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47 U.S.C. § 552 — Consumer protection and customer service
Federal law — U.S. Code and appendices · legal_authorities
**(a) Franchising authority enforcement** A franchising authority may establish and enforce—
(1) customer service requirements of the cable operator; and
(2) construction schedules and other construction-related requirements, including construction-related performance requirements, of the cable operator.
**(b) Commission standards** The Commission shall, within 180 days of October 5, 1992, establish standards by which cable operators may fulfill their customer service requirements. Such standards shall include, at a minimum, requirements governing—
(1) cable system office hours and telephone availability;
(2) installations, outages, and service calls; and
(3) communications between the cable operator and the subscriber (including standards governing bills and refunds).
**(c) Subscriber notice** A cable operator may provide notice of service and rate changes to subscribers using any reasonable written means at its sole discretion. Notwithstanding [section 543(b)(6) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title47-section543/b/6&num=0&edition=prelim) or any other provision of this chapter, a cable operator shall not be required to provide prior notice of any rate change that is the result of a regulatory fee, franchise fee, or any other fee, tax, assessment, or charge of any kind imposed by any Federal agency, State, or franchising authority on the transaction between the operator and the subscriber.
**(d) Consumer protection laws and customer service agreements**
(1) **Consumer protection laws** — Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to prohibit any State or any franchising authority from enacting or enforcing any consumer protection law, to the extent not specifically preempted by this subchapter.
(2) **Customer serv
Source: Supplied U.S. Code snapshot — release unconfirmed · 47 U.S.C. § 552
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Stable record: federal_law:legal_authorities:record_usc_a23f5ca8a1e47e3a1dc4e07d
Source file: Laws/federal/codes/united-states-code/title-47/section-552-consumer-protection-and-customer-service--a5a25159ae.md
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Passage SHA-256: 2cb6a39f096ee0722aca7f3cec2751a3f9d140971d965dd13952fe9dc923a521
Source location: Title 47, Chapter 5, § 552; chapter-005-wire-or-radio-communication.md
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**(a) Franchising authority enforcement** A franchising authority may establish and enforce—
(1) customer service requirements of the cable operator; and
(2) construction schedules and other construction-related requirements, including construction-related performance requirements, of the cable operator.
**(b) Commission standards** The Commission shall, within 180 days of October 5, 1992, establish standards by which cable operators may fulfill their customer service requirements. Such standards shall include, at a minimum, requirements governing—
(1) cable system office hours and telephone availability;
(2) installations, outages, and service calls; and
(3) communications between the cable operator and the subscriber (including standards governing bills and refunds).
**(c) Subscriber notice** A cable operator may provide notice of service and rate changes to subscribers using any reasonable written means at its sole discretion. Notwithstanding [section 543(b)(6) of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title47-section543/b/6&num=0&edition=prelim) or any other provision of this chapter, a cable operator shall not be required to provide prior notice of any rate change that is the result of a regulatory fee, franchise fee, or any other fee, tax, assessment, or charge of any kind imposed by any Federal agency, State, or franchising authority on the transaction between the operator and the subscriber.
**(d) Consumer protection laws and customer service agreements**
(1) **Consumer protection laws** — Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to prohibit any State or any franchising authority from enacting or enforcing any consumer protection law, to the extent not specifically preempted by this subchapter.
(2) **Customer service requirement agreements** — Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude a franchising authority and a cable operator from agreeing to customer service requirements that exceed the standards established by the Commission under subsection (b). Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to prevent the establishment or enforcement of any municipal law or regulation, or any State law, concerning customer service that imposes customer service requirements that exceed the standards set by the Commission under this section, or that addresses matters not addressed by the standards set by the Commission under this section.
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Federal law — U.S. Code and appendices · legal_authorities
The purposes of this subchapter are to—
(1) establish a national policy concerning cable communications;
(2) establish franchise procedures and standards which encourage the growth and development of cable systems and which assure that cable systems are responsive to the needs and interests of the local community;
(3) establish guidelines for the exercise of Federal, State, and local authority with respect to the regulation of cable systems;
(4) assure that cable communications provide and are encouraged to provide the widest possible diversity of information sources and services to the public;
(5) establish an orderly process for franchise renewal which protects cable operators against unfair denials of renewal where the operator’s past performance and proposal for future performance meet the standards established by this subchapter; and
(6) promote competition in cable communications and minimize unnecessary regulation that would impose an undue economic burden on cable systems.
