Bill Text: CT HB06460 | 2011 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: An Act Concerning Public Access Channels.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-07 - File Number 490 [HB06460 Detail]
Download: Connecticut-2011-HB06460-Introduced.html
General Assembly |
Raised Bill No. 6460 | ||
January Session, 2011 |
LCO No. 3923 | ||
*03923_______ET_* | |||
Referred to Committee on Energy and Technology |
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Introduced by: |
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(ET) |
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AN ACT CONCERNING PUBLIC ACCESS CHANNELS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 16-331ff of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011):
(a) Any third-party nonprofit community access provider serving six or more municipalities, one of which has a population of more than one hundred [thirty] thousand, shall, upon request from any town organization, authority, body or official within its service territory, provide written consent, pursuant to its service provider agreements, for said town organization, authority, body or official to (1) operate education and government public access channels in that town, and (2) engage freely and directly the community antenna television company providing services in that town to use their headend equipment for dissemination of town-specific community access programming on such channels. [Said] Such third-party nonprofit community access provider [must] shall grant such written consent to said requesting town organization, authority, body or official within three business days. Written consent not provided within three business days shall be deemed granted.
(b) If a third-party nonprofit provider fails to provide written consent within three days, pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, the Department of Public Utility Control shall, upon a request from a town organization, authority, body or official within the service territory of [that third-party nonprofit community access] such provider, [serving six municipalities, one of which has a population of more than one hundred thirty thousand,] (1) terminate, revoke or rescind such [third party] third-party nonprofit provider's service agreement to provide public access programming within one hundred eighty days, and (2) reopen the application process to secure a community access provider for each of the towns within the affected service territory.
Sec. 2. Section 16-331gg of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011, and applicable to calendar years commencing on and after January 1, 2012):
(a) A community antenna television company, a certified competitive video service provider that was providing service as a community antenna television company pursuant to section 16-331 on October 1, 2007, or a holder of a certificate of cable franchise authority that provides services within a service territory of a third-party nonprofit community access provider that serves not less than six municipalities, one of which has a population of more than one hundred [thirty] thousand, shall direct the sum of [one] two hundred thousand dollars per year from the funds collected from subscribers in [said] such service territory that it provides to [the existing third-party nonprofit community access] such provider [serving six municipalities, one of which has a population of more than one hundred thirty thousand,] directly to the service territory's community antenna television advisory council for developing town-specific education and government community access programming. Such sum shall be directed annually in two equal disbursements, one of which shall be on or before March first and one of which shall be on or before June first.
(b) A community antenna television advisory council that receives funds pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall distribute [said] such funds in their entirety to a town organization, authority, body or official in the service territory of [a third-party nonprofit community access provider serving six municipalities, one of which has a population of more than one hundred thirty thousand] such provider, to support the development of production and programming capabilities for town-specific education and government public access programming, pursuant to grant procedures and processes established by said council.
(c) Any community antenna television advisory council that receives funds pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall report annually to the Department of Public Utility Control all completed or planned disbursements of funds and certify that [said] such funds were spent in their entirety and used for the public good in the creation of town-specific education and government public access programming for at least one of the towns in its service territory.
Sec. 3. Section 16-331h of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011):
(a) Not later than one hundred twenty days after the certified competitive video service provider begins offering service in a designated area pursuant to its certificate of video franchise authority, such provider shall provide capacity over its video service to allow community access programming, in its basic service package, in accordance with the following: (1) The certified competitive video service provider shall provide capacity equal to the number of community access channels currently offered by the incumbent community antenna television company in the given area; (2) the certified competitive video service provider shall provide funds for community access operations, as provided in subsection (k) of section 16-331a, provided a certified competitive video service provider shall not collect from its subscribers the amount required pursuant to subsection (k) of section 16-331a until such provider has an interconnection agreement with the incumbent community antenna television company; (3) the certified competitive video service provider shall provide the transmission of community access programming with connectivity up to the first two hundred feet from the competitive video service provider's activated wireline video programming distribution facility located in the provider's designated service area and shall not provide additional requirements for the creation of any content; and (4) the community access programming shall be submitted to the certified competitive video service provider in a manner or form that is compatible with the technology or protocol utilized by said competitive video service provider to deliver video services over its particular network, and is capable of being accepted and transmitted by the provider, without requirement for additional alteration or change in the content by the provider.
(b) A certified competitive video service provider and a community antenna television company or nonprofit organization providing community access operations shall engage in good faith negotiation regarding interconnection of community access operations where such interconnection is technically feasible or necessary. Interconnection may be accomplished by direct cable, microwave link, satellite or other reasonable method of connection. At the request of a competitive video service provider, community antenna television company or provider of community access operations, the Department of Public Utility Control may facilitate the negotiation for such interconnection.
Sec. 4. Subsection (b) of section 16-331cc of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011):
(b) The moneys in said account shall be expended by the Department of Public Utility Control as follows: (1) Fifty per cent of said moneys shall be available to local community antenna television and video advisory councils; state-wide community antenna television and video advisory councils; public, educational and governmental programmers and public, educational and governmental studio operators to subsidize capital and equipment, labor and staff costs related to producing and procuring such programming, and (2) fifty per cent of said moneys shall be available to boards of education and other education entities for education technology initiatives.
Sec. 5. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2011) A third-party nonprofit community access provider that serves six or more municipalities, one of which has a population of more than one hundred thousand, shall provide training and certification for and access to all of such provider's studio facility and equipment to any representative of each of the service territory's community antenna television advisory councils.
Sec. 6. (NEW) (Effective from passage) Any community antenna television company or nonprofit organization providing community access operations that supplied original programming from locally run operations and provided funding to town-specific programming on January 1, 2008, shall continue to fund town-specific programming in such proportions to funding for original programming from locally run operations as of January 1, 2008.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: | ||
Section 1 |
July 1, 2011 |
16-331ff |
Sec. 2 |
July 1, 2011, and applicable to calendar years commencing on and after January 1, 2012 |
16-331gg |
Sec. 3 |
July 1, 2011 |
16-331h |
Sec. 4 |
July 1, 2011 |
16-331cc(b) |
Sec. 5 |
July 1, 2011 |
New section |
Sec. 6 |
from passage |
New section |
Statement of Purpose:
To increase certain public access grant amounts and set forth a disbursement schedule, to allow public, educational and governmental fees to be used for labor and staff, to prevent video service providers from collecting public access fees unless they have reached an interconnection agreement with the relevant community antenna television company, and to require certain third-party nonprofit community access providers to provide training and certification for use of their public access studios.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]