47 U.S.C. § 522 — Definitions

Page 271 TITLE 47—TELECOMMUNICATIONS § 522 the applicability of any Federal or State antitrust law.’’ EFFECT OF CABLE COMMUNICATIONS POLICY ACT OF 1984 ON JURISDICTION OF FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COM- MISSION RESPECTING WIRE OR RADIO COMMUNICATIONS THROUGH CABLE SYSTEMS Pub. L. 98–549, § 3(b), Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2801, pro- vided that: ‘‘The provisions of this Act [enacting this subchapter and section 611 of this title, amending sec- tions 152, 224, 309, and 605 of this title, section 2511 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, and section 1805 of Title 50, War and National Defense, and enacting provisions set out as notes under this section and sec- tions 543, 605, and 609 of this title] and amendments made by this Act shall not be construed to affect any jurisdiction the Federal Communications Commission may have under the Communications Act of 1934 [this chapter] with respect to any communication by wire or radio (other than cable service, as defined in section 602(5) of such Act [section 522(5) of this title]) which is provided through a cable system, or persons or facili- ties engaged in such communications.’’ § 522. Definitions For purposes of this subchapter— (1) the term ‘‘activated channels’’ means those channels engineered at the headend of a cable system for the provision of services gen- erally available to residential subscribers of the cable system, regardless of whether such services actually are provided, including any channel designated for public, educational, or governmental use; (2) the term ‘‘affiliate’’, when used in rela- tion to any person, means another person who owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with, such person; (3) the term ‘‘basic cable service’’ means any service tier which includes the retransmission of local television broadcast signals; (4) the term ‘‘cable channel’’ or ‘‘channel’’ means a portion of the electromagnetic fre- quency spectrum which is used in a cable sys- tem and which is capable of delivering a tele- vision channel (as television channel is defined by the Commission by regulation); (5) the term ‘‘cable operator’’ means any person or group of persons (A) who provides cable service over a cable system and directly or through one or more affiliates owns a sig- nificant interest in such cable system, or (B) who otherwise controls or is responsible for, through any arrangement, the management and operation of such a cable system; (6) the term ‘‘cable service’’ means— (A) the one-way transmission to sub- scribers of (i) video programming, or (ii) other programming service, and (B) subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for the selection or use of such video programming or other programming service; (7) the term ‘‘cable system’’ means a facil- ity, consisting of a set of closed transmission paths and associated signal generation, recep- tion, and control equipment that is designed to provide cable service which includes video programming and which is provided to mul- tiple subscribers within a community, but such term does not include (A) a facility that serves only to retransmit the television sig- nals of 1 or more television broadcast stations; (B) a facility that serves subscribers without using any public right-of-way; (C) a facility of a common carrier which is subject, in whole or in part, to the provisions of subchapter II of this chapter, except that such facility shall be considered a cable system (other than for pur- poses of section 541(c) of this title) to the ex- tent such facility is used in the transmission of video programming directly to subscribers, unless the extent of such use is solely to pro- vide interactive on-demand services; (D) an open video system that complies with section 573 of this title; or (E) any facilities of any electric utility used solely for operating its electric utility system; (8) the term ‘‘Federal agency’’ means any agency of the United States, including the Commission; (9) the term ‘‘franchise’’ means an initial au- thorization, or renewal thereof (including a re- newal of an authorization which has been granted subject to section 546 of this title), issued by a franchising authority, whether such authorization is designated as a fran- chise, permit, license, resolution, contract, certificate, agreement, or otherwise, which au- thorizes the construction or operation of a cable system; (10) the term ‘‘franchising authority’’ means any governmental entity empowered by Fed- eral, State, or local law to grant a franchise; (11) the term ‘‘grade B contour’’ means the field strength of a television broadcast station computed in accordance with regulations pro- mulgated by the Commission; (12) the term ‘‘interactive on-demand serv- ices’’ means a service providing video pro- gramming to subscribers over switched net- works on an on-demand, point-to-point basis, but does not include services providing video programming prescheduled by the program- ming provider; (13) the term ‘‘multichannel video program- ming distributor’’ means a person such as, but not limited to, a cable operator, a multi- channel multipoint distribution service, a di- rect broadcast satellite service, or a television receive-only satellite program distributor, who makes available for purchase, by sub- scribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming; (14) the term ‘‘other programming service’’ means information that a cable operator makes available to all subscribers generally; (15) the term ‘‘person’’ means an individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, corporation, or governmental entity; (16) the term ‘‘public, educational, or gov- ernmental access facilities’’ means— (A) channel capacity designated for public, educational, or governmental use; and (B) facilities and equipment for the use of such channel capacity; (17) the term ‘‘service tier’’ means a cat- egory of cable service or other services pro- vided by a cable operator and for which a sepa- rate rate is charged by the cable operator; (18) the term ‘‘State’’ means any State, or political subdivision, or agency thereof; (19) the term ‘‘usable activated channels’’ means activated channels of a cable system, Page 272 TITLE 47—TELECOMMUNICATIONS § 531 except those channels whose use for the dis- tribution of broadcast signals would conflict with technical and safety regulations as deter- mined by the Commission; and (20) the term ‘‘video programming’’ means programming provided by, or generally consid- ered comparable to programming provided by, a television broadcast station. (June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title VI, § 602, as added Pub. L. 98–549, § 2, Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2780; amended Pub. L. 102–385, § 2(c), Oct. 5, 1992, 106 Stat. 1463; Pub. L. 104–104, title III, §§ 301(a), 302(b)(2), Feb. 8, 1996, 110 Stat. 114, 124.