HomeMy WebLinkAboutCable TV Granting a Cable Tv Franchise to Carolina Cable Partners Ordinancea
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AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A CABL� WEgkf � IO �
FRANCHISE TO CAROLINA CABLE' PAI�TIIIF R6 HOLDER
REGI T it OF DEEDS
WHEREAS, the Board of ,Commissioners f n" "Ho'. t�H�o&'pt?
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
thereafter adopted certain amendments to said ordinance; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County has
received a proposal for the installation and operation of a cable
'television system in the County of Harnett; and
WHEREAS, a public hearing relative to the granting of a'
-cable television franchise.was held at the Harnett County Office
Building in Lillington, North Carolina, on the 20th day of July, .
1992, after advertisement as required by law; and
WHEREAS, the above referenced ordinance and the amendments.
"thereto require that certain findings be made before granting a
franchise by ordinance, said findings to relate to the proposed
franchisee's legal, financial and technical qualifications as
well as the adequacy and feasibility of such proposed
franchisee!s construction arrangements, and additionally 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 has
made or caused to be made investigation into the legal, financial
JOI{NNON AND JOHNSON. P. .A., AITOHNEN'S AT 1,M%
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and technical expertise of the applicant and as to what is in the
best interest of the public and potential subscribers throughout
unincorporated areas of the County which might be served by such
system, and the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County has made
and does make the following findings:
1. That the proposal of Carolina Cable Partners offers
cable television service to a great number of citizens
of the County and at a reasonable cost to the consumer.
2. That Carolina Cable Partners has furnished proof of
financial ability to construct a system to serve
portions of Harnett County through the submitting of
financial information as required by the ordinance.
3. That Carolina Cable Partners has previously constructed
systems in other jurisdictions in North Carolina and in
other states and by its record of performance has shown
the technical expertise to construct and operate the
proposed system.
5. That investigation has shown Carolina Cable Partner's
construction proposal to be adequate and feasible in
that it offers a 400 MHZ system, with cascades within
acceptable limits; 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 potential subscribers that a non - exclusive
franchise for the operation of a cable television system in
unincorporated areas of Harnett County be granted to Carolina
Cable Partners.
JOHNSON AND JOHNSON. P.A., %TT()RNM)S AT LAI%
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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 Carolina Cable Partners (hereinafter referred to as
"Carolina Cable ") to construct, operate and maintain a cable
television system in unincorporated portions of Harnett County
for a period of fifteen (15) years from and after the date of
enactment of this 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 franchise hereby granted
are expressly subject to the following:
(a) All provisions of the ordinance heretofore adopted
by the Board of Commissioners of Harnett County on
June 1, 1981,,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 "), as amended, all provisions of said
ordinance.and any such amendments being hereby
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`specif,ically: incorporated ,herein by reference; and
JOHNSON AND JOIiNSON. P.A.. A9'4'IIHNRY.� AT i.At%
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(b) All provisions of Carolina Cable's application for
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franchise,.whi'ch application was prepared for and
submitted to the County of Harnett (the
application..is'hereafter referred to as "proposal
of Carolina Cable "). A copy of such proposal is
on file with the office of the Harnett County
Manager, and all.provisions thereof are
specifically incorporated herein by reference.
3. The
rights, privileges and franchise hereby granted to
Carolina Cable
are subject to 'the following additional
conditions:
(a)
That the cable television system to be constructed
by Carolina Cable in Harnett County as hereby
permitted pass not less than Two Thousand One
Hundred and 'Five (2,105) homes upon completion of
construction within twelve (12) months from the
date of enactment hereof.
(b)
That Carolina Cable not "overbuild" any presently
existing cable television system in Harnett County
until it has exhibited evidence to the Harnett
County Board of Commissioners 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 2(a) above and to the service areas
shown on its map incorporated as part of its
proposal to the County and additionally that
JOHNSON AND JOIINSON. P.A.,
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Carolina Cable satisfy the Board of Commissioners
that it is in the best interest of the County and
potential customers that it be permitted to
overbuild a presently existing cable television
system (the purpose of this restriction being to
maximize cable television service within the
County). However, overbuilding initially shall be
permitted to the extent necessary to run trunk
lines through areas presently served by a cable
television system to provide cable television
service to other potential customers not presently
served by a cable television system.
(c) That Carolina Cable offer to customers within the
County set top converters with a 35 channel
capacity or greater with a lighted display, and
that said set top converters be addressable from
the head end so as to permit selective scrambling
and unscrambling of premium channels.
(d) That Carolina Cable additionally offer infra red
remote control channel selectors at a reasonable
rental, rate, comparable to that offered by other
systems in the state of North Carolina, with said
rate to be approved by the Board of Commissioners.
