2005 California Government Code Sections 53088-53088.2 Article 4.5. Video Customer Service Act

53088.  This article shall be known and may be cited as the Video
Customer Service Act.
53088.1.  (a) "Video provider" means any person, company, or service
which provides one or more channels of video programming to a
residence, including a home, condominium, or apartment where some fee
is paid, whether directly or as included in dues or rental charges,
for that service, whether or not public rights-of-way are utilized in
the delivery of the video programming.  A "video provider" shall
include, but not be limited to, providers of cable television, master
antenna television, satellite master antenna television, direct
broadcast satellite, multipoint distribution services, and other
providers of video programming, whatever their technology.  A video
provider shall not include a landlord providing only broadcast video
programming to a single-family home or other residential dwelling
consisting of four units or less.
   (b) "Material breach" means any substantial and repeated failure
to comply with the consumer service standards set forth in Section
53088.2.
53088.2.  (a) Every video provider shall render reasonably efficient
service, make repairs promptly, and interrupt service only as
necessary.
   (b) All video provider personnel contacting subscribers or
potential subscribers outside the office of the provider shall be
clearly identified as associated with the video provider.
   (c) At the time of installation, and annually thereafter, all
video providers shall provide to all customers a written notice of
the programming offered, the prices for that programming, the
provider's installation and customer service policies, and the name,
address, and telephone number of the local franchising authority.
   (d) All video providers shall have knowledgeable, qualified
company representatives available to respond to customer telephone
inquiries Monday to Friday, inclusive, excluding holidays, during
normal business hours.
   (e) All video providers shall provide to customers a toll-free or
local telephone number for installation, and service, and complaint
calls. These calls shall be answered promptly by the video providers.
The city, county, or city and county may establish standards for
what constitutes promptness.
   (f) All video providers shall render bills that are accurate and
understandable.
   (g) All video providers shall respond to a complete outage in a
customer's service promptly. The response shall occur within 24 hours
of the reporting of the outage to the provider, except in those
situations beyond the reasonable control of the video provider. A
video provider shall be deemed to respond to a complete outage when a
company representative arrives at the outage location within 24
hours and begins to resolve the problem.
   (h) All video providers shall provide a minimum of 30 days'
written notice before increasing rates or deleting channels. All
video providers shall make every reasonable effort to submit the
notice to the city, county, or city and county in advance of the
distribution to customers. The 30-day notice is waived if the
increases in rates or deletion of channels were outside the control
of the video provider. In those cases the video provider shall make
reasonable efforts to provide customers with as much notice as
possible.
   (i) Every video provider shall allow every residential customer
who pays his or her bill directly to the video provider at least 15
days from the date the bill for services is mailed to the customer,
to pay the listed charges unless otherwise agreed to pursuant to a
residential rental agreement establishing tenancy. Customer payments
shall be posted promptly. No video provider may terminate residential
service for nonpayment of a delinquent account unless the video
provider furnishes notice of the delinquency and impending
termination at least 15 days prior to the proposed termination. The
notice shall be mailed, postage prepaid, to the customer to whom the
service is billed. Notice shall not be mailed until the 16th day
after the date the bill for services was mailed to the customer. The
notice of delinquency and impending termination may be part of a
billing statement. No video provider may assess a late fee any
earlier than the 22nd day after the bill for service has been mailed.
   (j) Every notice of termination of service pursuant to subdivision
(i) shall include all of the following information:
   (1) The name and address of the customer whose account is
delinquent.
   (2) The amount of the delinquency.
   (3) The date by which payment is required in order to avoid
termination of service.
   (4) The telephone number of a representative of the video provider
who can provide additional information and handle complaints or
initiate an investigation concerning the service and charges in
question.
   Service may only be terminated on days in which the customer can
reach a representative of the video provider either in person or by
telephone.
   (k) Any service terminated without good cause shall be restored
without charge for the service restoration. Good cause includes, but
is not limited to, failure to pay, payment by check for which there
are insufficient funds, theft of service, abuse of equipment or
system personnel, or other similar subscriber actions.
   (l) A video provider shall cease charging a customer for services
within seven business days of receiving a request to terminate
service. If the customer requests that service be terminated and
provides seven or more business day's notice before the date for
termination of service, the video provider shall cease charging the
customer for additional services as of midnight of the last day of
service. Nothing in this subdivision shall prohibit a video provider
from billing for charges incurred by the customer prior to the date
for termination of service.
