Cable TV Granting a Franchise to Univision Cable Systems Inc 11/1/82Fr ,
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AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A CABLE TELEVISION
FRANCHISE TO UNIVISION CABLE SYSTEMS, INC.
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WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners for Harnett County adopted on
the 1st day of'June 1981 an ordinance entitled "An Ordinance Providing
for the Method of Franchising the Construction, Operation and
Maintenance of a Cable Television System in the County of Harnett,
State of North Carolina" (hereinafter referred to as "Methods
Ordinance ") and,
WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County adopted on
the 8th day of September of 1981 certain amendments to said ordinance,
and again adopted certain amendments to said ordinance on the 18th day
of October 1982, and
WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County have
received two proposals for the installation and operation of a Cable
Television System or Systems in the County of Harnett and have
actively solicited additional proposals through personal contacts; and
WHEREAS, the County of Harnett received two proposals to—sepve
franchise areas within the County which were from the following::
Billy R. Jones of Atlanta, Georgia
Univision Cable Systems, Inc., and
WHEREAS, the proposals by the bidders listed above offered
service to most of the populated areas of the unincorporated portions
of the County; and
WHEREAS, a public hearing relative to the granting of a CATV
franchise was held at the County Office Building in Lillington after
due legal advertisement on the 18th day of October, 1982; and
WHEREAS, the ordinance set forth in paragraph one above and the
amendments thereto require that certain findings be made before
granting a franchise by ordinance, said findings relate to the
franchisee's legal, financial and technical qualifications as well as
the adequacy and feasibility of franchisee's construction
arrangements', and addit 1 ionally that findings be made as to what is in
the best interest'of the public and potential subscribers; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County have made
investigation into the legal, financial and technical expertise of all
applicants and as to what is in the best interest of the public and
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potential subscribers (throughout the unincorporated areas of the
County) and the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County have made and
do make the following findings:
1. That the proposal of Univision Cable Systems, Inc. offers
Cable Television service to a great number of citizens of
the County and at the lowest cost to the consumer.
2. That the proposals of both applicants offer equivalent
channel coverage to the consumer and equivalent capacity to
expand coverage in the future; except that the offer of
Billy R. Jones makes less coverage available for the basic
service rate.
3. That Univision Cable Systems, Inc. has furnished proof of
financial ability to construct a system to serve Harnett
County through financial statements as required by the
ordinance.
4. That applicant, Univision Cable Systems, Inc., has
previously constructed systems in Duplin, Onslow and Pender
Counties and by its record of performance has shown the
technical expertise to construct and operate the proposed
system.
5. That investigation has shown applicant's construction
proposal to be adequate and feasible in that it offers a 400
MHZ system, with cascades within acceptable limits, all to
design specifications set forth in its proposal; and
WHEREAS, based upon the above findings of fact the Board of
Commissioners has concluded that it is in the best interest of the
public and the potential subscribers that a non - exclusive franchise
for the operation of a Cable Television System in the unincorporated
areas of Harnett County be granted to Univision Cable Systems, Inc.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Commissioners of
Harnett County as follows:
1. That Harnett County (hereinafter referred to as "the
County ") hereby grants the non - exclusive right, privilege, and
franchise to Univision Cable Systems, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as
"Univision ") to construct, operate and maintain a cable television
system in the unincorporated portions of Harnett County for a period.
of fifteen (15) years from and after the date of acceptance of -this
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ordinance and for such purposes to use any roads, alleys or
other public property of the County but subject always to present and
future ordinances pertaining thereto. The County expressly reserves
the right to grant other rights, privileges, and franchises to any
other person or entity at any time during the term hereof.
