Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 98 Part 3.djvu/415

 PUBLIC LAW 98-549—OCT. 30, 1984

98 STAT. 2787

"(2) Nothing in this title shall be construed to affect the authority of any State to regulate any cable operator to the extent that such operator provides any communication service other than cable service, whether offered on a common carrier or private contract basis. "(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term 'State' has the meaning given it in section 3(v). 47 USC 153. "(e) Nothing in this title shall be construed to affect the authority of any State to license or otherwise regulate any facility or combination of facilities which serves only subscribers in one or more multiple unit dwellings under common ownership, control, or management and which does not use any public right-of-way. "FRANCHISE FEES

"SEC. 622. (a) Subject to the limitation of subsection (b), any cable 47 USC 542. operator may be required under the terms of any franchise to pay a franchise fee. "(b) For any twelve-month period, the franchise fees paid by a cable operator with respect to any cable system shall not exceed 5 percent of such cable operator's gross revenues derived in such period from the operation of the cable system. For purposes of this section, the 12-month period shall be the 12-month period applicable under the franchise for accounting purposes. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a franchising authority and a cable operator from agreeing that franchise fees which lawfully could be collected for any such 12-month period shall be paid on a prepaid or deferred basis; except that the sum of the fees paid during the term of the franchise may not exceed the amount, including the time value of money, which would have lawfully been collected if such fees had been paid per annum. "(c) A cable operator may pass through to subscribers the amount of any increase in a franchise fee, unless the franchising authority demonstrates that the rate structure specified in the franchise reflects all costs of franchise fees and so notifies the cable operator in writing. "(d) In any court action under subsection (c), the franchising authority shall demonstrate that the rate structure reflects all costs of the franchise fees. "(e) Any cable operator shall pass through to subscribers the amount of any decrease in a franchise fee. "(f) A cable operator may designate that portion of a subscriber's bill attributable to the franchise fee as a separate item on the bill. "(g) For the purposes of this section— "(1) the term 'franchise fee' includes any tax, fee, or assessment of any kind imposed by a franchising authority or other governmental entity on a cable operator or cable subscriber, or both, solely because of their status as such; "(2) the term 'franchise fee' does not include— "(A) any tax, fee, or assessment of general applicability (including any such tax, fee, or assessment imposed on both utilities and cable operators or their services but not including a tax, fee, or assessment which is unduly discriminatory against cable operators or cable subscribers); "(B) in the case of any franchise in effect on the date of the enactment of this title, payments which are required by the franchise to be made by the cable operator during the

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