AN ACT CONCERNING PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION CHANNELS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) Local cable access advisory councils shall mediate customer inquiries or complaints regarding public access television within their service areas. Inquiries or complaints may involve public access service, public access funding allocation, access to production studios, quality of programming, availability of town-specific programming and other public access television issues.

(b) If any party is unsatisfied with such council's proposed resolution of such inquiry or complaint, such party may bring the party's issue to the Department of Public Utility Control. The department shall adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54 of the general statutes, to set forth the manner in which the department shall handle such issues.

(c) Not later than January 1, 2010, each community access provider shall notify residents in its service area regarding contact information for the local cable access advisory council.

Sec. 2. Section 16-331d of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(a) The chief elected official from the town in which a vacant seat exists on a community antenna television advisory council shall appoint a member to fill such vacancy if any other appointing authority fails to make an appointment within six months of the time in which a vacancy occurs.

(b) No member of a community antenna television advisory council [appointed by the chief elected official of a municipality, the board of education or the public libraries] shall be an employee of a community antenna television company. For the purposes of this subsection, an employee includes any person working full or part time or performing any subcontracting or consulting services for the company.

(c) Any member of a community antenna television advisory council may be an employee of a community access provider. For the purposes of this subsection, an employee includes any person working full or part time or performing any subcontracting or consulting services for the provider.

Sec. 3. Section 16-331t of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(a) A company issued a certificate of cable franchise authority shall, twice a year, convene a meeting with the advisory council established pursuant to its previous certificate of public convenience and necessity issued pursuant to section 16-331, as amended by this act. Members shall be appointed in accordance with section 16-331d. No member of the advisory council [shall] may be an employee of a company providing community antenna television service or video service. For the purposes of this subsection, an employee includes any person working full or part time or performing any subcontracting or consulting services for a company providing community antenna television service or video service.

(b) A company issued a cable franchise authority certificate shall provide funding to the advisory council in the amount of two thousand dollars per year.

(c) Members of the advisory council shall serve without compensation. For the purposes of this section, compensation shall include the receipt of any free or discounted community antenna television service or video service.

(d) The Department of Public Utility Control shall designate the advisory council as an intervenor in any contested case proceeding before the department involving the company it advises. Such company shall provide to the chairperson of the advisory council a copy of any report, notice or other document it files with the department in any applicable proceeding.

(e) Any company issued a certificate of cable franchise authority shall, every six months, provide on bills, bill inserts or letters to subscribers, a notice indicating the name and address of the chairperson of the advisory council and describing the responsibilities of such advisory council. The advisory council shall have an opportunity to review such notice prior to its distribution.

(f) Any member of the advisory council may be an employee of a community access provider. For the purposes of this subsection, an employee includes any person working full or part time or performing any subcontracting or consulting services for the provider.

Sec. 4. (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 shall continue to fund town-specific programming in such proportions to funding for original programming from locally run operations as of January 1, 2008.

Sec. 5. Section 16-331s of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(a) A company issued a certificate of cable franchise authority shall be subject to the community access programming and operations provisions set forth in subsections (b) to [(i), inclusive, and subsections (k),] (l), inclusive, and (n) of section 16-331a and any regulations pursuant thereto, and subsection (c) of section 16-333, as amended by this act, and any regulations pursuant thereto.

(b) A company issued a cable franchise authority certificate shall provide transmission of the Connecticut Television Network to all its subscribers, including real-time transmission as technically feasible.

Sec. 6. Subsection (b) of section 16-331cc of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(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] whom the Department of Public Utility Control requires to file annual community access provider reports, for subsidizing capital and equipment 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. 7. Subsection (c) of section 16-333 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(c) The Department of Public Utility Control shall adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 requiring each community antenna television company or holder of a certificate of cable franchise authority to [maintain] provide to all of its subscribers at least [one] the number of specially designated, noncommercial community access [channel] channels, including all town-specific channels, that its predecessor community antenna television company or its affiliate provided or made available to [the public] all of its subscribers in a given area as of January 1, 2008, and establishing minimum standards for the equipment supplied by such company for the community access programming and requirements concerning the availability and operation of such [channel] channels. The regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall not require a community antenna television company or holder of a certificate of cable franchise authority to employ a specific transmission technology or protocol, not specify the use of digital, analog or other carriage, provided a community antenna television company or holder of a certificate of cable franchise authority shall not discriminate in the signal quality, functionality or accessibility that it provides on the basis of the commercial or noncommercial status of a channel.