   (m) All video providers shall issue requested refund checks
promptly, but no later than 45 days following the resolution of any
dispute, and following the return of the equipment supplied by the
video provider, if service is terminated.
   (n) All video providers shall issue security or customer deposit
refund checks promptly, but no later than 45 days following the
termination of service, less any deductions permitted by law.
   (o) Video providers shall not disclose the name and address of a
subscriber for commercial gain to be used in mailing lists or for
other commercial purposes not reasonably related to the conduct of
the businesses of the video providers or their affiliates, unless the
video providers have provided to the subscriber a notice, separate
or included in any other customer notice, that clearly and
conspicuously describes the subscriber's ability to prohibit the
disclosure. Video providers shall provide an address and telephone
number for a local subscriber to use without toll charge to prevent
disclosure of the subscriber's name and address.
   (p) Disputes concerning the provisions of this article shall be
resolved by the city, county, or city and county in which the
customer resides. For video providers under Section 53066, the
franchising authority shall resolve disputes. All other video
providers shall register with the city in which they provide service
or, where the customers reside in an unincorporated area, in the
county in which they provide service. The registration shall include
the name of the company, its address, its officers, telephone
numbers, and customer service and complaint procedures. Counties and
cities may charge these other video providers operating in the state
a fee to cover the reasonable cost of administering this division.
   (q) Nothing in this division limits any power of a city, county,
or city and county or video provider to adopt and enforce service
standards and consumer protection standards that exceed those
established in this division.
   (r) The legislative body of the city, county, or city and county,
may, by ordinance, provide a schedule of penalties for the material
breach by a video provider of subdivisions (a) to (p), inclusive. No
monetary penalties shall be assessed for a material breach if the
breach is out of the reasonable control of the video provider.
Further, no monetary penalties may be imposed prior to the effective
date of this section. Any schedule of monetary penalties adopted
pursuant to this section shall in no event exceed two hundred dollars
($200) for each day of each material breach, not to exceed six
hundred dollars ($600) for each occurrence of material breach.
However, if a material breach of any of subdivisions (a) to (p),
inclusive, has occurred and the city, county, or city and county has
provided notice and a fine or penalty has been assessed, in a
subsequent material breach of the same nature occurring within 12
months, the penalties may be increased by the city, county, or city
and county to a maximum of four hundred dollars ($400) for each day
of each material breach, not to exceed one thousand two hundred
dollars ($1,200) for each occurrence of the material breach. If a
third or further material breach of the same nature occurs within
those same 12 months, and the city, county, or city and county has
provided notice and a fine or penalty has been assessed, the
penalties may be increased to a maximum of one thousand dollars
($1,000) for each day of each material breach, not to exceed three
thousand dollars ($3,000) for each occurrence of the material breach.
With respect to video providers subject to a franchise or license,
any monetary penalties assessed under this section shall be reduced
dollar for dollar to the extent any liquidated damage or penalty
provision of a current cable television ordinance, franchise
contract, or license agreement imposes a monetary obligation upon a
video provider for the same customer service failures, and no other
monetary damages may be assessed. However, this section shall in no
way affect the right of franchising authorities concerning assessment
or renewal of a cable television franchise under the provisions of
the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 (47 U.S.C. Sec. 521 et
seq.).
   (s) If the legislative body of a city, county, or city and county
adopts a schedule of monetary penalties pursuant to subdivision (q),
the following procedures shall be followed:
   (1) The city, county, or city and county shall give the video
provider written notice of any alleged material breaches of the
consumer service standards of this division and allow the video
provider at least 30 days from receipt of the notice to remedy the
specified breach.
   (2) A material breach for the purposes of assessing penalties
shall be deemed to have occurred for each day, following the
expiration of the period specified in paragraph (1), that any
material breach has not been remedied by the video provider,
irrespective of the number of customers affected.
   (t) Notwithstanding subdivision (o), or any other provision of
law, this section shall not preclude a party affected by this section
from utilizing any judicial remedy available to that party without
regard to this section.  Actions taken by a local legislative body,
including a franchising authority, pursuant to this section shall not
be binding upon a court of law. For this purpose, a court of law may
conduct de novo review of any issues presented.