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91_HB1751
LRB9104275DHmg
1 AN ACT to amend the Illinois Municipal Code by changing
2 Section 11-42-11.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by
6 changing Section 11-42-11 as follows:
7 (65 ILCS 5/11-42-11) (from Ch. 24, par. 11-42-11)
8 Sec. 11-42-11. Community antenna television systems;
9 satellite transmitted television programming.
10 (a) The corporate authorities of each municipality may
11 license, franchise and tax the business of operating a
12 community antenna television system as hereinafter defined in
13 this Section. In municipalities with fewer less than
14 2,000,000 inhabitants, the corporate authorities may own (or
15 lease as lessee) and operate a community antenna television
16 system. Before acquiring, constructing, or commencing
17 operation of a community antenna television system, the
18 municipality shall comply with the following:
19 (1) Give written notice to the owner or operator of
20 any other community antenna television system franchised
21 to serve all or any portion of the territorial area to be
22 served by the municipality's community antenna television
23 system, specifying the date, time, and place at which the
24 municipality shall conduct public hearings to consider
25 and determine whether the municipality should acquire,
26 construct, or commence operation of a community antenna
27 television system. The public hearings shall be
28 conducted at least 14 days after this notice is given.
29 (2) Publish a notice of the hearing in 2 or more
30 newspapers published in the county, city, village,
31 incorporated town, or town, as the case may be. If there
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1 is no such newspaper, then notice shall be published in
2 any 2 or more newspapers published in the county and
3 having a general circulation throughout the community.
4 The public hearings shall be conducted at least 14 days
5 after this notice is given.
6 (3) Conduct a public hearing to determine the means
7 by which construction, maintenance, and operation of the
8 system will be financed, including whether the use of tax
9 revenues or other fees will be required.
10 (b) The words "community antenna television system"
11 shall mean any facility which is constructed in whole or in
12 part in, on, under or over any highway or other public place
13 and which is operated to perform for hire the service of
14 receiving and amplifying the signals broadcast by one or more
15 television stations and redistributing such signals by wire,
16 cable or other means to members of the public who subscribe
17 to such service; except that this such definition does shall
18 not include (i) any system which serves fewer than fifty
19 subscribers, or (ii) any system which serves only the
20 residents of one or more apartment dwellings under common
21 ownership, control or management, and commercial
22 establishments located on the premises of such dwellings.
23 (c) The authority hereby granted does not include
24 authority to license, franchise or tax telephone companies
25 subject to jurisdiction of the Illinois Commerce Commission
26 or the Federal Communications Commission in connection with
27 the furnishing of circuits, wires, cables, and other
28 facilities to the operator of a community antenna television
29 system.
30 The corporate authorities of each municipality may, in
31 the course of franchising such community antenna television
32 system, grant to the such franchisee the authority and the
33 right and permission to use all public streets, rights of
34 way, alleys, ways for public service facilities, parks,
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1 playgrounds, school grounds, or other public grounds, in
2 which the such municipality may have an interest, for the
3 construction, installation, operation, maintenance,
4 alteration, addition, extension or improvement of a community
5 antenna television system.
6 Any charge imposed by a community antenna television
7 system franchised pursuant to this Section for the raising or
8 removal of cables or lines to permit passage on, to or from a
9 street shall not exceed the reasonable costs of work
10 reasonably necessary to safely permit such passage. Pursuant
11 to subsections (h) and (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the
12 Constitution of the State of Illinois, the General Assembly
13 declares the regulation of charges which may be imposed by
14 community antenna television systems for the raising or
15 removal of cables or lines to permit passage on, to or from
16 streets is a power or function to be exercised exclusively by
17 the State and not to be exercised or performed concurrently
18 with the State by any unit of local government, including any
19 home rule unit.
