HB4380 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB093 16279 BDD 41917 b

93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004
HB4380

Introduced 02/03/04, by William B. Black

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

55 ILCS 5/5-1096.5 new
65 ILCS 5/11-42-11.2 new

Amends the Counties Code and the Illinois Municipal Code regarding community antenna television systems. Requires community antenna television systems franchisees to submit to the franchising authority a detailed customer services plan. Requires franchisees to establish and maintain such business offices and customer service and call centers and provide personnel, telephone service, and other equipment, as necessary, to ensure the timely, efficient, and effective service to customers. Provides time limitations for franchisees to respond to telephone calls, installations, and service repairs. Requires franchisees to maintain records of customer complaints, service outages and interruptions, and customer service requests. Requires franchisees to inform customers of its products and services and of any construction in the customer's area. Requires employees of the franchisee to wear identification badges when entering private property or working on the public way. Provides that any person or organization adversely affected by a violation, or by a pattern and practice of violations, shall have the right to sue a franchisee in a court of competent jurisdiction for damages and for injunctive and other relief. Provides that any person who violates any of these provisions shall be subject to a fine not to exceed $750 for each offense. Provides a schedule of credits to customers for certain actions of the franchisee. Requires franchisees to mail to each customer a summary of the customer protections. Provides that these provisions supersede any contradictory or inconsistent provision of State or local law or any initial or renewal franchise agreement. Preempts home rule powers.

HOME RULE NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning cable television.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Counties Code is amended by adding Section 5-1096.5 as follows:

(55 ILCS 5/5-1096.5 new)

Sec. 5-1096.5. Community antenna television systems; consumer protection.

(a) Definitions. For purposes of this Section:

"Normal business hours" means those hours during which most similar businesses in the community are open to serve customers. In all cases, "normal business hours" must include some evening hours at least one night per week and some weekend hours.

"Normal operating conditions" means those service conditions that are within the control of the franchisee. Those conditions that are not within the control of the franchisee include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages, telephone network outages, and severe or unusual weather conditions. Those conditions that are ordinarily within the control of the franchisee include, but are not limited to, special promotions, pay-per-view events, rate increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods, and maintenance or upgrade of the cable system.

"Outage" means a service interruption that simultaneously affects 500 or more subscribers.

"Service interruption" or "interruption" means the loss of picture or sound on one or more community antenna television channels. "Service interruption" does not include interruptions deliberately caused by the franchisee for purposes of system maintenance, repair, or testing, if the deliberate interruptions occur between the hours of 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. and do not exceed 10 minutes in duration.

(b) Not less than 60 days prior to commencement of service to its first subscriber or within 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, whichever first occurs, a franchisee must submit to the franchising authority a detailed customer services plan. The plan must, without limitation, demonstrate that the facilities, personnel, repair, complaint and adjustment procedures, telephone, and other information systems of the franchisee are sufficient to ensure timely, efficient, and effective services to customers. The franchisee's customer services plan must be consistent with the highest standards of the community antenna television industry and the requirements set forth in this Section. A franchisee must update the plan as necessary to keep it accurate and complete.

A franchisee shall establish and maintain such business offices and customer service and call centers and provide personnel, telephone service, and other equipment, as necessary, to ensure the timely, efficient, and effective service to customers. Personnel required under this Section must include one person designated by the franchisee to act as a liaison between the franchisee and the franchising authority regarding customer service issues. All customer service and call centers of the franchisee shall have a locally listed, toll-free, or collect telephone number with an access line available to subscribers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Trained company representatives must be available to respond to customer telephone inquiries 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All of the franchisee's customer service and call center and bill payment locations that serve customers located in the franchising authority must be open at least during normal business hours and be located within the franchising authority. The franchisee's business offices shall be open, at a minimum, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for 6 days a week.

Upon a showing of changed circumstances or for other good cause shown, the franchising authority may permit a reduction in the franchisee's business office hours, and this permission may not be unreasonably withheld. Additionally, at various times during the day, the franchisee must cablecast the address, telephone number, and office hours of its business offices, customer service and call centers, and bill payment locations on a local origination channel received by all subscribers.

Under normal operating conditions, telephone answer time by a customer representative, including wait time, shall not exceed 30 seconds after the connection is made. If the call must be transferred, transfer time may not exceed 30 seconds. These standards must be met no less than 90% of the time under normal operating conditions, measured on a quarterly basis. The franchisee shall not be required to acquire equipment or perform surveys to measure compliance with these telephone answering standards unless the franchising authority determines that a sufficient record of complaints indicates a clear failure to comply. Under normal operating conditions, the customer shall receive a busy signal less than 3% of the time.