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1996—Par. (6)(B). Pub. L. 104–104, § 301(a)(1), inserted ‘‘or use’’ after ‘‘the selection’’. Par. (7)(B). Pub. L. 104–104, § 301(a)(2), added subpar. (B) and struck out former subpar. (B) which read as fol- lows: ‘‘a facility that serves only subscribers in 1 or more multiple unit dwellings under common owner- ship, control, or management, unless such facility or facilities uses any public right-of-way;’’. Par. (7)(C) to (E). Pub. L. 104–104, § 302(b)(2)(A), which directed substitution of ‘‘, unless the extent of such use is solely to provide interactive on-demand services; (D) an open video system that complies with section 573 of this title; or (E)’’ for ‘‘, or (D)’’, was executed by mak- ing the substitution for ‘‘; or (D)’’ to reflect the prob- able intent of Congress. Pars. (12) to (20). Pub. L. 104–104, § 302(b)(2)(B), (C), added par. (12) and redesignated former pars. (12) to (19) as (13) to (20), respectively. 1992—Pub. L. 102–385 added pars. (1), (12), and (18) and redesignated former pars. (1) to (10) as (2) to (11), re- spectively, former pars. (11) to (15) as (13) to (17), re- spectively, and former par. (16) as (19). Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1992 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 102–385 effective 60 days after Oct. 5, 1992, see section 28 of Pub. L. 102–385, set out as a note under section 325 of this title. EFFECTIVE DATE Section effective 60 days after Oct. 30, 1984, except where otherwise expressly provided, see section 9(a) of Pub. L. 98–549, set out as a note under section 521 of this title. PART II—USE OF CABLE CHANNELS AND CABLE OWNERSHIP RESTRICTIONS § 531. Cable channels for public, educational, or governmental use (a) Authority to establish requirements with re- spect to designation or use of channel capac- ity A franchising authority may establish require- ments in a franchise with respect to the designa- tion or use of channel capacity for public, edu- cational, or governmental use only to the extent provided in this section. (b) Authority to require designation for public, educational, or governmental use A franchising authority may in its request for proposals require as part of a franchise, and may require as part of a cable operator’s proposal for a franchise renewal, subject to section 546 of this title, that channel capacity be designated for public, educational, or governmental use, and channel capacity on institutional networks be designated for educational or governmental use, and may require rules and procedures for the use of the channel capacity designated pur- suant to this section. (c) Enforcement authority A franchising authority may enforce any re- quirement in any franchise regarding the pro- viding or use of such channel capacity. Such en- forcement authority includes the authority to enforce any provisions of the franchise for serv- ices, facilities, or equipment proposed by the cable operator which relate to public, edu- cational, or governmental use of channel capac- ity, whether or not required by the franchising authority pursuant to subsection (b). (d) Promulgation of rules and procedures In the case of any franchise under which chan- nel capacity is designated under subsection (b), the franchising authority shall prescribe— (1) rules and procedures under which the cable operator is permitted to use such chan- nel capacity for the provision of other services if such channel capacity is not being used for the purposes designated, and (2) rules and procedures under which such permitted use shall cease. (e) Editorial control by cable operator Subject to section 544(d) of this title, a cable operator shall not exercise any editorial control over any public, educational, or governmental use of channel capacity provided pursuant to this section, except a cable operator may refuse to transmit any public access program or por- tion of a public access program which contains obscenity, indecency, or nudity. (f) ‘‘Institutional network’’ defined For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘insti- tutional network’’ means a communication net- work which is constructed or operated by the cable operator and which is generally available only to subscribers who are not residential sub- scribers. (June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title VI, § 611, as added Pub. L. 98–549, § 2, Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2782; Pub. L. 104–104, title V, § 506(a), Feb. 8, 1996, 110 Stat. 136.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1996—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 104–104 inserted before pe- riod at end ‘‘, except a cable operator may refuse to transmit any public access program or portion of a pub- lic access program which contains obscenity, inde- cency, or nudity’’. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE Section effective 60 days after Oct. 30, 1984, except where otherwise expressly provided, see section 9(a) of Pub. L. 98–549, set out as a note under section 521 of this title. REGULATIONS Pub. L. 102–385, § 10(c), Oct. 5, 1992, 106 Stat. 1486, pro- vided that: ‘‘Within 180 days following the date of the