AB207: Bill Text

AB207,10,8 (d) Timely entry into the market is critical for new entrants seeking to compete with existing providers.

AB207,10,11 (e) This state's economy would be enhanced by additional investment in communications and video programming infrastructure by existing and new providers of video service.

AB207,10,13 (f) Minimal regulation of all providers of video service within a uniform framework will promote the investment described in par. (e).

AB207,10,16 (g) Ensuring that existing providers of video service are subject to the same regulatory requirements and procedures as new entrants will ensure fair competition among all providers.

AB207,10,21 (h) This section is an enactment of statewide concern for the purpose of providing uniform regulation of video service that promotes investment in communications and video infrastructures and the continued development of this state's video service marketplace within a framework that is fair and equitable to all providers.

AB207,10,22 (2) Definitions. In this section:

AB207,10,25 (a) "Affiliate", when used in relation to any person, means another person who owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with such person.

AB207,11,3 (b) "Basic local exchange service area" means the area on file with the public service commission in which a telecommunications video service provider provides basic local exchange service, as defined in s. 196.01 (1g).

AB207,11,5 (c) "Cable franchise" means a franchise granted under s. 66.0419 (3) (b), 2005 stats.

AB207,11,6 (d) "Cable operator" has the meaning given in 47 USC 522 (5).

AB207,11,7 (e) "Cable service" has the meaning given in 47 USC 522 (6).

AB207,11,8 (f) "Cable system" has the meaning given in 47 USC 522 (7).

AB207,11,9 (g) "Department" means the department of financial institutions.

AB207,11,10 (h) "FCC" means the federal communications commission.

AB207,11,12 (i) "Franchise fee" has the meaning given in 47 USC 542 (g), and includes any compensation required under s. 66.0425.

AB207,11,15 (j) 1. "Gross receipts" means all revenues received by and paid to a video service provider by subscribers residing within a municipality for video service, including all of the following:

AB207,11,16 a. Recurring charges for video service.

AB207,11,18 b. Event-based charges for video service, including pay-per-view and video-on-demand charges.

AB207,11,19 c. Rental of set top boxes and other video service equipment.

AB207,11,21 d. Service charges related to the provision of video service, including activation, installation, repair, and maintenance charges.

AB207,11,23 e. Administrative charges related to the provision of video service, including service order and service termination charges.

AB207,11,25 2. Notwithstanding subd. 1., "gross receipts" does not include any of the following:

AB207,12,2 a. Discounts, refunds, and other price adjustments that reduce the amount of compensation received by a video service provider.

AB207,12,5 b. Uncollectible fees, except that any uncollectible fees that are written off as bad debt but subsequently collected shall be included as gross receipts in the period collected, less the expenses of collection.

AB207,12,6 c. Late payment charges.

AB207,12,7 d. Maintenance charges.

AB207,12,12 e. Amounts billed to video service subscribers to recover taxes, fees, surcharges or assessments of general applicability or otherwise collected by a video service provider from video service subscribers for pass through to any federal, state, or local government agency, including video service provider fees and regulatory fees paid to the FCC under 47 USC 159.

AB207,12,15 f. Revenue from the sale of capital assets or surplus equipment not used by the purchaser to receive video service from the seller of those assets or surplus equipment.

AB207,12,23 g. Charges, other than those described in subd. 1., that are aggregated or bundled with amounts described in subd. 1. and billed to video service subscribers, including but not limited to any revenues received by a video service provider or its affiliates for telecommunications services, information services, or the provision of directory or Internet advertising, including yellow pages, white pages, banner advertisement, and electronic publishing, if a video service provider can reasonably identify such charges on books and records kept in the regular course of business or by other reasonable means.

AB207,12,25 h. Reimbursement by programmers of marketing costs actually incurred by a video service provider.

AB207,13,5 (k) "Household" means a house, apartment, mobile home, group of rooms, or single room that is intended for occupancy as separate living quarters. For purposes of this paragraph, "separate living quarters" are those in which the occupants live and eat separately from any other persons in the building and which have direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall.

AB207,13,9 (L) "Incumbent cable operator" means a person who, immediately before the effective date of this paragraph, was providing cable service under a cable franchise, expired cable franchise, or cable franchise extension, or under an ordinance or resolution adopted or enacted by a municipality.

AB207,13,11 (m) "Institutional network" means a network that connects governmental, educational, and community institutions.

