Section 7-59-303 - Part definitionsAs used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Access" means that a provider is capable of providing cable service or video service at the household address regardless of whether any customer has ordered service or whether the owner or landlord or other responsible person has granted access to the household;(2) "Broadband internet service" means an asymmetrical connection to the internet from a home computer with an expected download data transfer rate of at least one and one-half megabits per second (1.5 Mbps), or, after January 1, 2012, a data transfer rate equal to the speed that thirty percent (30%) or more of the provider's internet service subscribers actually purchase, and shall not include direct-to-home satellite service or direct broadcast satellite service;(3) "Cable service": (A) Has the meaning set forth in 47 U.S.C. § 522(6); and(B) Does not include video programming provided by a commercial mobile service provider, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 332(d), or video programming accessed via a service that enables end users to access content, information, electronic mail, or other services offered over the internet, including streaming video content, regardless of the provider of the internet access services;(4) "Cable service provider" means a provider of cable service;(5) "Cable system" has the meaning set forth in 47 U.S.C. § 522(7);(6) "Days" means calendar days. For purposes of any act to be taken pursuant to this part, if an act is to be taken on a day that falls on a weekend or holiday, then the act shall be required on the next day that is not a weekend or holiday;(7) "Department" means the Tennessee public utility commission;(8) "Franchise" has the meaning set forth in 47 U.S.C. § 522(9), and additionally includes the authorization to construct and operate a cable or video service provider's facility within the public rights-of-way used to provide cable or video service;(9) "Franchise area" means, with respect to a large telecommunications provider that is a holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority, the aggregate geographic area containing its basic local exchange wire-line telephone service areas within the state. "Franchise area," for all other holders of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority, means the geographical area described in the application for a state-issued certificate of franchise authority within which a holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority is seeking authority to deliver cable or video services;(10) "Franchise authority" means "franchising authority" as set forth in 47 U.S.C. § 522(10) or other governmental entity empowered by federal, state, or local law to grant a franchise. With regard to the holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority within the areas covered by the certificate, the department is the sole franchising authority. With respect to a franchise agreement with a municipality or county governing authority, that municipality or county is the sole franchising authority within the service area governed by that franchise agreement;(11) "Gross revenues" means:(A) With respect to a holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority, all revenues received from subscribers in the applicable municipality or unincorporated county area for providing cable or video services, and all revenues received from nonsubscribers in the applicable municipality or unincorporated county area for advertising services and as commissions from home shopping services, as allocated pursuant to subdivision (11)(B); provided, that the advertising or home shopping services are disseminated through cable or video services. Gross revenues shall be determined according to generally accepted accounting principles. "Gross revenues" does not include any: (i) Tax, surcharge, or governmental fee, including franchise fees; provided, however, that, upon the adoption of a resolution by the governing authority of the municipality or county, and notice of the resolution sent to the department, gross revenues may include the franchise fees; the governing authority of the municipality or county may likewise, by adopting a resolution, rescind such action;(ii) Revenue not actually received, even if billed, such as bad debt;(iii) Revenue received by any affiliate or any other person in exchange for supplying goods or services to the service provider;(iv) Amounts attributable to refunds, rebates, or discounts;(v) Revenue from services provided over the cable system or video service system that are associated with or classified as non-cable or non-video services under federal law, including, but not limited to, revenues received from providing telecommunications services, information services other than cable or video services, internet access services, directory or internet advertising services, including, but not limited to, yellow pages, white pages, banner, and electronic publishing advertising. Where the sale of any such non-cable or non-video service is bundled with the sale of any cable or video service or services and sold for a single non-itemized price, the term "gross revenues" includes only those revenues that are attributable to cable or video services based on the provider's books and records;(vi) Revenue attributable to financial charges, such as returned check fees, late fees or interest;(vii) Revenue from the sale or rental of property, except such property the consumer is required to buy or rent exclusively from the service