Under normal operating conditions, standard installations must be performed within 7 business days after an order has been placed. "Standard" installations are those that are located within 125 feet from the existing distribution system.

Under normal operating conditions, the appointment alternatives for installations, service calls, and other installation activities shall be either a specific time or, at maximum, a three-hour time block between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. 6 days a week.

The franchisee may schedule service calls and other installation activities outside of these days and hours for the express convenience of the customer. The franchisee may not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day prior to the scheduled appointment. If a franchisee representative is unable to keep the appointment as scheduled, the customer must be contacted. The appointment must be rescheduled, as necessary, for the specific day and time requested by the customer. The customer may request that the appointment take place anytime between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Monday through Saturday.

The franchisee shall promptly respond to and resolve all subscriber complaints.

The franchisee shall maintain records of subscriber complaints setting forth the date and nature of the complaint and any action taken in response. These records shall be available to the franchising authority during the franchisee's normal business hours and must be retained in the franchisee's files for not less than 3 years. A statistical summary of these records shall be prepared by the franchisee and submitted to the franchising authority on a monthly basis for the life of the franchise. Complaints shall be broken out by the type of service that is the subject of the complaint and by franchise area of the franchising authority.

The franchisee shall maintain records of all outages and reported service interruptions. These records must indicate the type of service interrupted, the estimated number of subscribers affected, the date and time of the first notification of the interruption, the date and time that service was restored, the cause of the interruption, and a description of the corrective action taken. Records of reported service interruptions shall identify the reporting persons in a manner consistent with applicable privacy law. These records must be available to the franchising authority during the franchisee's normal business hours and must be retained in the franchisee's files for not less than 3 years.

These records must be submitted to the franchising authority on a monthly basis, commencing 12 months after service is provided to the first subscriber. The franchisee shall provide these records in paper documentary form, as well as in any electronic forms and formats as the franchising authority may require. The franchising authority shall provide service interruption information, as appropriate, to federal or State regulatory authorities.

Excluding conditions beyond the control of the franchisee, the franchisee must begin working on service interruptions promptly and in no event later than 24 hours after the franchisee becomes aware of the interruption. The franchisee must begin actions to correct other service problems the next business day after notification of the service problem.

The franchisee shall provide a credit or, in the case of a customer terminating service, a refund to each customer that is subject to a service interruption caused by conditions that are in the franchisee's control. The credit or refund shall be for the entire day on which the interruption occurs and for each additional day the interruption continues. The credit or refund shall apply to all services interrupted. In the case of an outage, the franchisee shall provide a credit or refund regardless of whether the customer requests a credit or refund or otherwise contacts the franchisee. In the case of a service interruption that is not part of an outage, the franchisee shall provide a credit or refund if the customer requests a credit or refund or otherwise contacts the franchisee about the service interruption. Refund checks must be issued promptly, but no later than either (i) the customer's next billing cycle following resolution of the request or 30 days, whichever is earlier, or (ii) upon the return of the equipment supplied by the franchisee if the service is terminated. Credits for service must be issued no later than the customer's next billing cycle following the determination that a credit is warranted.

Prior to commencement of construction in an area, the franchisee shall exercise its best efforts to inform the residents of the area of the nature and timetable for the construction and shall provide the residents with the procedures for filing complaints.

At the time the franchisee solicits the residents of an area for subscription of its services and again upon actual installation of service, the franchisee must provide the residents with a simple written explanation of all products and services offered, the options for and prices of the products and services, parental lock-out devices, installation and service maintenance procedures, community antenna television services use instructions, programming channel positions, billing, late fee and complaint procedures, and the privacy rights of the subscriber. The information and materials required by this Section shall also be available in the Spanish language.

The franchisee shall fill all reasonable orders for a standard installation of its services within 7 business days and all other reasonable orders within 30 days after the date of the order. An order is reasonable if (i) the services requested are uniformly available on the franchisee's community antenna television system, (ii) the services are requested in a portion of the franchise area where the franchisee's community antenna television system has been constructed and activated, (iii) the franchisee in cooperation with appropriate agencies can accomplish a proper physical extension of its community antenna television system to a person's premises within those 7 or 30 days, and (iv) the franchisee can obtain access to the requester's premises. If the franchisee fails within the required 7 or 30 days to provide the requested service, then the franchisee, upon request, shall within 30 days refund any and all deposits or advance payments made by the requester. The franchisee shall maintain a record of all installation requests that detail when and what action was taken.