20 The municipality may, upon written request by the
21 franchisee of a community antenna television system, exercise
22 its right of eminent domain solely for the purpose of
23 granting an easement right no greater than 8 feet in width,
24 extending no greater than 8 feet from any lot line for the
25 purpose of extending cable across any parcel of property in
26 the manner provided by the law of eminent domain, provided,
27 however, the such franchisee deposits with the municipality
28 sufficient security to pay all costs incurred by the
29 municipality in the exercise of its right of eminent domain.
30 (d) The General Assembly finds and declares that
31 satellite-transmitted television programming should be
32 available to those who desire to subscribe to that such
33 programming and that decoding devices should be obtainable at
34 reasonable prices by those who are unable to obtain
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1 satellite-transmitted television programming through duly
2 franchised community antenna television systems.
3 In any instance in which a person is unable to obtain
4 satellite-transmitted television programming through a duly
5 franchised community antenna television system either because
6 the municipality and county in which the such person resides
7 has not granted a franchise to operate and maintain a
8 community antenna television system, or because the duly
9 franchised community antenna television system operator does
10 not make cable television services available to that such
11 person, any programming company that delivers
12 satellite-transmitted television programming in scrambled or
13 encrypted form shall ensure that devices for description of
14 that such programming are made available to that such person,
15 through the local community antenna television operator or
16 directly, for purchase or lease at prices reasonably related
17 to the cost of manufacture and distribution of those such
18 devices.
19 (e) The General Assembly finds and declares that, in
20 order to ensure that community antenna television services
21 are provided in an orderly, competitive and economically
22 sound manner, the best interests of the public will be served
23 by the establishment of certain minimum standards and
24 procedures for the granting of additional cable television
25 franchises.
26 Subject to the provisions of this subsection, the
27 authority granted under subsection (a) hereof shall include
28 the authority to license, franchise and tax more than one
29 cable operator to provide community antenna television
30 services within the corporate limits of a single franchising
31 authority. For purposes of this subsection (e), the term:
32 (i) "Existing cable television franchise" means a
33 community antenna television franchise granted by a
34 municipality which is in use at the time the such
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1 municipality receives an application or request by
2 another cable operator for a franchise to provide cable
3 antenna television services within all or any portion of
4 the territorial area which is or may be served under the
5 existing cable television franchise.
6 (ii) "Additional cable television franchise" means
7 a franchise pursuant to which community antenna
8 television services may be provided within the
9 territorial areas, or any portion thereof, which may be
10 served under an existing cable television franchise.
11 (iii) "Franchising Authority" is defined as that
12 term is defined under Section 602(9) of the Cable
13 Communications Policy Act of 1984, Public Law 98-549, but
14 does not include any municipality with a population of
15 1,000,000 or more.
16 (iv) "Cable operator" is defined as that term is
17 defined under Section 602(4) of the Cable Communications
18 Policy Act of 1984, Public Law 98-549.
19 Before granting an additional cable television franchise,
20 the franchising authority shall:
21 (1) Give written notice to the owner or operator of
22 any other community antenna television system franchised
23 to serve all or any portion of the territorial area to be
24 served by the such additional cable television franchise,
25 identifying the applicant for the such additional
26 franchise and specifying the date, time and place at
27 which the franchising authority shall conduct public
28 hearings to consider and determine whether the such
29 additional cable television franchise should be granted.
30 (2) Conduct a public hearing to determine the
31 public need for an such additional cable television
32 franchise, the capacity of public rights-of-way to
33 accommodate such additional community antenna television
34 services, the potential disruption to existing users of
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1 public rights-of-way to be used by the such additional
2 franchise applicant to complete construction and to
3 provide cable television services within the proposed
4 franchise area, the long term economic impact of the such
5 such other factors as the franchising authority
7 considers shall deem appropriate.
8 (3) Determine, based upon the foregoing factors,
9 whether it is in the best interest of the municipality to
10 grant an such additional cable television franchise.
