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(a) Authority.

(1) The Grantor shall be vested with the power and right to regulate reasonably the exercise of the privileges permitted by this franchise in the public interest. Additionally, the Grantor may delegate its administrative authority, or any part thereof, to the extent permitted under state and local law, to any agent in its sole discretion; provided, however, the Grantee shall have the right to appeal to the legislative body of the Grantor any adverse determination made by an agent of the Grantor.

(2) Subject to applicable law, the Grantee shall not be relieved of its obligations to comply, promptly and completely, with any provision of this franchise by any failure of the Grantor to promptly enforce compliance with this franchise.

(b) Rates and Charges. All the Grantee rates and charges related to or regarding cable services shall be subject to regulation by the Grantor to the full extent authorized by applicable federal, state and local laws.

(c) Rate Discrimination. All the Grantee rates and charges shall be published (in the form of a publicly available rate card), made available to the public and nondiscriminatory as to all persons and organizations of similar classes, under similar circumstances and conditions. The Grantee shall apply its rates in accordance with governing law and, subject to the provisions of Subsection (b) above, with similar rates and charges for all subscribers receiving similar cable services, without regard to race, color, ethnic or national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital, military or economic status, or physical or mental disability or geographic location in the Grantee’s franchise area. The Grantee shall provide equivalent cable services to all residential subscribers at similar rates and to commercial subscribers as authorized by FCC rules. The Grantee shall permit subscribers to make any in-residence connections the subscriber chooses without additional charge nor penalizing the subscriber therefor. However, if any in-home connection requires service from the Grantee due to signal quality, signal leakage or other factors caused by improper installation of such in-home wiring or faulty materials of such in-home wiring, the subscriber may be charged appropriate service charges by the Grantee. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit:

(1) The temporary reduction or waiving of rates or charges in conjunction with valid promotional campaigns; or

(2) The offering of rate discounts for cable service generally.

(d) Filing of Rates and Charges.

(1) Throughout the term of this franchise, the Grantee shall maintain on file with the Grantor a complete schedule of applicable rates and charges for cable services provided under this franchise. Additionally, upon written request, the Grantee shall provide the Grantor with a summary of any promotional campaigns and/or temporary reductions or waivers of rates and charges for the upcoming month within the franchise area.

(2) Upon written request, the Grantee shall provide a complete schedule of current rates and charges for any and all leased access channels, or portions of such channels, provided by the Grantee. The schedule shall include a description of the price, terms and conditions established by the Grantee for leased access channels.

(e) Reserved Authority. The Grantor and the Grantee each reserves all rights and authority arising from the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, any amendments or superseding statutes thereto, and any other relevant provisions of federal, state or local law or regulation.

(f) Time Limits Strictly Construed. Whenever this franchise sets forth a time for any act to be performed by the Grantee, such time shall be deemed to be of the essence, and any failure of the Grantee to perform within the allotted time may be considered a material breach of this franchise, and sufficient ground for the Grantor to invoke any relevant penalty provision of this franchise. However, in the event that the Grantee is prevented or delayed in the performance of any of its obligations under this franchise by reason beyond the reasonable control of the Grantee, including but not limited to acts of God, floods, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or other unavoidable casualty, acts of public enemy, insurrection, war, riot, sabotage, vandalism, strikes, epidemic or unusually severe weather conditions, or shortages of materials or qualified labor which are not reasonably foreseeable, the Grantee shall have a reasonable time, under the circumstances, to perform the affected obligation under this franchise or to procure a substitute for such obligation which is reasonably satisfactory to the Grantor. The same force majeure exception shall apply to the Grantor with regard to any of its obligations under this franchise.

(g) General Performance Evaluation.

(1) The Grantor may hold performance evaluation sessions within thirty (30) days of the third and sixth anniversary dates of the effective date of this franchise. All such evaluation sessions shall be conducted by the Grantor.

(2) Special evaluation sessions may be held at any time by the Grantor during the term of this franchise upon reasonable prior written notice to the Grantee.

(3) All regular evaluation sessions shall be open to the public and announced at least one (1) week in advance in a newspaper of general circulation in the franchise area. The Grantor and the Grantee may negotiate additional methods for notifying subscribers of any regular or special evaluation sessions, such as including an insert in the Grantee’s bill to subscribers, on a case-by-case basis. The Grantee shall not unreasonably refuse to accommodate such additional notification methods, provided the Grantor gives sufficient notice of its request to the Grantee.

(4) Topics which may be discussed at any evaluation session may include, but are not limited to, cable service rate structures; franchise fees; liquidated damages; free or discounted cable services; application of new technologies; cable system performance; cable services provided; programming offered; customer complaints; privacy; amendments to this franchise; judicial and FCC rulings; line extension policies; and the Grantor or the Grantee’s rules; provided that nothing in this Subsection shall be construed as requiring the renegotiation of this franchise.

(5) During evaluations under this Section, the Grantee shall fully cooperate with the Grantor and shall provide such information and documents as the Grantor may reasonably require to perform the evaluation, including, upon the Grantor’s written request, information regarding cable services offered in up to three (3) similarly situated cable systems as the cable system in the franchise area. For purposes of this Section, similarly situated cable systems shall mean cable systems with a substantially equivalent number of subscribers, owned and operated by the Grantee, its subsidiaries, parent corporations and affiliates. (Ord. 731 § 1, 2004)