A. Portland's list of basic definitions
B. St. Paul's definitions
C. Austin's definition of "gross revenues"
D. Austin's definition of "rights of way"
Cable franchise agreements, like much telecommunications policy, are rife with complex technical terms and arcane legal expressions. As part of its franchise negotiations efforts, the City of Oakland has posted a glossary of technical terms, "Commonly Used Telecommunications Terms (with emphasis on Cable Television)," which is useful in deciphering the language of franchises. And those documents themselves, as the following excerpts suggest, often include basic definitions that help clarify the debates that surround the deployment and management of advanced cable systems.
A. Portland's franchise offers a number of useful basic definitions:
Section 3. DEFINITIONS
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(B) Definitions. For the purpose of this Franchise, and all Exhibits attached hereto, the following terms, phrases, and their derivations shall have the meanings given below unless the context indicates otherwise. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future tense, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.
3.2 "Access" means the availability for use of the Cable System by various agencies, institutions, organizations, groups and individuals in the community to acquire, create, and distribute Non-Commercial Programming not under the Grantee's editorial control, including, but not limited to:
(A) "Public Access" means Access where organizations, groups or individual members of the general public, on a nondiscriminatory basis, are the primary or designated Programmers or users having editorial control over their Programming;
(B) "Educational Access" means Access where schools are the primary or designated Programmers or users having editorial control over their Programming;
(C) "Government Access" means Access where governmental institutions are the primary or designated Programmers or users having editorial control over their Programming; and
(D) "PEG Access" means Public Access, Educational Access, and Government Access, collectively.
3.3 "Access Channel" means any Channel, or portion thereof, designated for Access purposes or otherwise made available to facilitate or transmit PEG Access Programming.
3.4 "Access Corporation" means such non-profit, public corporations as are designated by the Jurisdictions to provide Access in the Franchise Area, and whose duties may include the management of certain Access Facilities and Resources.
3.5 "Access Facilities" means the Channels, services, facilities, equipment, and/or technical components used or useable by and for PEG Access.
3.6 "Access Resources" means all operating support and other financial means by which PEG Access may be funded.
3.9 "Basic Service Tier " is the level of Programming service which includes, at a minimum, all Broadcast Channels, all PEG Access Channels required in this Franchise, and any additional Programming added by the Grantee.
3.15 "Capacity" means the capability of the Cable System to carry Signals. At the time of the effective date of this Franchise, Capacity may be described in terms of portions of the total radio frequency bandwidth by specifying a number of MHZ, but this is subject to changes in technology.
3.19 "Closed Channel" means a Channel intended for restricted use, whether on the Institutional Network or the Residential Network, whose contents may only be viewed using special trapping, decoding, an authorized descrambler, or other means of selectively descrambling the Signals. Closed Channel uses may include, without limitation, pay television services or tier services on the Residential Network, and videoconferencing or other closed-circuit uses on the Institutional Network.
3.24 "Ed-Net" means Oregon's educational institutional network, as set forth in ORS 354.505 through ORS 354.550 (1995).
3.35 "High Capacity I-Net Location" are Institutional Subscriber locations that require large amounts of Upstream and Downstream Capacity sufficient for multiple Signal transmissions, and to achieve this Capacity, would typically utilize a separate Fiber and/ or coaxial cable from Fiber Nodes in addition to the normal Residential Network coaxial cable.
3.37 "Interconnect" or "Interconnection" means the provision by Grantee of technical, engineering, physical, financial, and all other necessary components to provide and adequately maintain a physical linking of Grantee's Cable System with any other designated cable system or other separate communications network so that Cable Services of technically adequate quality may be sent to and received from such other systems.
3.38 "Institutional Network" or "I-Net" means Capacity on the Cable System which provides for one-way and bi-directional communication services to and among Institutional Subscribers for use in conducting their business. The network includes all equipment required to make the Capacity available including but not limited to Fiber, coaxial cable, switching, patching, electronic transmitting, receiving, and Signal conversion necessary for effective use of the I-Net.
3.39 "Institutional Services" or "I-Net Services" means one-way and bi-directional communications services provided over the Institutional Network to facilitate the operations of PEG Institutions.
