(a) Except as provided in § 76.1603 for changes that occur due to circumstances outside a cable operator's control, which also may be provided as set forth in 76.1603(b), written information provided by cable operators to subscribers or customers pursuant to §§ 76.1601, 76.1602, 76.1603, 76.1604, 76.1618, and 76.1620 of this Subpart T, as well as subscriber privacy notifications required by cable operators, satellite providers, and open video systems pursuant to sections 631, 338(i), and 653 of the Communications Act, may be delivered electronically by email to any subscriber who has not opted out of electronic delivery under paragraph (a)(3) of this section if the entity:

(1) Sends the notice to the subscriber's or customer's verified email address;

(2) Provides either the entirety of the written information or a weblink to the written information in the notice; and

(3) Includes, in the body of the notice, a telephone number that is clearly and prominently presented to subscribers so that it is readily identifiable as an opt-out mechanism that will allow subscribers to continue to receive paper copies of the written material.

(b) For purposes of this section, a verified email address is defined as:

(1) An email address that the subscriber has provided to the cable operator (and not vice versa) for purposes of receiving communication;

(2) An email address that the subscriber regularly uses to communicate with the cable operator; or

(3) An email address that has been confirmed by the subscriber as an appropriate vehicle for the delivery of notices.

(c) Cable operators that provide written Subpart T notices via paper copy may provide certain portions of the § 76.1602 annual notices electronically, to any subscriber who has not opted out of electronic delivery under paragraphs (a)(3) or (c)(3) of this section, by prominently displaying the following on the front or first page of the printed annual notice:

(1) A weblink in a form that is short, simple, and easy to remember, leading to written information required to be provided pursuant to § 76.1602(b)(2), (7), and (8);

(2) A weblink in a form that is short, simple, and easy to remember, leading to written information required to be provided pursuant to § 76.1602(b)(5); and

(3) A telephone number that is readily identifiable as an opt-out mechanism that will allow subscribers to continue to receive paper copies of the entire annual notice.

(d) If the conditions for electronic delivery in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section are not met, or if a subscriber opts out of electronic delivery, the written material must be delivered by paper copy to the subscriber's physical address.

(e) After July 31, 2020, written information provided by cable operators to broadcast stations pursuant to §§ 76.64(k), 76.1601, 76.1607, 76.1608, 76.1609, and 76.1617 must be delivered electronically to full-power and Class A television stations via email to the email address for carriage-related questions that the station lists in its public file in accordance with §§ 73.3526 and 73.3527 of this title, or in the case of low power television stations and noncommercial educational translator stations that are entitled to such notices, to the licensee's email address (not a contact representative's email address, if different from the licensee's email address) as displayed publicly in the Licensing and Management System (LMS) or the primary station's carriage-related email address if the noncommercial educational translator station does not have its own email address listed in LMS.

A cable operator shall provide written notice to any broadcast television station at least 30 days prior to either deleting from carriage or repositioning that station.

(a) A cable franchise authority may enforce the customer service standards set forth in paragraph (b) of this section against cable operators. The franchise authority must provide affected cable operators 90 days written notice of its intent to enforce standards.

(b) The cable operator shall provide written information on each of the following areas at the time of installation of service, at least annually to all subscribers, and at any time upon request:

(1) Products and services offered;

(2) Prices and options for programming services and conditions of subscription to programming and other services;

(3) Installation and service maintenance policies;

(4) Instructions on how to use the cable service;

(5) Channel positions of programming carried on the system; and

(6) Billing and complaint procedures, including the address and telephone number of the local franchise authority's cable office.

(7) Effective May 1, 2011, any assessed fees for rental of navigation devices and single and additional CableCARDs; and,

(8) Effective May 1, 2011, if such provider includes equipment in the price of a bundled offer of one or more services, the fees reasonably allocable to:

(i) The rental of single and additional CableCARDs; and

(ii) The rental of operator-supplied navigation devices.

(c) Subscribers shall be advised of the procedures for resolution of complaints about the quality of the television signal delivered by the cable system operator, including the address of the responsible officer of the local franchising authority.

(a) A cable franchise authority may enforce the customer service standards set forth in paragraph (b) of this section against cable operators. The franchise authority must provide affected cable operators 90 days written notice of its intent to enforce standards.

(b) Cable operators shall provide written notice to subscribers of any changes in rates or services. Notice shall be provided to subscribers at least 30 days in advance of the change, unless the change results from circumstances outside of the cable operator's control (including failed retransmission consent or program carriage negotiations during the last 30 days of a contract), in which case notice shall be provided as soon as possible using any reasonable written means at the operator's sole discretion, including Channel Slates. Notice of rate changes shall include the precise amount of the rate change and explain the reason for the change in readily understandable terms. Notice of changes involving the addition or deletion of channels shall individually identify each channel affected.

(c) A cable operator not subject to effective competition shall provide 30 days' advance notice to its local franchising authority of any increase proposed in the price to be charged for the basic service tier.

(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of part 76 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.

