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Home My WebLink About024931 ORD - 06/25/2002ORDINANCE APPROVING THE TRANSACTION BETWEEN CLEARSOURCE, INC. AND GRANDE COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS, INC., SUBJECT TO REQUIREMENTS WHEREAS, ClearSource, Inc. CClearSource") currently owns and operates a cable television system ("System") operating in the City of Corpus Christi (the "City") and is the duly authorized holder of a franchise granted by the City in Ordinance No. 023835 and passed by the City Council on November 9, 1999, (the "Franchise") WHEREAS, ClearSource will become a subsidiary of Grande Communications holdings, change its name to Grande Communications ClearSource and Grande Communications ClearSource will accept all of the rights, obligations and benefits under the terms of the Franchise (the "Transaction") WHEREAS, the City believes it is in the best interest of the City to approve the Transaction, subject to the requirements of this Ordinance NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The City of Corpus Christi hereby consents to the Transaction, all in accordance with the terms of the Franchise, subject to acceptance by Grande Communications ClearSource, Grande Communications Inc. and ClearSource, Inc. of the attached amendment to the Franchise. 024931 ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 6.2 OF THE CLEARSOURCE FRANCHISE REGARDING PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL AND GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNELS WHEREAS, ClearSource, Inc. ("ClearSource") is the duly authorized holder of a franchise granted by the City in Ordinance No. 023835 and passed by the City Council on November 9, 1999, (the "Franchise") NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. That Section 6.2 of the Franchise is amended to read as follows: 6.2 Public, Educational and Governmental Access. A. Access Channels. Grantee shall offer the following channels to each of it Subscribers as part of the Basic Service. (1) Public Access - Two (2) specifically designated Channels for non- commercial public access use. (2) Local Educational Access - One (1) specifically designated Channel for non-commercial local educational access use by City-designated users. (3) Government Access - One (1) specifically designated Channel for non-commercial use by the City. B. Additional Access Channels. Upon demonstration that an Access Channel is in use with locally produced audio-video programming (not Character Generated programming) during the weekdays (Monday-Friday), for seventy-five percent (75%) of the time, twenty-four (24) hours per day for twelve (12) consecutive weeks, and there is a request or demand for use of an additional Channel for the same purposes, Grantee shall, upon receipt of written request from the City, have ....,v, ......... one (1) year in which to provide an additional Access Channel dedicated for the same purpose, provided that the provision of such additional Channel(s) shall not require the Grantee to install Converters. In calculating use of the Public, Educational and Governmental programming: (1) Character generated programming shall not be included. (2) For Public and Educational Access programming purposes repeat programming shall not be cotmted. (3) For Government Access programming purposes, repeat programming shall be counted only in the first week of the original cablecast for weekly programming up to a maximum of three (3) airings; and only in the first month of the original cablecast for monthly prograrmning up to a maximum of four (4) airings. (4) For Educational and Government Access progratnming purposes, only Locally Produced Programming shall be counted. ch~.~mc!s shall bc made a~,'s.i:?~!c fcr Public Access ~.d nc mcre *~u a ~mbim~.. Under the above conditions, the number of channels available for Public Access can be increased from two channels to three channels, and up to three channels can be made available for Educational and 2 Government Access combined; provided that, in no event can more than a total of six channels be made available for all PEG Access combined. Co Unused Channels. If demand for use of the PEG Access Channels does not warrant activation or continuation of all such Channels, Public and Educational Access programming may, upon the written approval of the City, be combined on one or more Channels. Non-Conunercial Programming. The Public Access channels provided under this Section 6.2 shall be used exclusively for Locally Produced Programming and no PEG Access Channel shall contain any Commercial Programming. Grantee shall be allowed to utilize the access channels for such other purposes as it may deem appropriate whenever the users are not utilizing the channels upon the written approval of the City. Transition. For ninety (90) days following the Effective Date (the "Transition Period) of this Amendment, Texas Cable Partners shall continue to provide scheduling and playback for the Public and Government Access Channels. In addition, during this Transition Period Texas Cable Parmers shall also provide a playback schedule and duplicate of tapes for playback of Public and Government Access programming for use by other franchised cable operators in the City. Grantee shall pay Texas Cable Parmers $1,000 per month for each for the services provided to the Grantee during this Transition Period. Playback. