55 ILCS 5/5-1095 — Illinois Code / Chapter 55 / Act 5 / Section 5-1095
Section 5-1095
Status: in_force

(55 ILCS 5/5-1095) (from Ch. 34, par. 5-1095) Sec. 5-1095. Community antenna television systems; satellite transmitted television programming. (a) The County Board may license, tax or franchise the business of operating a community antenna television system or systems within the County and outside of a municipality, as defined in Section 1-1-2 of the Illinois Municipal Code. When an area is annexed to a municipality, the annexing municipality shall thereby become the franchising authority with respect to that portion of any community antenna television system that, immediately before annexation, had provided cable television services within the annexed area under a franchise granted by the county, and the owner of that community antenna television system shall thereby be authorized to provide cable television services within the annexed area under the terms and provisions of the existing franchise. In that instance, the franchise shall remain in effect until, by its terms, it expires, except that any franchise fees payable under the franchise shall be payable only to the county for a period of 5 years or until, by its terms, the franchise expires, whichever occurs first. After the 5 year period, any franchise fees payable under the franchise shall be paid to the annexing municipality. In any instance in which a duly franchised community antenna television system is providing cable television services within the annexing municipality at the time of annexation, the annexing municipality may permit that franchisee to extend its community antenna television system to the annexed area under terms and conditions that are no more burdensome nor less favorable to that franchisee than those imposed under any community antenna television franchise applicable to the annexed area at the time of annexation. The authorization to extend cable television service to the annexed area and any community antenna television system authorized to provide cable television services within the annexed area at the time of annexation shall not be subject to the provisions of subsection (e) of this Section. (b) "Community antenna television system" as used in this Section, means any facility which is constructed in whole or in part in, on, under or over any highway or other public place and which is operated to perform for hire the service of receiving and amplifying the signals broadcast by one or more television stations and redistributing such signals by wire, cable or other means to members of the public who subscribe to such service except that such term does not include (i) any system which serves fewer than 50 subscribers or (ii) any system which serves only the residents of one or more apartment dwellings under common ownership, control or management, and commercial establishments located on the premises of such dwellings. (c) The authority hereby granted does not include the authority to license or franchise telephone companies subject to the jurisdiction of the Illinois Commerce Commission or the Federal Communications Commission in connection with furnishing circuits, wires, cables or other facilities to the operator of a community antenna television system. (c-1) Each franchise entered into by a county and a community antenna television system shall include the customer service and privacy standards and protections contained in Article XXII of the Public Utilities Act. A franchise may not contain different penalties or consumer service and privacy standards and protections. Each franchise entered into by a county and a community antenna television system before June 30, 2007 (the effective date of Public Act 95-9) shall be amended by this Section to incorporate the penalty provisions and customer service and privacy standards and protections contained in Article XXII of the Public Utilities Act. The County Board may, in the course of franchising such community antenna television system, grant to such franchisee the authority and the right and permission to use all public streets, rights of way, alleys, ways for public service facilities, parks, playgrounds, school grounds, or other public grounds, in which such county may have an interest, for the construction, installation, operation, maintenance, alteration, addition, extension or improvement of a community antenna television system. Any charge imposed by a community antenna television system franchised pursuant to this Section for the raising or removal of cables or lines to permit passage on, to or from a street shall not exceed the reasonable costs of work reasonably necessary to safely permit such passage. Pursuant to subsections (h) and (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Constitution of the State of Illinois, the General Assembly declares the regulation of charges which may be imposed by community antenna television systems for the raising or removal of cables or lines to permit passage on, to or from streets is a power or function to be exercised exclusively by the State and not to be exercised or performed concurrently with the State by any unit of local government, including any home rule unit. The County Board may, upon written request by the franchisee of a community antenna television system, exercise its right of eminent domain solely for the purpose of granting an easement right no greater than 8 feet in width, extending no greater than 8 feet from any lot line for the purpose of extending cable across any parcel of property in the manner provided for by the law of eminent domain, provided, however, such franchisee deposits with the county sufficient security to pay all costs incurred by the county in the exercise of its right of eminent domain. Except as specifically provided otherwise in this Section, this Section is not a limitation on any home rule county. (d) The General Assembly finds and declares that satellite-transmitted television programming should be available to those who desire to subscribe to such programming and that decoding devices should be obtainable at reasonable prices by those who are unable to obtain satellite-transmitted television programming through duly franchised community antenna television systems. In any instance in which a person is unable to obtain satellite-transmitted television programming through a duly franchised community antenna television system either because the municipality and county in which such person resides has not granted a franchise to operate and maintain a community antenna television system, or because the duly franchised community antenna television system operator does not make cable television services available to such person, any programming company that delivers satellite-transmitted television programming in scrambled or encrypted form shall ensure that devices for decryption of such programming are made available to such person, through the local community antenna television operator or directly, for purchase or lease at prices reasonably related to the cost of manufacture and distribution of such devices. (e) The General Assembly finds and declares that, in order to ensure that community antenna television services are provided in an orderly, competitive and economically sound manner, the best interests of the public will be served by the establishment of certain minimum standards and procedures for the granting of additional cable television franchises. Subject to the provisions of this subsection, the authority granted under subsection (a) hereof shall include the authority to license, franchise and tax more than one cable operator to provide community antenna television services within the territorial limits of a single franchising authority. For purposes of this subsection (e), the term: (i) "Existing cable television franchise" means a community antenna television franchise