2. The rights, privileges, and franchises hereby granted are
,°expressly subject to the following:
(A) All provisions of an ordinance heretofore adopted by
the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County on June
1, 1981, as amended on September 8, 1981 and October
18, 1982, entitled "An Ordinance Providing for the
Method of Franchising the Construction, Operation and
Maintenance of a Cable Television System in the County
of Harnett, State of North Carolina" (hereinafter
referred to as "the Methods Ordinance ") all provisions
of said ordinance being hereby specifically
incorporated herein by reference; and
(B) All provisions of the franchisee's application for
franchise which application was prepared for and
submitted to the County of Harnett (the application
is hereafter referred to as "proposal of Univision ") a
copy of the proposal is on file with the office of the
County Clerk, all provisions of which are specifically
incorporated herein by reference as well as a map
previously furnished as part of a proposal by Future
Cablevision of North Carolina, Incorporated which is
incorporated by reference into the proposal of
Univision and referred to therein, which map is also on
file in the office of the County Clerk.
3. That the right, privilege and franchise herein granted to
Univision is subject to the following additional conditions:
(A) That Unvision accept any franchises offered by the
Towns of Angier, Coats, Erwin and Lillington in
accordance with the terms of any ordinances passed by
those towns.
(B) That the CATV system to be constructed by franchisee in
the franchise areas of Harnett County, Angier,
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Lillington, Coats and Erwin include a minimum of 175
miles of energized cable upon completion of areas A and
B described in franchisee's proposal; said provision
not to apply in event of employment of microwave
distribution system.
(C) That Univision not overbuild North Carolina
Communications, Inc., in the area currently served by
North Carolina - Communications, Incorporated or its
successor in interest or offer service to existing
customers of North Carolina Communications, Inc. until
it has exhibited evidence to the County Board of
Commissioners of Harnett County that it is offering
service to all other areas of the County with thirty or
more homes per cable mile as that term is defined in
the ordinance referred to in paragraph 2A above and to
the basic service area shown on its map incorporated as
part of its proposal to the County and additionally
that Univision satisfy the Board of Commissioners that
it is in the best'interest of the County and potential
customers that it be permitted to overbuild North
Carolina Communications, Incorporated in its franchise
area (the purpose of this restriction being to maximize
CATV service within the County). However, overbuilding
initially shall be permitted to the extent necessary to
run trunk lines through said area to serve other
potential customers.
(D) That Unvision offer to customers within the county, set
top converters with a 35 channel capacity or greater
with a lighted display; that said set top converters be
addressable from the head end so as to permit selective
scrambling and unscrambling of premium channels.
(E) That Univision offer additionally infra red remote
control channel selectors at a reasonable rental rate,
comparable to that offered by other systems in the
state of North Carolina, and said rate to be approved
by the Board.
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(F) That each satellite earth station dish installed by
Univision be a minimum of five meters in diameter.
(G) That the system to be installed have standby power
capabilities at the cable power supplies as well as at
the head ends, which power supplies will enable the
system to carry a back up power support a minimum of
four hours in event of power outages.
(H) That the system installed be the 400 MHZ cable system
described in the proposal of Unvision.
(I) That Univision provide and activate two -way capability
of the system to be installed when and if either local
government or the educational facilities request it for
public purposes; however, in the event of installation
of a terrestrial system, said mandatory activation
shall not exceed 108 of the total number of trunkline
amplyfiers, and in the event of an AML distribution
system said capability shall be mandatory only as to
one receiving hub and then only for one channel.
(J) That the cable system to be installed meet the
following technical standards at all points:
Frequency Stability ±11 kHz
(3 hrs.)
24 -hour Signal level
6dB
stability
overall difference in
6dB
signal level
Hum modulation
18
System carrier -to -noise
43dB
Terminal isolation
30dB
Cross - modulation
5ldB
Composite Triple Beat
53dB
(NCTA- 008 -0477)
(C W Carriers)
Second -order intermode
60dB
Chroma delay
250 n sec
(K) That Univision offer CATV
service to all currently
existing public schools in
the Franchise areas of the
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County, and the Towns of Angier, Coats, Erwin and
Lillington with the exception of Mary Stewart School
which if coverage is not justified by residential
density can be covered under Section 8B of the Methods
Ordinance.