AB207,13,14 (n) "Interim cable operator" means an incumbent cable operator that elects to continue to provide cable service under a cable franchise as specified in sub. (3) (b) 2. a.

AB207,13,16 (o) "Issued" means, with respect to a video service franchise, issued or considered to be issued by the department under sub. (3) (f) 2.

AB207,13,19 (p) "Large telecommunications video service provider" means a telecommunications video service provider that has more than 500,000 basic local exchange access lines in this state.

AB207,13,23 (q) "Low-income household" means any individual or group of individuals living together as one economic unit in a household whose aggregate annual income is not more than $35,000, as identified by the United States Census Bureau as of January 1, 2007.

AB207,13,24 (r) "Municipality" means a city, village, or town.

AB207,14,2 (s) "PEG channel" means a channel designated for noncommercial public, educational, or governmental use.

AB207,14,4 (r) "Service tier" means a category of video service for which a separate rate is charged.

AB207,14,6 (u) "State agency" means any board, commission, committee, department, or office in the state government.

AB207,14,9 (v) "Telecommunications video service provider" means a video service provider that uses facilities for providing telecommunications service, as defined in s. 196.01 (9m), also to provide video service.

AB207,14,12 (w) "Video franchise area" means the area or areas described in an application for a video service franchise under sub. (3) (d) 2., as modified, if applicable, in a notification made under sub. (3) (j).

AB207,14,14 (x) "Video programming" means programming provided by, or generally considered comparable to programming provided by, a television broadcast station.

AB207,14,19 (y) "Video service" means any video programming service, cable service, or service provided via an open video system that complies with 47 USC 573, that is provided through facilities located at least in part in public rights-of-way, without regard to delivery technology, including Internet protocol technology or any other technology. "Video service" does not include any of the following:

AB207,14,21 1. Video programming provided by a commercial mobile radio service provider, as defined in s. 196.01 (2g).

AB207,14,24 2. Video programming provided solely as part of and via a service that enables users to access content, information, electronic mail, or any other service offered over the public Internet.

AB207,14,25 (z) "Video service franchise" means a franchise issued under sub. (3) (f) 2.

AB207,15,4 (zb) "Video service network" means wireline facilities, or any component thereof, located at least in part in the public right-of-way that deliver video service, without regard to delivery technology, including Internet protocol technology or any other technology. "Video service network" includes a cable system.

AB207,15,7 (zg) "Video service provider" means a person, including an incumbent cable operator, who is issued a video service franchise or an affiliate, successor, or assign of such a person.

AB207,15,9 (zm) "Video service provider fee" means the fee paid by a video service provider under sub. (7).

AB207,15,13 (3) Authority to provide video service. (a) In general. Except for an interim cable operator, and except as provided in par. (c), no person may provide video service in this state unless the department has issued a video service franchise to the person and the person has provided the notice required under par. (h).

AB207,15,16 (b) Incumbent cable operators. 1. A municipality may not renew or extend the cable franchise of an incumbent cable operator that expires after the effective date of this subdivision .... [revisor inserts date].

AB207,15,17 2. An incumbent cable operator may do one of the following:

AB207,15,19 a. Continue to provide cable service as an interim cable operator until the cable franchise expires.

AB207,16,2 b. Apply for a video service franchise. If an incumbent cable operator applies for a video service franchise, the cable franchise shall terminate and have no effect upon issuance of the video service franchise. Upon termination of the cable franchise, the municipality that granted the franchise shall, at the request of the incumbent cable operator, surrender, return, or take such other action as may be necessary to nullify any bond, letter of credit, or similar instrument intended to secure the performance of the incumbent cable operator under the cable franchise.

AB207,16,13 3. An incumbent cable operator whose cable franchise expires after the effective date of this subdivision .... [revisor inserts date], may not, after expiration of the cable franchise, provide video service in this state unless the incumbent cable operator applies for a video service franchise under subd. 2. b. and, upon issuance of the video service franchise, provides the notice required under par. (h). An incumbent cable operator whose cable franchise expired before the effective date of this subdivision .... [revisor inserts date], and who was providing cable service immediately before the effective date of this act, may continue to provide cable service if, no later than the first day of the 2nd month beginning after the effective date of this subdivision .... [revisor inserts date], the incumbent cable operator applies for a video service franchise under subd. 2. b.