(e) That each satellite earth station dish installed
by Carolina Cable be a minimum of five meters in
diameter.
JOHNSON ANII JOT- 1NSON5 P. A., ATTOHNPI NK AT 1,A�%
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
of a minimumof four hours in the event of power
outages.
(g) That, except as otherwise herein provided, the
system installed be the 400 MHZ cable system
described in the proposal of Carolina Cable.
(h) That Carolina'Cable provide and activate two-way
capability of the system to be installed when and
if either local government or any educational
facilities served by the system request it for
public purposes; however, in the event of
installati6n,of a terrestrial system, such
mandatory activation shall not exceed 108 of the
total number of trunkline amplifiers, 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.
(i) That the cable system to be installed meet the
following technical standards at all points:
Frequency Stability (3 hrs.) +11 kHz
24-hour Signal level stability 6dB
Overall difference in 6dB
signal level
Hum modulation 18
JO I I -NS()N AND JO I I NSONt P. A., AmP.0 R Nil,YS A P LAM
System carrier -to -noise 43dB
Terminal isolation 30dB
Cross - modulation 5ldB
Composite Triple Beat 53dB
(NCTA -008 -0477)
(C W Carriers)
Second -order intermod 60dB
Chroma delay 250 n sec
(j) That Carolina Cable offer cable television service
to all currently existing public schools in its
service areas in the County.
(k) That in addition to complying with the service
area requirements set forth in the County Methods
.Ordinance in Section 8B, in the event that
Carolina Cable elects to use a master AML head end
in lieu of separate head ends, then Carolina Cable
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 Carolina Cable to
receive the same gross annual yield on investment
for the AML site and energized cable as Carolina
Cable is receiving from any then existing
County cable television system, inclusive of the
Towns of Angier, Coats, Lillington and Erwin.
JOHNSON AND JOHNSON. P.A.. ATI' INEYS AP i. %a'
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(1) Installation and construction of the cable
television system of Carolina Cable shall conform
to the standards set forth in the National
Electric Code as it appears in the North Carolina
State Building Code.
(m) Carolina Cable will expand the channel offering to
customers at a rate of not less than one channel
per year.
4. Carolina Cable, 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
Carolina Cable, including the completion of the construction of
its plants, and the activation of its systems in accordance with,
to the extent of, and within the periods of time shown in the
proposal of Carolina Cable and as required by all ordinances and
regulations of Harnett County, and any failure to do so will be
grounds for termination of any rights hereby granted.
5. The effective date of this 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. Acceptance of the franchise ordinance by Carolina Cable
shall constitute representations and covenants by said entity
that:
JOHNSON" AND .IOI- ISSON. P. A.. ATTORNRYV AT LAll
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(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 amendment shall
compromise Carolina Cable'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 power of the County to adopt
and enforce general ordinances necessary to the
safety and welfare of the public; and it agrees to
comply with all applicable general laws enacted by
the County pursuant to such power;
(e) In addition to the standards of construction,
maintenance and operation set forth in the Methods
Ordinance, this ordinance and in its proposal, it
will meet the standards of the cable television
JOI -INSON AND JOHNSON9 P.A.. ATTOHNI1Y.1 Al LAP'
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industry related to signal quality and technical
standards of construction, operation and
maintenance of the system and the state of the art
of the cable television industry;
(f) With reference to the provisions of Section 9.H of
the Methods Ordinance, it will make single
installations of its standard cable television
service facilities in accordance with the terms of
said section at such additional County owned
facilities in its service area as may from time to
time be designated by the Harnett County Manager.
8. When the franchise ordinance is accepted by Carolina
Cable as provided in the Methods Ordinance, this Ordinance
together with the proposal of Carolina Cable and the Methods
Ordinance shall constitute the Franchise Agreement (as defined in
Section 3.I of the Methods Ordinance) with respect to Carolina
Cable; when conflicts exist between the documents constituting
the franchise agreement the controlling provision shall be that
provision most.favorable to the cable television 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 21 day of September , 1992.
ChaA.rrVan, Board of Commissioners
JOHNSON AND JOHNSON. P.A.. A'PTOHNwv.S Al LAO'
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SECOND PASSAGE THIS the Sth day
of
October
, 1992.
of October ,
Cha r
hai
n,
Bo rd of
Commissioners
ADOPTED UPON SECOND READING THIS
ro,
the
Sth
day
of October ,
hai
n
Bo rd
of
Commissioners
SEAL
HARNETT COUNTY,, Q. h YYI
FILED DAT I � TIMF 1 'n
`t
6OOPAGEJ "b
REGISTER OF DEEDS
GAYLE P. HOLDER
JOHNSON AND JOHNSON. P.A.. Al"I' iNMYS AT I.MC
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