3.40 "Institutional Subscriber" means a PEG Institution receiving Institutional Services.
3.45 "Low Capacity I-Net Location" means a location designated to receive Institutional Services requiring less Capacity for sending or receiving video, voice or data Signals than may be required for High Capacity I-Net Locations, and requiring no special installation of cable from Fiber Nodes for the use of such Institutional Services other than normal Residential Network coaxial cable.
3.46 "Narrowcasting" means the ability of the Cable System to cablecast Signals to specific geographic areas.
3.47 "Non-Commercial" means use of the Cable System by any public, tax-exempt organization or by any other user for a purpose that is not intended to generate income for the user which may be subject to federal, state, or local income taxes.
3.50 "PEG Institution" means any public educational institution, including primary and secondary schools, community colleges, colleges, universities and extension centers, and all similarly situated private and parochial educational institutions which have received the appropriate accreditation from the State of Oregon and, where required, from other authorized accrediting agencies; any agency of government, excluding state or federal governments; public libraries; Ed-Net; and Designated Access Providers.
B. St. Paul's franchise also includes some useful definitions:
Section 101. Definitions.
For the purpose of this ordinance, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meanings given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number. The words "shall" and "will" are mandatory and "may" is permissive. References to officials, departments, agencies or other entities, whether defined or not, shall be read to refer to the same, or their authorized successors. References to statutory provisions shall refer to those provisions as they may be renumbered from time to time. References to applicable law or to any part of the Legislative Code of the City of St. Paul refer to the same as they may be amended from time to time during the term of the franchise. Words not defined shall be defined as in Chapter 430 of the Legislative Code of the City of St. Paul; if not defined there, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 521 et. seq.; if not defined there, the words shall be given their common and ordinary meaning.
101.(j). Economically disadvantaged shall mean those persons who receive assistance under any of the following programs: the Minnesota Telephone Assistance Plan ("TAP"); Food Stamps; Minnesota Family Investment Program; General Assistance.
101.(q). Nonprofit institution means (1) a person, other than a religious organization, which qualifies for federal tax exempt status; and (2) any governmental body, agency, department, or commission; accredited school; library; hospital; or any legal entity contracting with the city to provide social services; whether or not such entity falls within the scope of subdivision (1).
101.(r). Person includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, or any other legal entity, including the city.
101.(s). Person with disabilities means any living person that: (1) receives assistance under the Social Security disability insurance program, or the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability program; or (2) has been issued an identifying certificate by the State of Minnesota for persons with physical disabilities; or (3) receives any vocational rehabilitation services pursuant to Section 268A.01 of the Minnesota State Statutes.
101.(v). Senior citizen means any living person over sixty-five (65).
C. Austin's definition of "Gross Revenue" includes "Information Services," although the FCC has ruled that cable modem revenues are exempt from local franchise fees:
1.18. "Gross Revenue" means any and all consideration of any kind or nature, including without limitation, cash, credits, property and in-kind contributions (services or goods) received by Grantee or Affiliates which is derived from (or by way of clarification and not expansion, attributable to or arising from) the operation of Grantee's Cable System, provision of Information Services, and any lease or license of Grantee's Transmission Network….
1.19. "Information Service" means, to the extent not a Cable Service, the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications, and includes electronic publishing, but does not include any use of any such capability for the management, control, or operation of a telecommunications system or the management of a telecommunications service.
D. Austin's franchise includes a full definition of "rights of way":
1.25. "Public Rights-of-Way" means the surface, the air space above the surface, and the area below the surface of any public street, highway, lane, path, alley, sidewalk, boulevard, drive, bridge, tunnel, easement or similar property in which the City holds any property interest or exercises any rights of management or control and which, consistent with the purposes for which it was acquired or dedicated, may be used for the installation and maintenance of a Cable System and/or Transmission Network. No reference in this Franchise to a "Public Right-of-Way" shall be deemed to be a representation or guarantee by the City that its interests or other rights in such property are sufficient to permit its use for the installation and maintenance of a Cable System and/or Transmission Network, and the Grantee shall be deemed to gain only those rights which the City has the right and power to give.