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For the purposes of this chapter, the following words, terms, phrases and their derivations have the meanings given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future tense, words in the singular number include the plural number and words in the plural number include the singular number.

1. “Applicant” means any person or entity that applies for an initial franchise.

2. “Cable Act” means the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 as amended by the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 and the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and as any of them may be amended.

3. “Cable operator” means any person or group of persons, including a franchisee, who provide(s) cable service over a cable system and directly or through one or more affiliates owns a significant interest in such cable system or who otherwise control(s) or is (are) responsible for, through any arrangement, the management and operation of such a cable system.

4. “Cable service” means the one-way transmission to subscribers of video programming or other programming service, and subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for the selection or use of such video programming or other programming service.

5. “Cable system” or “system” means any facility, consisting of a set of closed transmissions paths and associated signal generation, reception, and control equipment that is designed to provide cable service which includes video programming and which is provided to multiple subscribers within a community, but such term does not include:

a. A facility that serves only to retransmit the television signals of one or more television broadcast stations;

b. A facility that serves subscribers without using any public right-of-way;

c. A facility of a common carrier which is subject, in whole or in part, to the provisions of Title II of the Federal Communications Act (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), except that such facility shall be considered a cable system (other than for purposes of Section 621(c) (47 U.S.C. 541(c)) to the extent such facility is used in the transmission of video programming directly to subscribers, unless the extent of such use is solely to provide interactive on-demand services;

d. An open video system that complies with federal statutes; or

e. Any facilities of any electric utility used solely for operating its electric utility systems.

6. “City” means the city of Everett, Washington, a body politic and corporate under the laws of the state of Washington, and all of the area within its boundaries, as such may change from time to time.

7. “City council” means the Everett city council, or its successor, the governing body of the city.

8. “Customer service standards” means those customer service standards adopted by ordinance applicable to cable operators, Chapter 5.117 of this code.

9. “FCC” means the Federal Communications Commission.

10. “Franchise” means an ordinance adopted by the city pursuant to Article XIII of the City’s Charter that authorizes a person or entity to construct, operate, maintain or reconstruct a cable system. Upon the written acceptance by a franchisee, the franchise also constitutes a contract between the city and the franchisee.

11. “Franchise area” means the area within the jurisdictional boundaries of the city to be served by a franchisee, including any areas annexed by the city during the term of a franchise.

12. “Franchisee” means the person, firm, corporation or entity to whom or which a franchise, as hereinabove defined, is granted by the city council under this chapter and the lawful successor, transferee or assignee of said person, firm, corporation or entity.

13. “Right-of-way” or “rights-of-way” means each of the following which have been dedicated to the public or are hereafter dedicated to the public and maintained under public authority or by others and are located within the city: streets, roadways, highways, avenues, lanes, alleys, bridges, sidewalks, easements and similar public property and areas.

14. “Subscriber” means any person who or which elects to subscribe to, for any purpose, cable service provided by a franchisee by means of or in connection with the cable system and whose premises are physically wired and lawfully activated to receive cable service from franchisee’s cable system. (Ord. 2608-02 § 3, 2002.)