48:5A-3 Definitions.

3. As used in this act, except as the context may otherwise clearly require or indicate:

a. "Board" means the Board of Public Utilities.

b. "Office" means the Office of Cable Television established by the "Cable Television Act," P.L.1972, c.186 (C.48:5A-1 et seq.).

c. "Director" means the Director of the Office of Cable Television.

d. "Cable television system", "CATV system" or "cable system" means a facility, consisting of a set of closed transmission paths and associated signal generation, reception, and control equipment, that is designed to provide cable television service which includes video programming, without regard to the technology used to deliver such video programming, including Internet protocol technology or any successor technology, and which is provided to multiple subscribers within a community, but such term does not include: (1) a facility that serves only to retransmit the television signals of one or more television broadcast stations; (2) a facility that serves subscribers without using any public right-of-way; (3) a facility of a common carrier which is subject, in whole or in part, to regulation by the board pursuant to Title 48 of the Revised Statutes, except that such facility shall be considered a CATV system 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; (4) an open video system that has been certified by the Federal Communications Commission as being in compliance with the provisions of Part 76, "Multichannel Video and Cable Television Service," of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations; (5) any facilities of any electric public utility used solely for operating its electric utility systems; or (6) a facility of an electric public utility which is subject, in whole or in part, to regulation by the board pursuant to Title 48 of the Revised Statutes, except that such facility shall be considered a CATV system solely to the extent that such facility is used in the transmission of video programming directly to the subscribers. The term "facility" as used in this subsection is limited to the optical spectrum wavelengths, bandwidth, or other current or future technological capacity used for the transmission of video programming directly to subscribers.

e. "Cable television reception service" means the simultaneous delivery through a CATV system of the signals of television broadcast stations to members of the public subscribing to such service for a fee or other consideration, which service may include additional nonbroadcast signals delivered as a part of the service with no additional charge.

f. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2006, c.83).

g. "Cable television company" or "CATV company" means any person or group of persons (1) who provides cable service over a cable system and directly or through one or more affiliates owns a significant interest in such cable system, or (2) who otherwise controls or is responsible for, through any arrangement, the management and operation of such a cable system.

h. "Highway" includes every street, road, alley, thoroughfare, way or place of any kind used by the public or open to the use of the public.

i. "Certificate" means a certificate of approval issued by the board pursuant to P.L.1972, c.186 (C.48:5A-1 et seq.).

j. "Cable television service", "CATV service" or "cable service" means (1) the one-way transmission to subscribers of (a) video programming, or (b) other programming service; and (2) subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for the selection or use of such video programming or other programming service, regardless of the technology utilized by a cable television company to enable such selection or use.

k. "Basic cable service" means any service tier which includes the retransmission of local television broadcast signals and any public, educational and governmental channels.

l. "Hearing impaired individual" means an individual who, because of injury to, disease of, or defect in the inner, middle or outer ear, or any combination thereof, has suffered a loss of hearing acuity such that the individual cannot receive linguistic information without amplification, dubbing or captions.

m. "In series connection" means a connection where the coaxial service wire entering the residence of a subscriber connects first to a television receiver or monitor, with the television receiver or monitor being connected by coaxial wire to a video cassette recorder or other auxiliary equipment or where the coaxial service wire connects first to a video cassette recorder or auxiliary equipment, with the equipment being connected to a television receiver or monitor and where no external splitting device is used.

n. "Municipality" means one municipality acting singularly or two or more municipalities acting jointly in the granting of municipal consent for the provision of cable television service in accordance with the provisions of the "Cable Television Act," P.L.1972, c.186 (C.48:5A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented.

o. "Open video system" means a facility consisting of a set of transmission paths and associated signal generation, reception, and control equipment that is designed to provide cable television service to multiple subscribers within a municipality and which has been certified by the Federal Communications Commission as being in compliance with Part 76 "Multichannel Video and Cable Television Service" of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

p. "Private aggregator" means a duly-organized business or non-profit organization authorized to do business in this State that enters into a contract with two or more municipalities for the purpose of facilitating the joint action of those municipalities in granting municipal consent for the provision of cable television service to those municipalities.

q. "Franchise" means an initial authorization, or renewal thereof, issued by a franchising authority in accordance with the provisions of P.L.1972, c.186 (C.48:5A-1 et seq.), whether such authorization is designated as a franchise, permit, license, resolution, contract, certificate, agreement or otherwise, which authorizes the construction or operation of a cable television system.

r. "System-wide franchise" means a competitive franchise issued pursuant to P.L.1972, c.186 (C.48:5A-1 et seq.) which authorizes a CATV company to construct or operate a cable television system in any location within this State in which the CATV company, at the time of the issuance of the system-wide franchise, either has plant or equipment in use for the provision of any consumer video, cable or telecommunications service, including telephone service, or has proposed to place such plant or equipment into use to provide such service.

s. "Local franchising authority" or "franchising authority" means a governmental entity empowered by federal, State, or local law to grant a franchise.

t. "Telecommunications service provider" or "telecommunications provider" means any owner of facilities and equipment located in public rights-of-way used to provide telecommunications services, except that such term does not include aggregators of telecommunications services.

u. "Telecommunications service" means the offering of telecommunications for a fee directly to the public, or to such classes of users as to be effectively available directly to the public, regardless of the facilities used.

v. "Video programming" means programming provided by, or generally considered comparable to programming provided by, a television broadcast station.

w. "Other programming service" means information other than video programming that a CATV company makes available to all subscribers generally.

x. "Gross revenues" means all revenues actually received by the holder of a system-wide franchise or certificate of approval derived during the calendar year from all the charges or fees paid by subscribers in the municipality to the CATV company for providing basic cable service, cable programming service, as that term is defined in 47 C.F.R. s.76.901, and premier tier programming service, for pay-per-view events, seasonal or sporting events of limited duration, and for all similar programming or channels, but gross revenues shall not include: (1) amounts not actually received, even if billed, such as bad debt; refunds, rebates or discounts to subscribers or other third parties; or revenue imputed from the provision of cable services for free or at reduced rates to any person as required or allowed by law, including, without limitation, the provision of such services to public institutions, public schools, governmental entities, or employees, other than forgone revenue chosen not to be received in exchange for trades, barters, services, or other items of value; (2) any revenue from any charges or fees derived from services classified as non-cable services under federal law, including, without limitation, revenue derived from telecommunications services and information services and any other revenues attributed by the holder of a certificate of approval or system-wide franchise to non-cable services in accordance with Federal Communications Commission rules, regulations, standards, or orders; (3) amounts billed to and collected from subscribers to recover any tax, fee or surcharge of general applicability imposed by any governmental entity on the holder of a certificate of approval or a system-wide franchise, including without limitation, sales and use taxes, gross receipts taxes, excise taxes, utility users taxes, public service taxes, communication taxes, and any other fee not imposed by section 30 of P.L.1972, c.186 (C.48:5A-30). In the case of cable service that may be bundled or integrated functionally with other services, capabilities or applications, the gross revenues shall only include those charges or fees derived from or attributable to the provision of cable service, as reflected on the books and records of the holder of a certificate of approval or a system-wide franchise, as the case may be, in accordance with the rules, regulations, standards and orders of the Federal Communications Commission.

L.1972,c.186,s.3; amended 1983, c.15, s.2; 1987, c.395, s.1; 2003, c.38, s.3; 2006, c.83, s.2.