(L) That in addition to complying with the service area
requirements set forth in the County Methods Ordinance
in Section 8(b), in the event that franchisee elects to
use a master AML head end in lieu of separate head
ends, then the franchisee is to install AML receivers
in locations of the county with sufficient residential
density (that is density which can be reached from an
AML site by extending energized cable over surrounding
areas having an average density of 30 residential units
per mile) to enable franchisee to receive the same
gross annual yield on investment for the AML site and
energized cable as franchisee is receiving troughout
the then existing countywide system inclusive of the
towns of Angier, Coats, Lillington and Erwin.
(M) The installation and construction of the Cable TV
System shall conform to the standards set forth in the
National Electric Code as it appears in the North
Carolina State Building Code.
(N) That franchisee will expand the channel offering to
customers at a rate of not less than one channel per
year.
4. That Univision, by accepting the rights hereby granted,
covenants that it will perform and keep all acts, covenants and
obligations imposed, represented or promised by the provisions of this
ordinance, the - Methods Ordinance, and the proposal of Univision,
including the completion of the construction of their plants, and the
activation of their systems in accordance with, to the extent of, and
within the periods of time shown on the construction schedule in the
proposal of Univision, and any failure to do so will be grounds for
termination of the rights hereby granted in accordance with the CATV
Ordinance.
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5. The effective date of the ordinance shall be the date of its
final adoption.
6. The effective date of the Franchise shall be as set forth in
Section 6C of the Methods Ordinance and that date shall be utilized
for commencement of the time table for construction contained in the
proposal.
7. The acceptance of the franchise ordinance by Univision shall
constitute representations and covenants by said franchisee that:
(A) It accepts and agrees to all of the provisions of this
Ordinance and those instruments incorporated herein by
reference;
(B) It has examined all of the provisions of this and the
Methods Ordinance and waives any claims that any
provisions hereof are unreasonable, arbitrary or void.
(C) It recognizes the right of the County to make
reasonable amendments to the franchise ordinance or
franchise agreement during the term of the franchise,
provided that no such change shall compromise the
franchisee's ability to perform satisfactorily its
obligations or rights under this ordinance or the
franchise agreement. It further recognizes and agrees
that the County shall in no way be bound to renew the
franchise at the end of franchise term;
(D) It acknowledges that its rights hereunder are subject
to the police powe
general ordinances
of the public; and
applicable general
to such power;
(E) In addition to the
r of the Coun
necessary to
it agrees to
laws enacted
standards of
ty to adopt and enforce
the safety and welfare
comply with all
by the County pursuant
construction,
maintenance and operation set forth in the Methods
Ordinance, this ordinance and in its proposal, it will
meet the standards of the CATV Industry related to
signal quality and technical standards of construction,
operation and maintenance of the system and the state
of the art of the industry;
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(F) With reference to the provisions of Section 9H of the
Methods Ordinance, it will make single installations of
its standard community service facilities in
accordance with the terms of said section at such
additional County owned facilities as may from time to
time be designated by the County Manager.
8. When the franchise ordinance is accepted by Univision as
provided in the Methods Ordinance, this Ordinance together with the
proposal of Univision and the Methods Ordinance shall constitute the
Franchise Agreement (as defined in Section 3.I of the Methods
Ordinance) with respect to Univision; when conflicts exist between the
three documents constituting the franchise agreement the controlling
provision shall be that provision most favorable to the CATV consumer.
9. If any section, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance
is for any reason held to be invalid, such decision shall not affect
the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance.
FIRST PASSED THIS the Igth day of
, 1982.
SECOND PASSAGE THIS the 1ct1 day Of? November , 1982•
, Board of Corggis
ADOPTED UPON SECOND READING THYS they 1st day of
, Board o
1982.
ssioners