‘‘(j) LEASED ACCESS.—The provisions of section 
612(i) regarding the carriage of programming from a 
qualified minority programming source or from any quali-
fied educational programming source shall apply to a cable 
operator franchised under this section to provide cable 
service in a franchise area. 
‘‘(k) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISIONS.—The 
provisions of this title that apply to a cable operator shall 
apply in a franchise area to a person or group with a na-
tional franchise under this section to provide cable service 
in such franchise area, except that the following sections 
shall not apply in a franchise area to a person or group 
franchised under this section in such franchise area, or 
confer any authority to regulate or impose obligations on 
such person or group in such franchise area: Sections 
611(a), 611(b), 611(c), 613(a), 617, 621 (other than sub-
sections (b)(3)(A), (b)(3)(B), (b)(3)(C), and (c)), 624(b), 
624(c), 624(h), 625, 626, 627, and 632(a). 
‘‘(l) EMERGENCY ALERTS.—Nothing in this section 
shall be construed to prohibit a State or local government 
from accessing the emergency alert system of a cable oper-
ator with a franchise under this section in the area served 
by the State or local government to transmit local or re-
gional emergency alerts. 
‘‘(m) REPORTING, RECORDS, AND AUDITS.—
‘‘(1) REPORTING.—A cable operator with a 
franchise under this section to provide cable service 
in a franchise area shall make such periodic reports 
to the Commission and the franchising authority for 
such franchise area as the Commission may require 
to verify compliance with the fee obligations of sub-
sections (c)(1) and (e)(2). 
‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF BOOKS AND RECORDS.—
Upon request under paragraph (3) by a franchising 
authority for a franchise area, and upon request by 
the Commission, a cable operator with a national 
franchise for such franchise area shall make avail-
able its books and records to periodic audit by such 
franchising authority or the Commission, respec-
tively. 
‘‘(3) FRANCHISING AUTHORITY AUDIT PROCE-
DURE.—A franchising authority may, upon reason-
able written request, but no more than once in any 
12-month period, review the business records of such 
cable operator to the extent reasonably necessary to 
ensure payment of the fees required by subsections 
(c)(1) and (e)(2). Such review may include the meth-
odology used by such cable operator to assign por-
tions of the revenue from cable service that may be 
bundled or functionally integrated with other serv-
ices, capabilities, or applications. Such review shall 
be conducted in accordance with procedures estab-
lished by the Commission. 
‘‘(4) COST RECOVERY.—
‘‘(A) To the extent that the review under 
paragraph (3) identifies an underpayment of an 
amount meeting the minimum percentage speci-
fied in subparagraph (B) of the fee required 
under subsection (c)(1) or (e)(2) for the period 
of review, the cable operator shall reimburse the 
franchising authority the reasonable costs of 
any such review conducted by an independent 
third party, as determined by the Commission, 
with respect to such fee. The costs of any con-
tingency fee arrangement between the fran-
chising authority and the independent reviewer 
shall not be subject to reimbursement. 
‘‘(B) The Commission shall determine by 
rule the minimum percentage underpayment 
that requires cost reimbursement under sub-
paragraph (A). 
‘‘(5) LIMITATION.—Any fee that is not reviewed 
by a franchising authority within 3 years after it is 
paid or remitted shall not be subject to later review 
by the franchising authority under this subsection