If the franchisee or an agent of the franchisee provides program guides to the franchisee's subscribers, the guides must list, at a minimum, all non-must carry channels carried on the franchisee's community antenna television system and must, to the extent reasonable as determined by the franchisee, list all programs carried on all non-must carry channels.

Each employee of the franchisee when entering private property or working on public ways must wear an employee identification card issued by the franchisee bearing the name and a photograph of the employee.

The franchisee may not discriminate against any person in the solicitation or provision of any service or equipment on the basis of age, sex, race, color, creed, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, marital status, or physical or mental impairment.

(c) In addition to any other remedies provided for in this Section or otherwise available by law, the franchising authority may impose monetary penalties if a franchisee violates any provision of this Section, a franchise agreement, or any lawfully adopted rule or regulation. In appropriate circumstances, the franchising authority may precede the issuance of a notice of violation with a reasonable opportunity for the franchisee to cure the violation. The amounts of any penalties shall be specified in the franchise agreement and shall be based on the following principles: (1) penalties must exceed the financial benefits to a franchisee delaying or failing to comply with the applicable requirement; (2) even where those benefits are not easily discernible, the penalties must be sufficient to have a significant deterrent effect on a franchisee; and (3) the penalties must be sufficient to protect the municipality and other affected parties against loss of revenues resulting from violations.

A franchise agreement shall also provide for fines, liquidated damages, and other monetary sanctions, the amounts of which shall also reflect the foregoing principles.

Any person or organization adversely affected by a violation, or by a pattern and practice of violations, shall have the right to sue a franchisee in a court of competent jurisdiction for damages and for injunctive and other relief to require compliance with this Section or with the franchise agreement. Organizations shall be entitled to sue on behalf of themselves or their members.

The remedies provided by this Section shall be in addition to any remedies provided by law.

Except in emergency situations in which immediate relief is required, private litigants shall notify the franchising authority not less than 10 days prior to filing suit. A suit by the franchising authority, however, shall not preempt the private litigant's right to proceed.

It shall be unlawful for any person to attach or affix or to cause to be attached or affixed any equipment or device that allows access to or use of the community antenna television system without payment to the franchisee.

Any person who violates any provisions of this Section shall be subject to a fine not to exceed $750 for each offense. The fine shall be paid to the franchising authority. Each day that the violation continues constitutes a separate offense, and a separate offense shall be deemed to be committed as to each affected customer. In addition, a franchisee shall be subject to the schedule of credits to customers set forth in subsection (d) of this Section.

(d) If the franchisee fails to complete standard installations and extensions of service requested by a customer within 7 business days after the order has been placed, then the franchisee must give the customer free installation or, if the installation fee has been waived for promotional reasons, then one month's basic service for free or, for a service violation, a $15 credit.

If the franchisee fails to provide customers seeking non-standard installations with a total installation cost estimate and an estimated date of completion, then the franchisee must give the customer free installation or, if the installation fee has been waived for promotional reasons, then one month's basic service.

If a franchisee fails to bury all underground cable drops on residential property at least 12 inches deep or if the franchisee fails to complete the work in no more than 3 calendar weeks from the installation, then the franchisee must give all affected residents a $10 credit.

If a franchisee fails to provide to customers wanting installation of service within a 3-hour time block between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. 6 days a week, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit.

If a franchisee cancels an appointment with a customer after 5:00 p.m. on the day before the scheduled appointment, then the franchisee must give the customer $25 credit or the guarantee offered by the franchisee, whichever is greater.

If the franchisee cannot keep an appointment for any reason and fails to contact the customer before the end of the scheduled appointment and reschedule at the convenience of the customer, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit or the guarantee offered by the franchisee, whichever is greater.

If a franchisee fails to make repairs promptly or if it interrupts service other than for good cause, during periods of minimum use of the system, and for no more than 24 hours, except where unavoidable, then the franchisee must give one day's free service for each day that there is a service interruption to each customer in the affected area.

If a franchisee fails to provide clear television reception that meets or exceeds FCC technical standards, then the franchisee must give each affected customer one day's free service for each day that reception falls below FCC standards.

If a customer informs the franchisee that he or she is experiencing poor video or audio reception due to franchisee equipment and the franchisee fails to correct the problem before the next day, unless otherwise agreed to with the customer, then the franchisee must give the customer one day's free service for each day that the problem remains uncorrected.