AB207,16,19 (c) Other providers. If a person, other than an incumbent cable operator, who was providing video service immediately before the effective date of this paragraph .... [revisor inserts date], applies, no later than the first day of the 2nd month beginning after the effective date of this paragraph .... [revisor inserts date], for a video franchise, the person may provide video service until the department issues a video franchise to the person.

AB207,16,21 (d) Application. An applicant for a video service franchise shall submit an application to the department that consists of all of the following:

AB207,16,24 1. The location and telephone number of the applicant's principal place of business, the names of the principal executive officers of the applicant, and the names of any persons authorized to represent the applicant before the department.

AB207,17,2 2. A description of the area or areas of the state in which the applicant intends to provide video service.

AB207,17,4 3. The date on which the applicant intends to begin providing video service in the video franchise area.

AB207,17,6 4. An affidavit signed by an officer or general partner of the applicant that affirms all of the following:

AB207,17,8 a. That the applicant has filed or will timely file with the FCC all forms required by the FCC in advance of offering video service.

AB207,17,10 b. That the applicant agrees to comply with this section and all applicable federal statutes and regulations.

AB207,17,12 c. That the applicant is legally, financially, and technically qualified to provide video service.

AB207,17,17 (e) Service upon municipalities. 1. At the time that an applicant submits an application under par. (d), or a video service provider submits a notification regarding a modification to an application under par. (j), to the department, the applicant or video service provider shall serve a copy of the application or notification on each municipality in the video franchise area.

AB207,17,23 2. a. This subdivision applies only to a municipality that, under subd. 1., is served a copy of an application or that, under subd. 1., is served a copy of a notification relating to an expansion of the area or areas of the state in which a video service provider intends to provide video service, if the municipality has not previously been served a copy of an application under subd. 1. by that video service provider.

AB207,18,5 b. If a municipality specified in subd. 2. a. has granted any cable franchise that is in effect immediately before the effective date of this subdivision .... [revisor inserts date], the municipality shall, no later than 10 business days after receipt of the copy, notify the applicant in writing of the number of PEG channels for which incumbent cable operators are required to provide channel capacity in the municipality and the percentage of revenues that incumbent cable operators are required to pay the municipality as franchise fees.

AB207,18,9 (f) Department duties. 1. No later than 10 business days after the filing of an application, the department shall notify the applicant in writing as to whether the application is complete and, if the department has determined that the application is not complete, the department shall state the reasons for the determination.

AB207,18,15 2. No later than 10 business days after the filing of an application that the department has determined is complete, the department shall issue a video service franchise to the applicant and, if the department fails to do so, the department shall be considered to have issued a video service franchise to the applicant, unless the applicant withdraws the application or agrees with the department to an extension of time.

AB207,18,19 (g) Effect of video service franchise. A video service franchise issued by the department authorizes a video service provider to occupy the public rights-of-way and to construct, operate, maintain, and repair a video service network to provide video service in the video franchise area.

AB207,18,22 (h) Notice before providing service. No later than 10 days before providing video service in a municipality in a video franchise area, a video service provider shall provide notice to the department and the municipality.

AB207,19,2 (i) Expiration of video service franchise. A video service franchise issued to a video service provider does not expire, unless the video service provider gives 30 days' advance notice to the department that the video service provider intends to terminate the video service franchise. If a video service provider gives such notice, the video service franchise shall expire on the termination date stated in the notice.

AB207,19,10 (j) Modifications. If there is any change in the information included in an application filed by a video service provider under this subsection, the video service provider shall notify the department and update the information within 10 business after the change, except that if the video service provider determines to expand the area or areas of the state in which the video service provider intends to provide video service, the video service provider shall notify the department as soon as practicable after making such a determination but no later than 10 business days before providing video service in the expansion area or areas.

AB207,19,18 (4) Franchising authority. For purposes of 47 USC 521 to 573, the state is the exclusive franchising authority for video service providers in this state. Notwithstanding s. 66.0425, no municipality may require a video service provider to obtain a franchise to provide video service or impose on a video service provider any fee or requirement relating to the construction of a video service network or the provision of video service, including any requirement to deploy facilities or equipment or any requirement regarding rates for video service, except as specifically authorized under this section.

AB207,20,2 (5) PEG channels. (a) Maximum number of PEG channels. 1. If an incumbent cable operator is providing channel capacity for PEG channels to a municipality under a cable franchise in effect immediately before the effective date of this subdivision .... [revisor inserts date], the municipality shall require each interim cable operator or video service provider that provides video service in the municipality to provide channel capacity for the same number of PEG channels for which channel capacity is provided immediately before the effective date of this subdivision .... [revisor inserts date].