11 (4) If the franchising authority determines shall
12 determine that it is in the best interest of the
13 municipality to do so, it may grant the additional cable
14 television franchise. Except as provided in paragraph
15 (5) of this subsection (e), no such additional cable
16 television franchise shall be granted under terms or
17 conditions more favorable or less burdensome to the
18 applicant than those required under the existing cable
19 television franchise, including but not limited to terms
20 and conditions pertaining to the territorial extent of
21 the franchise, system design, technical performance
22 standards, construction schedules, performance bonds,
23 standards for construction and installation of cable
24 television facilities, service to subscribers, public
25 educational and governmental access channels and
26 programming, production assistance, liability and
27 indemnification, and franchise fees.
28 (5) Unless the existing cable television franchise
29 provides that any additional cable television franchise
30 shall be subject to the same terms or substantially
31 equivalent terms and conditions as those of the existing
32 cable television franchise, the franchising authority may
33 grant an additional cable television franchise under
34 different terms and conditions than those of the existing
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1 franchise, in which event the franchising authority shall
2 enter into good faith negotiations with the existing
3 franchisee and shall, within 120 days after the effective
4 date of the additional cable television franchise, modify
5 the existing cable television franchise in a manner and
6 to the extent necessary to ensure that neither the
7 existing cable television franchise nor the additional
8 cable television franchise, each considered in its
9 entirety, provides a competitive advantage over the
10 other, provided that before prior to modifying the
11 existing cable television franchise, the franchising
12 authority must conduct shall have conducted a public
13 hearing to consider the proposed modification. No
14 modification in the terms and conditions of the existing
15 cable television franchise shall oblige the existing
16 cable television franchisee (1) to make any additional
17 payment to the franchising authority, including the
18 payment of any additional franchise fee, (2) to engage in
19 any additional construction of the existing cable
20 television system or, (3) to modify the specifications or
21 design of the existing cable television system; and the
22 inclusion of the factors identified in items (2) and (3)
23 shall not be considered in determining whether either
24 franchise considered in its entirety, has a competitive
25 advantage over the other except to the extent that the
26 additional franchisee provides additional video or data
27 services or the equipment or facilities necessary to
28 generate and or carry such service. No modification in
29 the terms and conditions of the existing cable television
30 franchise shall be made if the existing cable television
31 franchisee elects to continue to operate under all terms
32 and conditions of the existing franchise.
33 If within the 120 day period the franchising
34 authority and the existing cable television franchisee
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1 are unable to reach agreement on modifications to the
2 existing cable television franchise, then the franchising
3 authority shall modify the existing cable television
4 franchise, effective 45 days thereafter, in a manner, and
5 only to the extent, that the terms and conditions of the
6 existing cable television franchise shall no longer
7 impose any duty or obligation on the existing franchisee
8 which is not also imposed under the additional cable
9 television franchise; however, if by the modification the
10 existing cable television franchisee is relieved of
11 duties or obligations not imposed under the additional
12 cable television franchise, then within the same 45 days
13 and following a public hearing concerning modification of
14 the additional cable television franchise within that
15 45-day period, the franchising authority shall modify the
16 additional cable television franchise to the extent
17 necessary to insure that neither the existing cable
18 television franchise nor the additional cable television
19 franchise, each considered in its entirety, shall have a
20 competitive advantage over the other.
21 No municipality shall be subject to suit for damages
22 based upon the municipality's determination to grant or its
23 refusal to grant an additional cable television franchise,
24 provided that a public hearing as herein provided has been
25 held and the franchising authority has determined that it is
26 in the best interest of the municipality to grant or refuse
27 to grant such additional franchise, as the case may be.
28 It is declared to be the law of this State, pursuant to
29 paragraphs (h) and (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the
30 Illinois Constitution, that the establishment of minimum
31 standards and procedures for the granting of additional cable
32 television franchises by municipalities with a population
33 less than 1,000,000 as provided in this subsection (e) is an
34 exclusive State power and function that may not be exercised
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1 concurrently by a home rule unit.
2 (Source: P.A. 89-657, eff. 8-14-96; 90-285, eff. 7-31-97.)
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