If a franchisee's customer service representatives are unable to provide credit, waive fees, schedule appointments, and change billing cycles or if any difficulties that cannot be resolved by the customer service representatives are not referred to a supervisor within 24 hours, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit. If the supervisor fails to make his or her best efforts to contact the customer within 4 hours and resolve the problem within 48 hours or within such other time frame that is acceptable to the customer and franchisee, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If the franchisee fails to provide customers with a clear and concise monthly bill or if the franchisee fails to respond to a customer's billing inquiry made by telephone or e-mail within 48 hours of receipt of the inquiry or to a written billing inquiry within 2 weeks of receipt of the inquiry, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If a franchisee fails to allow 30 days after the date a subscriber bill is sent before imposing an administrative fee or if the fee exceeds $1.50 per bill, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If a franchisee continues to bill for services after the day that a customer requests disconnection of any or all services or if the franchisee fails to issue a credit or refund within 15 business days after the close of the customer's billing cycle following the return of the equipment and request for disconnection, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit or a $10 refund if the customer's account has closed.

If, within 10 days after the termination of service for any reason, a franchisee fails to repay any deposit with a statement showing accrued interest, which must accrue at a fair market rate, to the customer, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit or a $10 refund if the customer's account has closed.

If a franchisee fails to replace any trees or shrubs damaged during any installation or repair, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit plus the costs of any repairs or replacement.

If a franchisee fails to restore any damaged property to the same condition it was before damage occurred then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit plus the costs of any repairs or replacement.

If a franchisee enters onto a premises without permission or fails to give notice to property owners before entering upon their premises or, in the event of an emergency, fails to attempt to contact the property owner or legal tenant in person and, if personal contact cannot be made, fails to leave a door hanger notice, then the franchise must give the customer a $15 credit plus the costs of any additional repairs or reimbursement.

If any franchisee personnel fail to clean up debris caused by the franchisee's activities at a work site or fails to properly dispose of cable materials, then the franchisee must give the customer a $15 credit plus the costs of any cleanup and disposal of debris.

If a franchisee fails to deliver and pick up converters at the home of customers with disabilities or, in the case of a malfunctioning converter, the technician fails to provide another converter, hook it up, ensure that it is working properly, and return the defective converter to the franchisee, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit.

If a franchisee fails to provide TDD/TYY service through trained operators who can provide any assistance regularly available from a customer service representative at no charge, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit.

If a franchisee fails to install, at no charge, any closed captioning device purchased by a hearing impaired customer, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit.

If a franchisee fails to provide free use of a converter remote control unit to a mobility-impaired customer, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit and provide a remote control unit.

If a franchisee fails to provide, upon installation and upon a customer's request, information concerning: (1) the products and services offered; (2) the complete range of service options and prices; (3) the customer service standards; (4) instruction on use of cable TV, interactive TV, remote and standard VCR hookups; (5) billing, collection, and disconnect policies; (6) customer privacy requirements; (7) complaint procedures, containing the contact information of the designated agency of the franchising authority to which the complaints should be addressed; (8) the use and availability of A/B switch; (9) the use and availability of parental control or lock-out devices; (10) special services for customers with visual, hearing or mobility disabilities; (11) the days, times of operation, and locations of the service centers; and (12) a copy of any applicable municipal ordinances, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If a franchisee fails to provide customers and the franchising authority with written notification of any change in rates, programming, or channels at least 30 days before the date of the change, then the franchisee must give each affected customer a $10 credit.

If any officer, agent, or employee of the franchisee or any of its contractors and subcontractors in personal contact with any customer fail to have a visible identification card with their name and photograph or fail to orally identify themselves upon first contact with the customer, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If any customer service representative of the franchisee fails to identify himself or herself orally to customers immediately following the greeting during each telephone contact with the public, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If any customer service representative, technician, or employee of the franchisee in each contact with a customer fails to orally state the estimated cost of any service, repair, or installation prior to delivery of the service or before any work is performed or fails to provide the customer with an oral statement of the total charges before terminating the telephone call or before leaving the location at which the work was performed, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If a franchisee violates the privacy of a customer under any federal, State, or local law, then the franchisee must give the customer the choice of either a check in the amount of $150 or a credit to customer account in the same amount.

If a franchisee receives notice that an unsafe condition exists with respect to its equipment and the franchisee fails to investigate the condition immediately or fails to take the measures necessary to remove or eliminate any unsafe condition, then the franchisee must pay the franchising authority $40 a day for each 24-hour delay in responding to the customer safety concerns.

If a franchisee fails to guarantee customer satisfaction to every customer who requests new or upgraded cable service or other service of receiving the service and receive a pro rata credit in an amount equal to the pro rata charge for the remaining days of service being disconnected if the customer is dissatisfied with the service, except where a free promotion has been offered, then there shall be no charge of any kind for the service or for disconnection of the service. The customer shall have the opportunity to cancel upgraded cable service or other service within 30 days.