Sec. 8. Section 16-331h of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(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 with the same or better access and video quality provided by the incumbent community antenna television company; (2) the certified competitive video service provider shall provide funds for community access operations, as provided in subsection (k) of section 16-331a; (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.] The competitive video service provider shall be responsible for any changes in the form of transmission necessary to make it compatible with the technology or protocol used by a competitive video service provider to deliver services. If the competitive video service provider is required to change the form of the transmission, the provider of community access programming shall permit the competitive video service provider to do so in a manner most economical to the competitive video service 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.

(c) 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 transmission of the Connecticut Television Network to all its subscribers, including real-time transmission as technically feasible, under the same conditions as set forth in subdivisions (3) and (4) of subsection (a) of this section.

Sec. 9. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2009) (a) On or before sixty days prior to October 1, 2009, and on or before sixty days prior to October first every five years thereafter, any community-based nonprofit organization may petition the Department of Public Utility Control to assume responsibility for community access within a defined service area. Upon receipt of any such petition, the department shall conduct a contested case proceeding to determine whether to assign such responsibility to that community-based nonprofit organization, any other nonprofit organization or the community access television company based on the following criteria: (1) The recommendations of the community antenna television advisory council and of the chief elected officials of the municipalities in the service area, (2) a review of the performance of the organization or company currently providing community access programming, (3) the operation plan submitted by an organization or a company for providing community access programming, (4) an organization's or company's experience in community access programming, (5) an organization's or company's proposed budget, including expenses for salaries, consultants, attorneys and other professionals, (6) the quality and quantity of the programming to be created, promoted or facilitated by the organization or the company, (7) a review of the organization's or company's procedures to ensure compliance with federal and state law, including the regulations of state agencies, and (8) any other criteria determined to be relevant by the department.

(b) On or before sixty days prior to April 1, 2010, and on or before sixty days prior to April first of every five years thereafter, the department may, on its own initiative, review and evaluate a company's or organization's provision of community access programming. The department shall conduct such review or evaluation if the Consumer Counsel or any interested party petitions the department for such a review during the period commencing October 1, 2009, and ending sixty days prior to April 1, 2010, and each corresponding period every five years thereafter. Such review shall include consideration of the factors set forth in subsection (a) of this section.

Sec. 10. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2009) The Department of Public Utility Control shall conduct a performance review of each person, entity or company holding a certificate of public convenience and necessity to provide community antenna television service, a certificate of cable franchise authority or a certificate of video franchise authority to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of each such certificate as applicable. The performance review may include, but not be limited to, issues concerning customer service, community access support, management of outages, service to handicapped and low-income customers and cooperation with the department. Performance reviews shall be held biennially for each such certificate and shall be conducted as contested cases and include an opportunity for a hearing in accordance with chapter 54 of the general statutes. The department shall have full authority to take administrative notice of all complaints filed and act upon them individually and by class of complaint. The Office of Consumer Counsel, the Attorney General and the applicable advisory council shall be entitled to full participation as parties and all parties shall have the right to appeal any determination of the department pursuant to section 16-35 of the general statutes.

Sec. 11. (NEW) (Effective from passage) On or before February 1, 2009, the Department of Public Utility Control shall initiate a docket to review public, education and government access availability in the state and to define a "channel". The department shall report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, the findings of such docket to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to energy and technology.

Sec. 12. (NEW) (Effective from passage) Any person, entity or company holding a certificate of public convenience and necessity to provide community antenna television service, a certificate of cable franchise authority or a certificate of video franchise authority shall be responsible for the repair and maintenance of all transmission equipment used to provide public access service within the service area of such person, entity or company holding a certificate of public convenience and necessity to provide community antenna television service, a certificate of cable franchise authority or a certificate of video franchise authority.

Statement of Purpose:

To improve community access television in the state.

[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.]