or organization shall annually review its rules, regulations, 21 
policies and procedures governing the provision of community access 22 
programming. Such review shall include a period for public comment, 23 
a public meeting and consultation with the franchise's advisory council. 24 
(c) If a community-based nonprofit organization in a franchise area 25 
desires to assume responsibility for community access operations, it 26 
shall, upon timely petition to the authority, be granted intervenor status 27 
in a franchise proceeding held pursuant to this section. The authority 28 
shall assign this responsibility to the most qualified community-based 29 
nonprofit organization or the company based on the following criteria: 30 
(1) The recommendations of the advisory council and of the 31 
municipalities in the franchise area; (2) a review of the organization's or 32 
the company's performance in providing community access 33 
programming; (3) the operating plan submitted by the organization and 34 
the company for providing community access programming; (4) the 35 
experience in community access programming of the organization; (5) 36 
the organization's and the company's proposed budget, including 37 
expenses for salaries, consultants, attorneys, and other professionals; (6) 38 
the quality and quantity of the programming to be created, promoted or 39 
facilitated by the organization or the company; (7) a review of the 40 
organization's procedures to ensure compliance with federal and state 41 
law, including the regulations of Connecticut state agencies; and (8) any 42 
other criteria determined to be relevant by the authority. If the authority 43 
selects an organization to provide community access operations, the 44 
company shall provide financial and technical support to the 45 
organization in an amount to be determined by the authority. On 46  Raised Bill No.  176 
 
 
 
LCO No. 1642   	3 of 8 
 
petition of the Office of Consumer Counsel or the franchise's advisory 47 
council or on its own motion, the authority shall hold a hearing, with 48 
notice, on the ability of the organization to continue its responsibility for 49 
community access operations. In its decision following such a hearing, 50 
the authority may reassign the responsibility for community access 51 
operations to another organization or the company in accordance with 52 
the provisions of this subsection. 53 
(d) Each company or organization shall conduct outreach programs 54 
and promote its community access services. Such outreach and 55 
promotion may include, but not be limited to (1) broadcasting cross-56 
channel video announcements, (2) distributing information throughout 57 
the franchise area and not solely to its subscribers, (3) including 58 
community access information in its regular marketing publications, (4) 59 
broadcasting character-generated text messages or video 60 
announcements on barker or access channels, (5) making speaking 61 
engagements, (6) holding open receptions at its community access 62 
facilities, and (7) in multitown franchise areas, encouraging the 63 
formation and development of local community access studios operated 64 
by volunteers or nonprofit operating groups. 65 
(e) Each company or organization shall adopt for its community 66 
access programming a scheduling policy which encourages 67 
programming diversity. Said scheduling policy shall include (1) limiting 68 
a program, except instructional access and governmental access 69 
programming, to thirteen weeks in any one time slot when a producer 70 
of another program requests the same time slot, (2) procedures for 71 
resolving program scheduling conflicts, and (3) other measures which 72 
the company or organization deems appropriate. A company or 73 
organization may consider the availability of a substantially similar time 74 
slot when making community access programming scheduling 75 
decisions. 76 
(f) In the case of any initial, transfer or renewal franchise proceeding 77 
held on or after October 1, 1990, the authority may, on its own initiative, 78 
in the first six months of the second, fifth, eighth and eleventh years of 79  Raised Bill No.  176 
 
 
 
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the franchise term, review and evaluate the company's or the 80 
organization's provision of community access programming. The 81 
authority shall conduct such review or evaluation in any such 82 
proceeding held on or after October 1, 1990, if the Consumer Counsel or 83 
any interested party petitions the authority for such a review during the 84 
first six months of the review year. During any such review year, if an 85 
organization desires to provide community access operations it shall 86 
petition the authority and the authority shall follow the procedures and 87 
standards described in subsection (c) of this section in determining 88 
whether to assign to the organization the responsibility to provide such 89 
operations. No community access programming produced using the 90 
facilities or staff of an organization or company providing community 91 
access operations shall be utilized for commercial purposes without 92 
express prior written agreement between the producer of such 93 
programming and the organization or company providing community 94 
access operations the facilities or staff of which were used in the 95 
production of the programming. Such an agreement may include, 96 
without limitation, a provision regarding the producer and the 97 
company or organization sharing any profit realized from such 98 
programming so utilized. An organization providing community access 99 
operations shall consult with the company in the franchise area prior to 100 
making such an agreement. 101 
(g) No organization or company providing community ac cess 102 
operations shall exercise editorial control over such programming, 103 
except as to programming that is obscene and except as otherwise 104 
allowed by applicable state and federal law. This subsection shall not be 105 
construed to prohibit such organization or company from limiting the 106 
hours during which adult programs may be aired. Such organization or 107 
company may consult with the advisory council in determining what 108 
constitutes an adult program for purposes of this subsection. 109 
(h) Upon the request of the Office of Consumer Counsel or the 110 
franchise's advisory council, and for good cause shown the authority 111 
shall require an organization responsible for community access 112 
operations to have an independent audit conducted at the expense of 113  Raised Bill No.  176 
 
 
 