(e) Within 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, all franchisees shall mail to each customer a summary of the customer protections set forth in this Section, at no charge to the customer. The summary shall include the full text of this Section and be in a form acceptable to the franchising authority.

(f) The provisions of this Section shall supersede any contradictory or inconsistent provision of State or local law or any initial or renewal franchise agreement.

(g) A home rule unit may not regulate community antenna television systems in a manner inconsistent with the provisions of this Act. This Section is a limitation under subsection (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution of the concurrent exercise by home rule units of powers and functions exercised by the State.

Section 10. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by adding Section 11-42-11.2 as follows:

(65 ILCS 5/11-42-11.2 new)

Sec. 11-42-11.2. Community antenna television systems; consumer protection.

(a) Definitions. For purposes of this Section:

"Normal business hours" means those hours during which most similar businesses in the community are open to serve customers. In all cases, "normal business hours" must include some evening hours at least one night per week and some weekend hours.

"Normal operating conditions" means those service conditions that are within the control of the franchisee. Those conditions that are not within the control of the franchisee include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages, telephone network outages, and severe or unusual weather conditions. Those conditions that are ordinarily within the control of the franchisee include, but are not limited to, special promotions, pay-per-view events, rate increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods, and maintenance or upgrade of the cable system.

"Outage" means a service interruption that simultaneously affects 500 or more subscribers.

"Service interruption" or "interruption" means the loss of picture or sound on one or more community antenna television channels. "Service interruption" does not include interruptions deliberately caused by the franchisee for purposes of system maintenance, repair, or testing, if the deliberate interruptions occur between the hours of 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. and do not exceed 10 minutes in duration.

(b) Not less than 60 days prior to commencement of service to its first subscriber or within 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, whichever first occurs, a franchisee must submit to the franchising authority a detailed customer services plan. The plan must, without limitation, demonstrate that the facilities, personnel, repair, complaint and adjustment procedures, telephone, and other information systems of the franchisee are sufficient to ensure timely, efficient, and effective services to customers. The franchisee's customer services plan must be consistent with the highest standards of the community antenna television industry and the requirements set forth in this Section. A franchisee must update the plan as necessary to keep it accurate and complete.

A franchisee shall establish and maintain such business offices and customer service and call centers and provide personnel, telephone service, and other equipment, as necessary, to ensure the timely, efficient, and effective service to customers. Personnel required under this Section must include one person designated by the franchisee to act as a liaison between the franchisee and the franchising authority regarding customer service issues. All customer service and call centers of the franchisee shall have a locally listed, toll-free, or collect telephone number with an access line available to subscribers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Trained company representatives must be available to respond to customer telephone inquiries 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All of the franchisee's customer service and call center and bill payment locations that serve customers located in the franchising authority must be open at least during normal business hours and be located within the franchising authority. The franchisee's business offices shall be open, at a minimum, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for 6 days a week.

Upon a showing of changed circumstances or for other good cause shown, the franchising authority may permit a reduction in the franchisee's business office hours, and this permission may not be unreasonably withheld. Additionally, at various times during the day, the franchisee must cablecast the address, telephone number, and office hours of its business offices, customer service and call centers, and bill payment locations on a local origination channel received by all subscribers.

Under normal operating conditions, telephone answer time by a customer representative, including wait time, shall not exceed 30 seconds after the connection is made. If the call must be transferred, transfer time may not exceed 30 seconds. These standards must be met no less than 90% of the time under normal operating conditions, measured on a quarterly basis. The franchisee shall not be required to acquire equipment or perform surveys to measure compliance with these telephone answering standards unless the franchising authority determines that a sufficient record of complaints indicates a clear failure to comply. Under normal operating conditions, the customer shall receive a busy signal less than 3% of the time.

Under normal operating conditions, standard installations must be performed within 7 business days after an order has been placed. "Standard" installations are those that are located within 125 feet from the existing distribution system.

Under normal operating conditions, the appointment alternatives for installations, service calls, and other installation activities shall be either a specific time or, at maximum, a three-hour time block between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. 6 days a week.

The franchisee may schedule service calls and other installation activities outside of these days and hours for the express convenience of the customer. The franchisee may not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day prior to the scheduled appointment. If a franchisee representative is unable to keep the appointment as scheduled, the customer must be contacted. The appointment must be rescheduled, as necessary, for the specific day and time requested by the customer. The customer may request that the appointment take place anytime between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Monday through Saturday.

