a. A cable franchise authorizes, subject to the city’s supervision and control, a grantee to erect, install, construct, repair, replace, reconstruct, and retain in, on, over, under, upon, across, and along the public streets, including rights-of-way and public easements within a franchise area such wires, cables, conductors, ducts, conduits, vaults, amplifiers, pedestals, attachments and other property and equipment as are necessary and appurtenant to the operation of a cable system for the provision of cable service within a franchise area.

b. A cable franchise shall only confer authority to provide cable services or other services which may be required by a cable franchise agreement in accordance with the Cable Acts. A franchise shall not confer any implicit rights other than those mandated by federal, state or local law.

c. No cable franchise agreement shall be deemed or interpreted to prevent the city from imposing additional conditions, including additional compensation conditions for use of the rights-of-way, should a cable franchise grantee provide service other than cable service as regulated by Title VI of the Communications Act of 1934.

d. A cable franchise is nonexclusive and will not explicitly or implicitly: preclude the issuance of other franchises to operate cable systems within the city; affect the city’s right to authorize use of rights-of-way by other persons for other purposes as it determines appropriate; or affect the city’s right to itself construct, operate or maintain a cable system, with or without a franchise.

e. All cable franchises are intended to convey limited rights and interests only as to those streets in which the city has an actual interest. No cable franchise shall be a warranty of title or interest in any right-of-way; shall not provide any grantee any interest in any particular location within the right-of-way; and shall not confer rights other than as expressly provided in the franchise agreement. No franchise shall deprive the city of any powers, rights or privileges it now has, or may later acquire in the future, to use, perform work on or to regulate the use of and to control the streets covered by a franchise, including without limitation the right to perform work on its roadways, right-of-way or appurtenant drainage facilities, including constructing, altering, paving, widening, grading, or excavating thereof.

f. Unless otherwise provided by franchise agreement, any franchise service area shall be for the territorial limits of the city of Vancouver and for any area henceforth added thereto during the term of the franchise subject to the conditions of RCW 35.13.280.

g. The duration of a cable franchise shall be as specified in the cable franchise agreement.

h. The cable television system shall have such capacity as is set forth in the franchise agreement entered into pursuant to this ordinance.

i. A grantee shall meet the requirements for leased access channels imposed by federal law.

j. A grantee may be required to provide institutional network services as part of a cable system, subject to the terms specified in the franchise, and as authorized by the Cable Acts.

k. A grantee may be required to interconnect its system with adjacent, noncompetitive cable system facilities in the Portland/Vancouver area, if such interconnection is found to be technically and economically feasible, subject to the terms specified in the franchise. (Ord. M-3371, 1998)