LCO No. 1642   	5 of 8 
 
the organization. For purposes of this subsection, "good cause" may 114 
include, but not be limited to, the failure or refusal of such organization 115 
(1) to account for and reimburse the community access programming 116 
budget for its commercial use of community access programming 117 
facilities, equipment or staff, or for the allocation of such facilities, 118 
equipment or staff to functions not directly related to the community 119 
access operations of the franchise, (2) to carry over unexpended 120 
community access programming budget accounts at the end of each 121 
fiscal year, (3) to properly maintain community access programming 122 
facilities or equipment in good repair, or (4) to plan for the replacement 123 
of community access programming equipment made obsolete by 124 
technological advances. In response to any such request, the authority 125 
shall state, in writing, the reasons for its determination. 126 
(i) Each company and nonprofit organization providing community 127 
access operations shall report annually to the authority on or before 128 
February fifteenth. The authority shall adopt regulations, in accordance 129 
with the provisions of chapter 54, to specify the information which shall 130 
be required in such report. Such information shall be necessary for the 131 
authority to carry out the provisions of this section. 132 
(j) The advisory council shall review all community access 133 
programming of a company or organization within the franchise area 134 
which programming has been the subject of a complaint. 135 
(k) The authority shall establish the amount that the company or 136 
organization responsible for community access operations shall receive 137 
for such operations from subscribers and from multichannel video 138 
programming distributors. The amount shall be five dollars per 139 
subscriber per year, adjusted annually by a percentage reflecting the 140 
increase or decrease of the consumer price index for the preceding 141 
calendar year, provided the authority may increase or decrease the 142 
amount by not more than forty per cent of said amount for the 143 
subscribers and all multichannel video programming distributors 144 
within a franchise area after considering (1) the criteria set forth in 145 
subsection (c) of this section, (2) the level of public interest in community 146  Raised Bill No.  176 
 
 
 
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access operations in the franchise area, (3) the level of community need 147 
for educational access programming, (4) the level and breadth of 148 
participation in community access operations, (5) the adequacy of 149 
existing facilities, equipment and training programs to meet the current 150 
and future needs of the franchise area, and (6) any other factors 151 
determined to be relevant by the authority. Prior to increasing or 152 
decreasing said amount, the authority shall give notice and opportunity 153 
for a hearing to the company or multichannel video programming 154 
distributor and, where applicable, the organization responsible for 155 
community access programming. The amount shall be assessed once 156 
each year for each end user premises connected to an open video 157 
system, irrespective of the number of multichannel video programming 158 
distributors providing programming over the open video system. When 159 
the authority issues, transfers or renews a certificate of public 160 
convenience and necessity to operate a community antenna television 161 
system, the authority shall include in the franchise agreement the 162 
amount that the company or organization responsible for community 163 
access operations shall receive for such operations from subscribers. The 164 
authority shall conduct a proceeding to establish the amount that the 165 
company or organization responsible for community access operations 166 
shall receive for such operations from multichannel video programming 167 
distributors and the method of payment of said amount. The authority 168 
shall adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 to implement the 169 
provisions of this subsection. For any subscriber of multiple services, as 170 
described in subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of this section, the 171 
company or organization responsible for community access operations 172 
shall receive only one payment from the subscriber pursuant to this 173 
subsection. 174 
(l) An organization assigned responsibility for community access 175 
operations which organization ceases to provide such operations shall 176 
transfer its assets to the successor organization assigned such 177 
responsibility or, if no successor organization is assigned such 178 
responsibility, to another nonprofit organization within the franchise 179 
area selected by the authority. 180  Raised Bill No.  176 
 
 
 
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(m) On petition or its own motion, the authority shall determine 181 
whether a franchise area is subject to effective competition, as defined 182 
in 47 USC 543, as from time to time amended. Upon a determination 183 
that a franchise area is subject to effective competition, the provisions of 184 
this section shall apply to multichannel video programming distributors 185 
operating in the franchise area, provided (1) where multichannel video 186 
programming distributors provide programming over a single open 187 
video system, the provisions of this section shall apply jointly and not 188 
separately to all such distributors providing programming on the same 189 
open video system, and (2) the provisions of subsection (k) of this 190 
section shall apply to multichannel video programming distributors 191 
whether or not such distributors operate in a franchise area subject to 192 
such effective competition. 193 
(n) No community antenna television company or nonprofit 194 
organization providing community access operations shall refuse to 195 
engage in good faith negotiation regarding interconnection of such 196 
operations with other community antenna television companies serving 197 
the same area. No school or facility owned or leased by a municipal 198 
government that possesses community access operations equipment 199 
shall unreasonably deny interconnection with or the use of such 200 
equipment to any such company or nonprofit organization. At the 201 
request of such a company or nonprofit organization providing 202 
community access operations, the authority may facilitate the 203 
negotiation between such company or organization and any other 204 
community antenna television company regarding interconnection of 205 
community access operations. 206 
(o) Each company or organization shall consult with its advisory 207 
council in the formation of a community access programming policy, 208 
the adoption of the community access programming budget and the 209 
allocation of capital equipment and community access programming 210 
resources.  211  Raised Bill No.  176 
 
 
 
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This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following 
sections: 
 
Section 1 from passage 16-331a 
 
Statement of Purpose:   
To (1) define "subscriber" and "video streaming", (2) require the Public 
Utilities Regulatory Authority to establish a fee paid by subscribers of 
video streaming, Internet access and cable television, and (3) limit the 
applicable fee to one household per purchased service. 
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except 
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not 
underlined.]