The franchisee shall promptly respond to and resolve all subscriber complaints.

The franchisee shall maintain records of subscriber complaints setting forth the date and nature of the complaint and any action taken in response. These records shall be available to the franchising authority during the franchisee's normal business hours and must be retained in the franchisee's files for not less than 3 years. A statistical summary of these records shall be prepared by the franchisee and submitted to the franchising authority on a monthly basis for the life of the franchise. Complaints shall be broken out by the type of service that is the subject of the complaint and by franchise area of the franchising authority.

The franchisee shall maintain records of all outages and reported service interruptions. These records must indicate the type of service interrupted, the estimated number of subscribers affected, the date and time of the first notification of the interruption, the date and time that service was restored, the cause of the interruption, and a description of the corrective action taken. Records of reported service interruptions shall identify the reporting persons in a manner consistent with applicable privacy law. These records must be available to the franchising authority during the franchisee's normal business hours and must be retained in the franchisee's files for not less than 3 years.

These records must be submitted to the franchising authority on a monthly basis, commencing 12 months after service is provided to the first subscriber. The franchisee shall provide these records in paper documentary form, as well as in any electronic forms and formats as the franchising authority may require. The franchising authority shall provide service interruption information, as appropriate, to federal or State regulatory authorities.

Excluding conditions beyond the control of the franchisee, the franchisee must begin working on service interruptions promptly and in no event later than 24 hours after the franchisee becomes aware of the interruption. The franchisee must begin actions to correct other service problems the next business day after notification of the service problem.

The franchisee shall provide a credit or, in the case of a customer terminating service, a refund to each customer that is subject to a service interruption caused by conditions that are in the franchisee's control. The credit or refund shall be for the entire day on which the interruption occurs and for each additional day the interruption continues. The credit or refund shall apply to all services interrupted. In the case of an outage, the franchisee shall provide a credit or refund regardless of whether the customer requests a credit or refund or otherwise contacts the franchisee. In the case of a service interruption that is not part of an outage, the franchisee shall provide a credit or refund if the customer requests a credit or refund or otherwise contacts the franchisee about the service interruption. Refund checks must be issued promptly, but no later than either (i) the customer's next billing cycle following resolution of the request or 30 days, whichever is earlier, or (ii) upon the return of the equipment supplied by the franchisee if the service is terminated. Credits for service must be issued no later than the customer's next billing cycle following the determination that a credit is warranted.

Prior to commencement of construction in an area, the franchisee shall exercise its best efforts to inform the residents of the area of the nature and timetable for the construction and shall provide the residents with the procedures for filing complaints.

At the time the franchisee solicits the residents of an area for subscription of its services and again upon actual installation of service, the franchisee must provide the residents with a simple written explanation of all products and services offered, the options for and prices of the products and services, parental lock-out devices, installation and service maintenance procedures, community antenna television services use instructions, programming channel positions, billing, late fee and complaint procedures, and the privacy rights of the subscriber. The information and materials required by this Section shall also be available in the Spanish language.

The franchisee shall fill all reasonable orders for a standard installation of its services within 7 business days and all other reasonable orders within 30 days after the date of the order. An order is reasonable if (i) the services requested are uniformly available on the franchisee's community antenna television system, (ii) the services are requested in a portion of the franchise area where the franchisee's community antenna television system has been constructed and activated, (iii) the franchisee in cooperation with appropriate agencies can accomplish a proper physical extension of its community antenna television system to a person's premises within those 7 or 30 days, and (iv) the franchisee can obtain access to the requester's premises. If the franchisee fails within the required 7 or 30 days to provide the requested service, then the franchisee, upon request, shall within 30 days refund any and all deposits or advance payments made by the requester. The franchisee shall maintain a record of all installation requests that detail when and what action was taken.

If the franchisee or an agent of the franchisee provides program guides to the franchisee's subscribers, the guides must list, at a minimum, all non-must carry channels carried on the franchisee's community antenna television system and must, to the extent reasonable as determined by the franchisee, list all programs carried on all non-must carry channels.

Each employee of the franchisee when entering private property or working on public ways must wear an employee identification card issued by the franchisee bearing the name and a photograph of the employee.

The franchisee may not discriminate against any person in the solicitation or provision of any service or equipment on the basis of age, sex, race, color, creed, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, marital status, or physical or mental impairment.