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, Grantee shall begin cablecasting all PEG access programming within thirty (30) days of the 3 Effective Date of this Amendment, in accordance with the Rules and Procedures for Public Access Cablecasting set forth in Exhibit "A" of the Master Ordinance. Grantee will be responsible for obtaining and maintaining the playback equipment to cablecast program tapes on the two public access channels and the government access channel, and employing staff to operate such equipment. None of Grantee's costs to provide the playback services shall be passed onto to the City nor charged against the franchise fees. The City or its designee shall be responsible for developing the r~:,~.~ .... ~ playback schedule of the Public and Government Access Channels and distributing a copy of the playback schedule to each franchised cable operator, in accordance with the roles and procedures developed by the City. The obligation of any franchised operator to provide Public and Governmental Access playback is subject to any and all franchised cable operators providing the same playback services. PEG Feeds- Grantor agrees to provide Grantee with one (1) single mode fiber connection and no equipment from each DMARC to connect to the Government Channel and Education Channel at City Hall. DEMARC for Del Mar College is; 101 Baldwin Blvd., Buddy Venters Bldg, Room 185 wiring closet one SMF to City Hall DEMARC: DEMARC for Nueces County is; 901 Leopard, New Jail Mechanical Room, one SMF to City Hall DEMARC: City Hall is; 1201 Leopard, City Hall Basement conduit closet, one SMF to Ayers/Civatan DEMARC: twenty Five foot (25') pigtail connection to Grantee's fiber at; Ayers/Civatan intersection. In 4 exchange, Grantee will upgrade Grantor's Internet capacity to full duplex 5 Mbps (equivalent of 3 T1 lines) over the current fiber connection to City Hall during Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to 6:00 P.M. CST immediately. The Intemet capacity may be reduced to 1 T1 Line after said hours. Grantee agrees to make arrangements to receive these feeds to begin cablecasting of Educational channel within thirty (30) days from the Effective Date of this Amendment, and begin cablecasting the Governmental access channel within forty-five days from date this Amendment passes on second reading, or forty-five days after close of merger transaction between ClearSource and Grande Communications, whichever is later. None of Grantee's costs to connect to the Educational or Governmental channels shall be passed on to the City, nor charged against the franchise fee. Capital Support for Government Access. The parties acknowledge that Grantee has made a one-time grant in the amount of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) for government access equipment and facilities (and not for operating expenses or support) r~ ~r ~.~c^.~ ,~ ....... ,~. ............ ~ ......................g ............................... ut~ Grantee will provide an additional riO:y-two thousand five hundred dollars ($52,$00} for public access equipment and facilities, due as follows: Grantee will make 11 annual payments of three thousand five hundred dollars ($3,500), the first of which is due and payable January 31, 2003, 5 and a like payment due and payable by each consecutive Januatw 31. Grantee will make a final payment of $14,000 by January 31, 2014. Access Channel Designations. Grantee acknowledges and agrees that unless otherwise agreed in writing, the Access Channels activated and used by the City will have the same Channel number designations as those that are utilized by the Incumbent Provider as of the Effective Date of this Franchise Agreement. Ad Avail Grants. In order to promote Access Programming, Grantee will provide the City ad avails each year at Grantee's lowest unit cost. The ad avails will be on a "run of schedule" basis and shall appear on Channels used by Grantee for local advertising. Assistance with Soliciting Contributions, Once per year, if requested by the City, the Grantee shall provide its Subscribers an Access promotion. Technical Quality. Grantee shall maintain all Access channels meet the technical standards of the FCC; provided, however, the Grantee shall not be responsible for defects, flaws or other impairments in the programming delivered to the Grantee. Intercormection. Instead of providing playback equipment for the public access channels and government channel and connecting to the demarcation points for the educational and governmental access channels, Grantee may negotiate with incumbent Cable Operator for feed to cablecast these channels to Grantee's subscribers, subject to City approval of the final negotiation, such approval shall not be unreasonably withheld. 6 That,the. foregoing ordinance was read for the first time and passed to its second reading on this the ~[~ay of ~T'xxx.&_h; _ , 2002, by the following vote: Samuel L. Neal, Jr. Rex A. Kinnison Brent Chesney John Longoria Javier D. Colmenero ~ Jesse Noyola Henry Garrett ~ Mark Scott Bill Kelly That the fo~regoing ordinance was read for the second time and passed finally on this Day of ~L.~_, 2002, by the following vote: /5. Samuel L. Neal, Jr. ~ Rex A. Kinnison Brent Chesney ~ ~' John Longoria Javier D. Colmenero Jesse Noyola Henry Garrett Mark Scott Bill Kelly e~.~D PASSED AND APPROVED this th ay oft. ~T....~/, 2002. ATTEST: Armando Chapa, City Secretary LEGAL FORM APPROVED JAMES R. BRAY, JR. CITY ATTORNEY By: ~, .,~r- Lisa Aguilar Assistant City Attorney ,2002 Samuel L. Neal, Jr., Mayor City of Corpus Christi 024931