If a cable operator establishes a higher charge for changes effected solely by coded entry on a computer terminal or by other similarly simple methods, as provided in § 76.980(d), the cable system must notify all subscribers in writing that they may be subject to such a charge for changing service tiers more than the specified number of times in any 12 month period.

A cable operator shall provide written notice to all stations carried on its system pursuant to the must-carry rules in this subpart at least 60 days prior to any change in the designation of its principal headend. Such written notice shall be provided by certified mail, except that after July 31, 2020, notice shall be provided to stations by electronic delivery in accordance with § 76.1600.

A cable system that changes its technical configuration in such a way as to integrate two formerly separate cable systems must give 90 days notice of its intention to do so to any television broadcast stations that have elected must-carry status with respect to one system and retransmission consent status with respect to the other. After July 31, 2020, such notice shall be delivered to stations electronically in accordance with § 76.1600. If the system and the station do not agree on a uniform election 45 days prior to integration, the cable system may require the station to make such a uniform election 30 days prior to integration.

Within 60 days following the provision of service to 1,000 subscribers, the operator of each such system shall file a notice to that effect with the Commission, and serve a copy of that notice on every television station that would be entitled to exercise network non-duplication protection or syndicated exclusivity protection against it. After July 31, 2020, in lieu of serving paper copies on stations, the operator shall provide the required copies to stations by electronic delivery in accordance with § 76.1600.

The Operator shall inform the Commission on FCC Form 324 whenever there is a change of cable television system operator; change of legal name, change of the operator's mailing address or FCC Registration Number (FRN); or change in the operational status of a cable television system. Notification must be done within 30 days from the date the change occurs and must include the following information, as appropriate:

(a) The legal name of the operator and whether the operator is an individual, private association, partnership, corporation, or government entity. See § 76.5(cc). If the operator is a partnership, the legal name of the partner responsible for communications with the Commission shall be supplied;

(b) The assumed name (if any) used for doing business in each community;

(c) The physical address, including zip code, and e-mail address, if applicable, to which all communications are to be directed;

(d) The nature of the operational status change (e.g., operation terminated, merged with another system, inactive, deleted, etc.);

(e) The names and FCC identifiers (e.g., CA 0001) of the system communities affected.

If a system permits a candidate to use its cablecast facilities, the system shall disclose to all candidates information about rates, terms, conditions and all value-enhancing discount privileges offered to commercial advertisers. Systems may use reasonable discretion in making the disclosure; provided, however, that the disclosure includes, at a minimum, the following information:

(a) A description and definition of each class of time available to commercial advertisers sufficiently complete enough to allow candidates to identify and understand what specific attributes differentiate each class;

(b) A description of the lowest unit charge and related privileges (such as priorities against preemption and make goods prior to specific deadlines) for each class of time offered to commercial advertisers;

(c) A description of the system's method of selling preemptible time based upon advertiser demand, commonly known as the “current selling level,” with the stipulation that candidates will be able to purchase at these demand-generated rates in the same manner as commercial advertisers;

(d) An approximation of the likelihood of preemption for each kind of preemptible time; and

(e) An explanation of the system's sales practices, if any, that are based on audience delivery, with the stipulation that candidates will be able to purchase this kind of time, if available to commercial advertisers.

A cable operator shall respond in writing within 30 days to any written request by any person for the identification of the signals carried on its system in fulfillment of the must-carry requirements of § 76.56. The required written response may be delivered by email, if the consumer used email to make the request or complaint directly to the cable operator, or if the consumer specifies email as the preferred delivery method in the request or complaint.

(a) When a cable television system operator engaged in origination cablecasting presents any matter for which money, service, or other valuable consideration is either directly or indirectly paid or promised to, or charged or accepted by such cable television system operator, the cable television system operator, at the time of the cablecast, shall announce that such matter is sponsored, paid for, or furnished, either in whole or in part, and by whom or on whose behalf such consideration was supplied: Provided, however, that “service or other valuable consideration” shall not include any service or property furnished either without or at a nominal charge for use on, or in connection with, a cablecast unless it is so furnished in consideration for an identification of any person, product, service, trademark, or brand name beyond an identification reasonably related to the use of such service or property on the cablecast. For the purposes of this section, the term “sponsored” shall be deemed to have the same meaning as “paid for.” In the case of any political advertisement cablecast under this paragraph that concerns candidates for public office, the sponsor shall be identified with letters equal to or greater than four (4) percent of the vertical picture height that air for not less than four (4) seconds.

(b) Each cable television system operator engaged in origination cablecasting shall exercise reasonable diligence to obtain from employees, and from other persons with whom the system operator deals directly in connection with any matter for cablecasting, information to enable such system operator to make the announcement required by this section.