(c) In addition to any other remedies provided for in this Section or otherwise available by law, the franchising authority may impose monetary penalties if a franchisee violates any provision of this Section, a franchise agreement, or any lawfully adopted rule or regulation. In appropriate circumstances, the franchising authority may precede the issuance of a notice of violation with a reasonable opportunity for the franchisee to cure the violation. The amounts of any penalties shall be specified in the franchise agreement and shall be based on the following principles: (1) penalties must exceed the financial benefits to a franchisee delaying or failing to comply with the applicable requirement; (2) even where those benefits are not easily discernible, the penalties must be sufficient to have a significant deterrent effect on a franchisee; and (3) the penalties must be sufficient to protect the municipality and other affected parties against loss of revenues resulting from violations.

A franchise agreement shall also provide for fines, liquidated damages, and other monetary sanctions, the amounts of which shall also reflect the foregoing principles.

Any person or organization adversely affected by a violation, or by a pattern and practice of violations, shall have the right to sue a franchisee in a court of competent jurisdiction for damages and for injunctive and other relief to require compliance with this Section or with the franchise agreement. Organizations shall be entitled to sue on behalf of themselves or their members.

The remedies provided by this Section shall be in addition to any remedies provided by law.

Except in emergency situations in which immediate relief is required, private litigants shall notify the franchising authority not less than 10 days prior to filing suit. A suit by the franchising authority, however, shall not preempt the private litigant's right to proceed.

It shall be unlawful for any person to attach or affix or to cause to be attached or affixed any equipment or device that allows access to or use of the community antenna television system without payment to the franchisee.

Any person who violates any provisions of this Section shall be subject to a fine not to exceed $750 for each offense. The fine shall be paid to the franchising authority. Each day that the violation continues constitutes a separate offense, and a separate offense shall be deemed to be committed as to each affected customer. In addition, a franchisee shall be subject to the schedule of credits to customers set forth in subsection (d) of this Section.

(d) If the franchisee fails to complete standard installations and extensions of service requested by a customer within 7 business days after the order has been placed, then the franchisee must give the customer free installation or, if the installation fee has been waived for promotional reasons, then one month's basic service for free or, for a service violation, a $15 credit.

If the franchisee fails to provide customers seeking non-standard installations with a total installation cost estimate and an estimated date of completion, then the franchisee must give the customer free installation or, if the installation fee has been waived for promotional reasons, then one month's basic service.

If a franchisee fails to bury all underground cable drops on residential property at least 12 inches deep or if the franchisee fails to complete the work in no more than 3 calendar weeks from the installation, then the franchisee must give all affected residents a $10 credit.

If a franchisee fails to provide to customers wanting installation of service within a 3-hour time block between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. 6 days a week, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit.

If a franchisee cancels an appointment with a customer after 5:00 p.m. on the day before the scheduled appointment, then the franchisee must give the customer $25 credit or the guarantee offered by the franchisee, whichever is greater.

If the franchisee cannot keep an appointment for any reason and fails to contact the customer before the end of the scheduled appointment and reschedule at the convenience of the customer, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit or the guarantee offered by the franchisee, whichever is greater.

If a franchisee fails to make repairs promptly or if it interrupts service other than for good cause, during periods of minimum use of the system, and for no more than 24 hours, except where unavoidable, then the franchisee must give one day's free service for each day that there is a service interruption to each customer in the affected area.

If a franchisee fails to provide clear television reception that meets or exceeds FCC technical standards, then the franchisee must give each affected customer one day's free service for each day that reception falls below FCC standards.

If a customer informs the franchisee that he or she is experiencing poor video or audio reception due to franchisee equipment and the franchisee fails to correct the problem before the next day, unless otherwise agreed to with the customer, then the franchisee must give the customer one day's free service for each day that the problem remains uncorrected.

If a franchisee's customer service representatives are unable to provide credit, waive fees, schedule appointments, and change billing cycles or if any difficulties that cannot be resolved by the customer service representatives are not referred to a supervisor within 24 hours, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit. If the supervisor fails to make his or her best efforts to contact the customer within 4 hours and resolve the problem within 48 hours or within such other time frame that is acceptable to the customer and franchisee, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If the franchisee fails to provide customers with a clear and concise monthly bill or if the franchisee fails to respond to a customer's billing inquiry made by telephone or e-mail within 48 hours of receipt of the inquiry or to a written billing inquiry within 2 weeks of receipt of the inquiry, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If a franchisee fails to allow 30 days after the date a subscriber bill is sent before imposing an administrative fee or if the fee exceeds $1.50 per bill, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If a franchisee continues to bill for services after the day that a customer requests disconnection of any or all services or if the franchisee fails to issue a credit or refund within 15 business days after the close of the customer's billing cycle following the return of the equipment and request for disconnection, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit or a $10 refund if the customer's account has closed.