provider;(viii) Revenues from providing or maintaining an inside wiring plan;(ix) Revenue from sales for resale with respect to which the purchaser is required to pay a franchise fee, and the purchaser certifies in writing that it will resell the service and pay a franchise fee with respect thereto; and(x) Amounts attributable to a reimbursement of costs, including, but not limited to, the reimbursements by programmers of marketing costs incurred for the promotion or introduction of video programming; and(B) With regard to gross revenues attributable to advertising revenues, or video home shopping services, the amount that is allocable to a municipality or unincorporated area of a county is equal to the total amount of a holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority's revenue received from the advertising and home shopping services multiplied by the ratio of the number of the provider's subscribers located in the municipality or in the unincorporated area of the county to the total number of the provider's subscribers. The ratio shall be based on the number of the provider's subscribers as of January 1 of the preceding year or more current subscriber count at the provider's discretion, except that, in the first year in which services are provided, the ratio shall be computed as of the earliest practical date;(12) "Household" means an apartment, a house, a mobile home, or any other structure or part of a structure intended for residential occupancy as separate living quarters;(13) "Incumbent cable service provider" means any cable service provider who provided cable service in a municipality or in an unincorporated area of a county on July 1, 2008, under a franchise whether or not the franchise had expired on July 1, 2008;(14) "Large telecommunications provider" means a cable or video service provider using telecommunications facilities to provide cable or video service that, as of January 1, 2008, directly or through any subsidiary or affiliate, had more than one million (1,000,000) telecommunications access lines in this state. The basic local exchange footprint of a large telecommunications provider is that geographic area in which the carrier provides wire-line local telephone exchange service as of January 1, 2008;(15) "Low-income household" with respect to a large telecommunications provider means a household with an average annual income of less than thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000) as of July 1, 2008; provided, that, for determining low-income households, the most recent decennial census estimates of household income shall be adjusted by the consumer price index to estimate annual household incomes in prior years or subsequent years; provided further, that for determining low-income households after January 1, 2011, estimates from the most recent release of the American community survey five-year estimates shall be used. With respect to all other holders of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority, "low-income household" means, at the option of the holder with respect to each franchise area, either: (A) A household meeting the standard provided in this subdivision (15) for large telecommunications providers; or(B) A household below the estimated median household income within the holder's franchise area according to the most recent decennial census estimates of household income or, to the extent available, more recent estimates from the small area income estimates provided by the United States census bureau or, after January 1, 2011, estimates from the most recent release of the American community survey five-year estimates for such areas;(16) "Public right-of-way" means the area on, along, below, or above a public roadway, highway, street, sidewalk, alley, bridge or waterway that is not private property;(17) "Qualified cable operator" means a cable service provider that, on the date that it applies for a state-issued certificate of franchise authority, individually or together with its affiliates or parent company, has at least seven hundred thousand (700,000) cable or video service customers in the United States as determined by data collected and reported by the federal communications commission, referred in this part as the FCC, or determined by information available to the public through a national trade association representing cable operators;(18) "Video programming" means programming provided by, or generally considered comparable to programming provided by a television broadcast station, as set forth in 47 U.S.C. § 522(20);(19) "Video service": (A) Means the provision of video programming by a video service provider through wireline facilities located, at least in part, in the public rights-of-way without regard to delivery technology, including internet protocol technology; and(B) Does not include: (i) Video programming provided by a commercial mobile service provider, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 332(d);(ii) Direct-to-home satellite services, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 303(v);(iii) Video programming accessed via a service that enables end users to access content, information, electronic mail, or other services offered over the internet, including streaming video content, regardless of the provider of the internet access services; or(20) "Video service provider" means a provider of video service.Amended by 2023 Tenn. Acts, ch. 60, Secs.s 1, s 2 eff. 3/21/2023.Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 94, s 17, eff. 4/4/2017. Acts 2008 , ch. 932, § 4; 2010 , ch. 961, § 1.