(c) In the case of any political origination cablecast matter or any origination cablecast matter involving the discussion of public controversial issues for which any film, record, transcription, talent, script, or other material or service of any kind is furnished, either directly or indirectly, to a cable television system operator as an inducement for cablecasting such matter, an announcement shall be made both at the beginning and conclusion of such cablecast on which such material or service is used that such film, record, transcription, talent, script, or other material or service has been furnished to such cable television system operator in connection with the transmission of such cablecast matter: Provided, however, that in the case of any cablecast of 5 minutes' duration or less, only one such announcement need be made either at the beginning or conclusion of the cablecast.

(d) The announcement required by this section shall, in addition to stating the fact that the origination cablecasting matter was sponsored, paid for or furnished, fully and fairly disclose the true identity of the person or persons, or corporation, committee, association or other unincorporated group, or other entity by whom or on whose behalf such payment is made or promised, or from whom or on whose behalf such services or other valuable consideration is received, or by whom the material or services referred to in paragraph (c) of this section are furnished. Where an agent or other person or entity contracts or otherwise makes arrangements with a cable television system operator on behalf of another, and such fact is known or by the exercise of reasonable diligence, as specified in paragraph (b) of this section, could be known to the system operator, the announcement shall disclose the identity of the person or persons or entity on whose behalf such agent is acting instead of the name of such agent.

(e) In the case of an origination cablecast advertising commercial products or services, an announcement stating the sponsor's corporate or trade name, or the name of the sponsor's product, when it is clear that the mention of the name of the product constitutes a sponsorship identification, shall be deemed sufficient for the purposes of this section and only one such announcement need be made at any time during the course of the cablecast.

(f) The announcement otherwise required by this section is waived with respect to the origination cablecast of “want ad” or classified advertisements sponsored by an individual. The waiver granted in this paragraph shall not extend to a classified advertisement or want ad sponsorship by any form of business enterprise, corporate or otherwise.

(g) The announcements required by this section are waived with respect to feature motion picture film produced initially and primarily for theatre exhibition.

(h) Commission interpretations in connection with the provisions of the sponsorship identification rules for the broadcasting services are contained in the Commission's Public Notice, entitled “Applicability of Sponsorship Identification Rules,” dated May 6, 1963 (40 FCC 141), as modified by Public Notice, dated April 21, 1975 (FCC 75-418). Further interpretations are printed in full in various volumes of the Federal Communications Commission Reports. The interpretations made for the broadcasting services are equally applicable to origination cablecasting.

Within 10 days of final execution of a contract permitting a local exchange carrier to use that part of the transmission facilities of a cable system extending from the last multi-user terminal to the premises of the end use, the parties shall submit a copy of such contract, along with an explanation of how such contract is reasonably limited in scope and duration, to the Commission for review. The parties shall serve a copy of this submission on the local franchising authority, along with a notice of the local franchising authority's right to file comments with the Commission consistent with § 76.7.

(a) Within 60 days of activation of a cable system, a cable operator must notify all qualified NCE stations of its designated principal headend by certified mail, except that after July 31, 2020, notice shall be provided by electronic delivery in accordance with § 76.1600.

(b) Within 60 days of activation of a cable system, a cable operator must notify all local commercial and NCE stations that may not be entitled to carriage because they either:

(1) Fail to meet the standards for delivery of a good quality signal to the cable system's principal headend, or

(2) May cause an increased copyright liability to the cable system.

(c) Within 60 days of activation of a cable system, a cable operator must send a copy of a list of all broadcast television stations carried by its system and their channel positions to all local commercial and noncommercial television stations, including those not designated as must-carry stations and those not carried on the system. Such written information shall be provided by certified mail, except that after July 31, 2020, such information shall be provided by electronic delivery in accordance with § 76.1600.

A cable operator shall provide written notification to subscribers of the availability of basic tier service to new subscribers at the time of installation. This notification shall include the following information:

(a) That basic tier service is available;

(b) The cost per month for basic tier service;

(c) A list of all services included in the basic service tier.

(a) Effective July 1, 1993, bills must be clear, concise and understandable. Bills must be fully itemized, with itemizations including, but not limited to, basic and premium service charges and equipment charges. Bills will also clearly delineate all activity during the billing period, including optional charges, rebates and credits.

(b) In case of a billing dispute, the cable operator must respond to a written complaint from a subscriber within 30 days. The required response may be delivered by email, if the consumer used email to make the request or complaint directly to the cable operator, or if the consumer specifies email as the preferred delivery method in the request or complaint.

(c) A cable franchise authority may enforce the customer service standards set forth in this section against cable operators. The franchise authority must provide affected cable operators 90 days written notice of its intent to enforce standards.

If a cable operator authorizes subscribers to install additional receiver connections, but does not provide the subscriber with such connections, or with the equipment and materials for such connections, the operator shall notify such subscribers of all broadcast stations carried on the cable system which cannot be viewed via cable without a converter box and shall offer to sell or lease such a converter box to such subscribers. Such notification must be provided by June 2, 1993, and annually thereafter and to each new subscriber upon initial installation. The notice, which may be included in routine billing statements, shall identify the signals that are unavailable without an additional connection, the manner for obtaining such additional connection and instructions for installation.