Source: Supplied U.S. Code snapshot — release unconfirmed · 47 U.S.C. § 521
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Federal law — U.S. Code and appendices · legal_authorities
**(a) Commencement of proceedings; public notice and participation**
(1) A franchising authority may, on its own initiative during the 6-month period which begins with the 36th month before the franchise expiration, commence a proceeding which affords the public in the franchise area appropriate notice and participation for the purpose of (A) identifying the future cable-related community needs and interests, and (B) reviewing the performance of the cable operator under the franchise during the then current franchise term. If the cable operator submits, during such 6-month period, a written renewal notice requesting the commencement of such a proceeding, the franchising authority shall commence such a proceeding not later than 6 months after the date such notice is submitted.
(2) The cable operator may not invoke the renewal procedures set forth in subsections (b) through (g) unless—
(A) such a proceeding is requested by the cable operator by timely submission of such notice; or
(B) such a proceeding is commenced by the franchising authority on its own initiative.
**(b) Submission of renewal proposals; contents; time**
(1) Upon completion of a proceeding under subsection (a), a cable operator seeking renewal of a franchise may, on its own initiative or at the request of a franchising authority, submit a proposal for renewal.
(2) Subject to [section 544 of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title47-section544&num=0&edition=prelim), any such proposal shall contain such material as the franchising authority may require, including proposals for an upgrade of the cable system.
(3) The franchising authority may establish a date by which such proposal shall be submitted.
**(c) Notice of proposal; renewal; preliminary assessmen
Source: Supplied U.S. Code snapshot — release unconfirmed · 47 U.S.C. § 546
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Federal law — U.S. Code and appendices · legal_authorities
This chapter may be cited as the “Communications Act of 1934.”
Source: Supplied U.S. Code snapshot — release unconfirmed · 47 U.S.C. § 609
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Federal law — U.S. Code and appendices · legal_authorities
**(a) False distress signals; rebroadcasting programs** No person within the jurisdiction of the United States shall knowingly utter or transmit, or cause to be uttered or transmitted, any false or fraudulent signal of distress, or communication relating thereto, nor shall any broadcasting station rebroadcast the program or any part thereof of another broadcasting station without the express authority of the originating station.
**(b) Consent to retransmission of broadcasting station signals**
(1) No cable system or other multichannel video programming distributor shall retransmit the signal of a broadcasting station, or any part thereof, except—
(A) with the express authority of the originating station;
(B) under [section 534 of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title47-section534&num=0&edition=prelim), in the case of a station electing, in accordance with this subsection, to assert the right to carriage under such section; or
(C) under [section 338 of this title](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title47-section338&num=0&edition=prelim), in the case of a station electing, in accordance with this subsection, to assert the right to carriage under such section.
(2) This subsection shall not apply—
(A) to retransmission of the signal of a noncommercial television broadcast station;
(B) to retransmission of the signal of a television broadcast station outside the station’s local market by a satellite carrier directly to its subscribers, if—
(i) such station was a superstation on May 1, 1991;
(ii) as of July 1, 1998, such station was retransmitted by a satellite carrier under the statutory license of [section 119 of title 17](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-pr
Source: Supplied U.S. Code snapshot — release unconfirmed · 47 U.S.C. § 325
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Federal law — U.S. Code and appendices · legal_authorities
Page 302
TITLE 47—TELECOMMUNICATIONS
§ 552
(D) to a government entity as authorized
under chapters 119, 121, or 206 of title 18, ex-
cept that such disclosure shall not include
records revealing cable subscriber selection of
video programming from a cable operator.
(d) Subscriber access to information
A cable subscriber shall be provided access to
all personally identifiable information regarding
that subscriber which is collected and main-
tained by a cable operator. Such information
shall be made available to the subscriber at rea-
sonable times and at a convenient place des-
ignated by such cable operator. A cable sub-
scriber shall be provided reasonable opportunity
to correct any error in such information.
(e) Destruction of information
A cable operator shall destroy personally iden-
tifiable information if the information is no
longer necessary for the purpose for which it
was collected and there are no pending requests
or orders for access to such information under
subsection (d) or pursuant to a court order.
(f) Civil action in United States district court;
damages; attorney’s fees and costs; nonexclu-
sive nature of remedy
(1) Any person aggrieved by any act of a cable
operator in violation of this section may bring a
civil action in a United States district court.
(2) The court may award—
(A) actual damages but not less than liq-
uidated damages computed at the rate of $100
a day for each day of violation or $1,000,
whichever is higher;
(B) punitive damages; and
(C) reasonable attorneys’ fees and other liti-
gation costs reasonably incurred.
(3) The remedy provided by this section shall
be in addition to any other lawful remedy avail-
able to a cable subscriber.
(g) Regulation by States or franchising authori-
ties
Nothing in this s
Source: Supplied 2024 U.S. Code historical extraction · 47 U.S.C. § 552
Stored review status: historical_2024_not_currentness_verified. Same stored citation; legal effect and authority still require review.