View all text of Part III [§ 541 - § 549]
§ 544. Regulation of services, facilities, and equipment
(a) Regulation by franchising authority
(b) Requests for proposals; establishment and enforcement of requirementsIn the case of any franchise granted after the effective date of this subchapter, the franchising authority, to the extent related to the establishment or operation of a cable system—
(1) in its request for proposals for a franchise (including requests for renewal proposals, subject to section 546 of this title), may establish requirements for facilities and equipment, but may not, except as provided in subsection (h), establish requirements for video programming or other information services; and
(2) subject to section 545 of this title, may enforce any requirements contained within the franchise—
(A) for facilities and equipment; and
(B) for broad categories of video programming or other services.
(c) Enforcement authority respecting franchises effective under prior law
(d) Cable service unprotected by Constitution; blockage of premium channel upon request
(1) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as prohibiting a franchising authority and a cable operator from specifying, in a franchise or renewal thereof, that certain cable services shall not be provided or shall be provided subject to conditions, if such cable services are obscene or are otherwise unprotected by the Constitution of the United States.
(2) In order to restrict the viewing of of of 1
1 So in original.
programming which is obscene or indecent, upon the request of a subscriber, a cable operator shall provide (by sale or lease) a device by which the subscriber can prohibit viewing of a particular cable service during periods selected by that subscriber.(3)
(A) If a cable operator provides a premium channel without charge to cable subscribers who do not subscribe to such premium channel, the cable operator shall, not later than 30 days before such premium channel is provided without charge—
(i) notify all cable subscribers that the cable operator plans to provide a premium channel without charge;
(ii) notify all cable subscribers when the cable operator plans to offer a premium channel without charge;
(iii) notify all cable subscribers that they have a right to request that the channel carrying the premium channel be blocked; and
(iv) block the channel carrying the premium channel upon the request of a subscriber.
(B) For the purpose of this section, the term “premium channel” shall mean any pay service offered on a per channel or per program basis, which offers movies rated by the Motion Picture Association of America as X, NC–17, or R.
(e) Technical standards
(f) Limitation on regulatory powers of Federal agencies, States, or franchising authorities; exceptions
(1) Any Federal agency, State, or franchising authority may not impose requirements regarding the provision or span of cable services, except as expressly provided in this subchapter.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to—
(A) any rule, regulation, or order issued under any Federal law, as such rule, regulation, or order (i) was in effect on September 21, 1983, or (ii) may be amended after such date if the rule, regulation, or order as amended is not inconsistent with the express provisions of this subchapter; and
(B) any rule, regulation, or order under title 17.
(g) Access to emergency information
(h) Notice of changes in and comments on servicesA franchising authority may require a cable operator to do any one or more of the following:
(1) Provide 30 days’ advance written notice of any change in channel assignment or in the video programming service provided over any such channel.
(2) Inform subscribers, via written notice, that comments on programming and channel position changes are being recorded by a designated office of the franchising authority.
(i) Disposition of cable upon termination of service
(June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title VI, § 624, as added Pub. L. 98–549, § 2, Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 2789; amended Pub. L. 102–385, §§ 15, 16, Oct. 5, 1992, 106 Stat. 1490; Pub. L. 103–414, title III, §§ 303(a)(23), 304(a)(12), Oct. 25, 1994, 108 Stat. 4295, 4297; Pub. L. 104–104, title III, § 301(e), Feb. 8, 1996, 110 Stat. 116.)