CA AB 1826
Title: Digital Equity in Video Franchising Act of 2024.
Author: Christopher R. Holden
Summary
AB 1826, as introduced, Holden. Digital Equity in Video Franchising Act of 2024. The Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 establishes a procedure for the Public Utilities Commission to issue state franchises for the provision of video service, defined as video programming services, cable service, or open-video system service, except any video programming provided by a commercial mobile service provider, as defined in federal law, or video programming provided as part of, and via, a service that enables users to access content, information, email, or other services offered over the public internet. The act provides that the holder of a state franchise is not a public utility as a result of providing video services and that the act does not authorize the commission to regulate the rates, terms, and conditions of video service, except as explicitly set forth in the act. The act establishes a state franchise fee to be remitted to a local entity based on the franchiseholder’s gross revenues, as defined, derived from the provision of cable or video service within that jurisdiction. The act prohibits a cable operator or video service provider that has been granted a state franchise from discriminating against, or denying access to service to, any group of potential residential subscribers because of the income of the residents in the local area in which the group resides. The act limits the maximum fine that could be assessed for a violation of the access requirement.This bill would revise and recast the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 to, among other things, rename the act as the Digital Equity in Video Franchising Act of 2024, provide that the act does not authorize the commission to regulate the rates of video services, and authorize the commission to exercise the authority, jurisdiction, and powers authorized to be exercised by a franchise authority pursuant to certain federal law, as specified. The bill would require the commission to hold a public hearing related to each application for renewal of a state franchise, require the commission to issue a state franchise or a reject each application for a state franchise not more than 90 days after the public hearing, if required, or after the application is deemed complete, as specified, require a franchise applicant to submit a description of the households that are known to be unserved in the video service area footprint that the applicant proposes to serve, and extend deadlines related to the commission’s review of applications for state franchises.This bill also would require the commission to require video service providers to make video service available to all residences in its service area within 5 years of the issuance of a state-issued franchise renewal, except as specified, and would revise the revenues excluded from the definition of “gross revenue” for purposes of calculating the franchise fee for a local jurisdiction. The bill would establish a policy of the state that subscribers and potential subscribers of a state video franchiseholder should benefit from equal access, as defined, to video service within the franchise service area, expand the prohibition on certain cable operators or video service providers from discriminating against, or denying access to service to, any group of potential residential subscribers to include discrimination or denial of equal access because of any rationale, rather than only because of the income of the residents in the local area in which the group resides, and increase the maximum amount of a fine that could be assessed for a violation of the equal access requirement, as specified. The bill would require the commission to enforce customer service requirements for a holder of a state franchise and would increase the maximum amount of a penalty that a local entity may assess against a holder of a state franchise that materially breaches specified video service customer service and consumer
Status
Read first time. To print.
Bill Documents
CA AB 1826 - 01/12/24 - Introduced
01/12/24 - CA AB 1826 (01/12/24 - Introduced)