AB207,20,12 2. a. Except as provided in subd. 2. b. and c., if no incumbent cable operator is providing channel capacity for PEG channels to a municipality under a cable franchise that is in effect immediately before the effective date of this subd. 2. a. .... [revisor inserts date], then, if the municipality has a population of 50,000 or more, the municipality may require each interim cable operator and video service provider that provides video service in the municipality to provide channel capacity for up to 3 PEG channels, and, if the municipality has a population of less than 50,000, the municipality may require each interim cable operator and video service provider that provides video service in the municipality to provide channel capacity for no more than 2 PEG channels.

AB207,20,18 b. If an interim cable operator or video service provider distributes video programming to more than one municipality through a single headend or video hub office and the aggregate population of the municipalities is 50,000 or more, the municipalities may not require the interim cable operator or video service provider to provide, in the aggregate, channel capacity for more than 3 PEG channels under subd. 2. a.

AB207,20,24 c. If an interim cable operator or video service provider distributes video programming to more than one municipality through a single headend or video hub office and the aggregate population of the municipalities is less than 50,000, the municipalities may not require the interim cable operator or video service provider to provide, in the aggregate, channel capacity for more than 2 PEG channels under subd. 2. a.

AB207,21,4 3. An interim cable operator or video service provider shall provide any channel capacity for PEG channels required under this paragraph on any service tier that is viewed by more than 50 percent of the interim cable operator's or video service provider's customers.

AB207,21,13 4. If a municipality is not required to provide notice to a video service provider under sub. (3) (e) 2., the video service provider's duty to provide any additional channel capacity for PEG channels that is required by the municipality under this paragraph first applies on the date that the video service provider begins to provide service in the municipality, and, if the municipality is required to provide notice under sub. (3) (e) 2., the video service provider's duty to provide any such additional channel capacity first applies on the date that the video service provider begins to provide video service in the municipality or on the 90th day after the video service provider receives the municipality's notice, whichever is later.

AB207,21,23 (b) Exceptions. 1. a. Notwithstanding par. (a), an interim cable operator or video service provider may reprogram for any other purpose any channel capacity provided for a PEG channel required by a municipality under par. (a) if the PEG channel is not substantially utilized by the municipality. If the municipality certifies to the interim cable operator or video service provider that reprogrammed channel capacity for a PEG channel will be substantially utilized by the municipality, the interim cable operator or video service provider shall, no later than 120 days after receipt of the certification, restore the channel capacity for the PEG channel. Notwithstanding par. (a) 3., an interim cable operator or video service provider may provide restored channel capacity for a PEG channel on any service tier.

AB207,22,2 b. For purposes of this subdivision, a PEG channel is substantially utilized by a municipality if the municipality provides 12 hours or more of programming on the PEG channel each calendar day and at least 80 percent of that programming is locally produced and not repeated.

AB207,22,6 2. Notwithstanding par. (a), if a municipality fails to provide the notice specified in sub. (3) (e) 2. before the deadline specified in sub. (3) (e) 2., no interim cable operator or video service provider is required to provide channel capacity for any PEG channel until the 90th day after the municipality provides such notice.

AB207,22,10 (c) Powers and duties of municipalities. 1. Except as otherwise required under par. (a), a municipality may not require an interim cable operator or video service provider to provide any funds, services, programming, facilities, or equipment related to public, educational, or governmental use of channel capacity.

AB207,22,16 2. The operation of any PEG channel for which a municipality requires an interim cable operator or video service provider to provide channel capacity under par. (a), and the production of any programming appearing on such a PEG channel, shall be the sole responsibility of the municipality and, except as provided in par. (d) 1., the interim cable operator or video service provider shall bear only the responsibility to transmit programming appearing on the PEG channel.

AB207,22,19 3. A municipality that requires an interim cable operator or video service provider to provide channel capacity for a PEG channel under par. (a) shall do all of the following:

AB207,23,2 a. Ensure that all content and programming that the municipality provides or arranges to provide for transmission on the PEG channel is submitted to the interim cable operator or video service provider in a manner and form that is capable of being accepted and transmitted by the interim cable operator or video service provider over its video service network without changing the content or transmission signal and that is compatible with the technology or protocol, including Internet protocol television, utilized by the interim cable operator or video service provider to deliver video service.