If, within 10 days after the termination of service for any reason, a franchisee fails to repay any deposit with a statement showing accrued interest, which must accrue at a fair market rate, to the customer, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit or a $10 refund if the customer's account has closed.

If a franchisee fails to replace any trees or shrubs damaged during any installation or repair, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit plus the costs of any repairs or replacement.

If a franchisee fails to restore any damaged property to the same condition it was before damage occurred then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit plus the costs of any repairs or replacement.

If a franchisee enters onto a premises without permission or fails to give notice to property owners before entering upon their premises or, in the event of an emergency, fails to attempt to contact the property owner or legal tenant in person and, if personal contact cannot be made, fails to leave a door hanger notice, then the franchise must give the customer a $15 credit plus the costs of any additional repairs or reimbursement.

If any franchisee personnel fail to clean up debris caused by the franchisee's activities at a work site or fails to properly dispose of cable materials, then the franchisee must give the customer a $15 credit plus the costs of any cleanup and disposal of debris.

If a franchisee fails to deliver and pick up converters at the home of customers with disabilities or, in the case of a malfunctioning converter, the technician fails to provide another converter, hook it up, ensure that it is working properly, and return the defective converter to the franchisee, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit.

If a franchisee fails to provide TDD/TYY service through trained operators who can provide any assistance regularly available from a customer service representative at no charge, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit.

If a franchisee fails to install, at no charge, any closed captioning device purchased by a hearing impaired customer, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit.

If a franchisee fails to provide free use of a converter remote control unit to a mobility-impaired customer, then the franchisee must give the customer a $25 credit and provide a remote control unit.

If a franchisee fails to provide, upon installation and upon a customer's request, information concerning: (1) the products and services offered; (2) the complete range of service options and prices; (3) the customer service standards; (4) instruction on use of cable TV, interactive TV, remote and standard VCR hookups; (5) billing, collection, and disconnect policies; (6) customer privacy requirements; (7) complaint procedures, containing the contact information of the designated agency of the franchising authority to which the complaints should be addressed; (8) the use and availability of A/B switch; (9) the use and availability of parental control or lock-out devices; (10) special services for customers with visual, hearing or mobility disabilities; (11) the days, times of operation, and locations of the service centers; and (12) a copy of any applicable municipal ordinances, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If a franchisee fails to provide customers and the franchising authority with written notification of any change in rates, programming, or channels at least 30 days before the date of the change, then the franchisee must give each affected customer a $10 credit.

If any officer, agent, or employee of the franchisee or any of its contractors and subcontractors in personal contact with any customer fail to have a visible identification card with their name and photograph or fail to orally identify themselves upon first contact with the customer, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If any customer service representative of the franchisee fails to identify himself or herself orally to customers immediately following the greeting during each telephone contact with the public, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If any customer service representative, technician, or employee of the franchisee in each contact with a customer fails to orally state the estimated cost of any service, repair, or installation prior to delivery of the service or before any work is performed or fails to provide the customer with an oral statement of the total charges before terminating the telephone call or before leaving the location at which the work was performed, then the franchisee must give the customer a $10 credit.

If a franchisee violates the privacy of a customer under any federal, State, or local law, then the franchisee must give the customer the choice of either a check in the amount of $150 or a credit to customer account in the same amount.

If a franchisee receives notice that an unsafe condition exists with respect to its equipment and the franchisee fails to investigate the condition immediately or fails to take the measures necessary to remove or eliminate any unsafe condition, then the franchisee must pay the franchising authority $40 a day for each 24-hour delay in responding to the customer safety concerns.

If a franchisee fails to guarantee customer satisfaction to every customer who requests new or upgraded cable service or other service of receiving the service and receive a pro rata credit in an amount equal to the pro rata charge for the remaining days of service being disconnected if the customer is dissatisfied with the service, except where a free promotion has been offered, then there shall be no charge of any kind for the service or for disconnection of the service. The customer shall have the opportunity to cancel upgraded cable service or other service within 30 days.

(e) Within 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly, all franchisees shall mail to each customer a summary of the customer protections set forth in this Section, at no charge to the customer. The summary shall include the full text of this Section and be in a form acceptable to the franchising authority.

(f) The provisions of this Section shall supersede any contradictory or inconsistent provision of State or local law or any initial or renewal franchise agreement.

(g) A home rule unit may not regulate community antenna television systems in a manner inconsistent with the provisions of this Act. This Section is a limitation under subsection (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution of the concurrent exercise by home rule units of powers and functions exercised by the State.