§ 4.1-1. Definitions.

As used in this ordinance, the following terms, phrases, words, and derivations shall have the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory. Words not defined shall be given their common and ordinary meaning.

(a)

Act .....shall mean the Federal Communications Act of 1934, as amended.

(b)

Affiliate .....shall mean another person who owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with, such person.

(c)

Applicable law .....shall mean the Act, the Virginia Act, and such state and federal laws and rules and county ordinances as may govern the construction, operation, and maintenance of a cable system.

(d)

Cable operator .....shall mean Charter Communications VI, LLC, d/b/a Charter Communications.

(e)

Cable service .....orServicemeans the one-way transmission to subscribers of (i) video programming or (ii) other programming service, and subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for the selection or use of such video programming or other programming service. Cable service does not include any video programming provided by a commercial mobile service provider defined in 47 U.S.C. § 332(d) and as amended in the Act.

(f)

Cable system .....orcable television systemorsystemmeans any facility consisting of a set of closed transmission paths and associated signal generation, reception, and control equipment that is designed to provide cable service that includes video programming and that is provided to multiple subscribers within a community, except that such definition shall not include:

(i)

A system that serves fewer than twenty subscribers;

(ii)

A facility that serves only to retransmit the television signals of one or more television broadcast stations;

(iii)

A facility that serves only subscribers without using any public right-of-way;

(iv)

A facility of a common carrier that is subject, in whole or in part, to the provisions of Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., except that such facility shall be considered a cable 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;

(v)

Any facilities of any electric utility used solely for operating its electric systems; or

(vi)

An open video system that complies with § 653 of Title VI of the Act, and as amended.

(g)

Confidential information .....orconfidentialityshall mean such information or disclosures made to county by cable operator where pursuant to applicable open records and data practices law in the Virginia Code Ann., included in Section l4(a), shall not be publicly disclosed.

(h)

County .....shall mean Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

(i)

Force majeure .....shall mean an event or events reasonably beyond the ability of the cable operator to anticipate and control. "Force majeure" includes, but is not limited to, acts of God, incidences of terrorism, war or riots, labor strikes or civil disturbances, floods, earthquakes, fire, explosions, epidemics, hurricanes, tornadoes, governmental actions and restrictions, work delays caused by waiting for utility providers to service or monitor or provide access to utility poles to which the cable operator's facilities are attached or to be attached or conduits in which the cable operator's facilities are located or to be located, and unavailability of materials or qualified labor to perform the work necessary.

(j)

Franchise .....shall mean a renewal authorization, issued by the county for the construction, operation, and maintenance of a cable system in the public rights-of-way.

(k)

Franchise area .....shall mean the geographical boundaries of the county, except any separate lawful municipal jurisdictions located therein and as legally changed from time to time during the time of the franchise granted hereunder that separately franchises cable service within its jurisdiction, and subject to the limitations set forth in subsection (4)(b)1., below.

(l)

Limited basic cable service .....means the service tier that includes (i) the retransmission of local television broadcast channels and (ii) public, educational, and governmental channels. As of the date of this ordinance this means analog channels 2—19, 21, 22 and 95.

(m)

Ordinance .....shall mean this ordinance granting a franchise to the cable operator pursuant to federal, Virginia or other applicable law.

(n)

PEG access channels .....shall mean the availability of bandwidth on a cable system for public, education or government use by various agencies, institutions, organizations, groups, and individuals, including the county and its designated access providers, to acquire, create, and distribute noncommercial programming not under a cable operator's editorial control.

(o)

PEG capital fee .....means a recurring fee paid by a cable operator to support the capital costs of PEG access facilities.

(p)

Public rights-of-way .....shall mean the surface, the airspace above the surface and the area below the surface of any public street, highway, lane, path, alley, sidewalk, boulevard, or drive, including public utility easements or rights-of-way, and any temporary or permanent fixtures or improvements located thereon, now or hereafter held by the state, county or any person which may entitle the county and a cable operator to the use thereof for the pw-pose of installing, operating, repairing and maintaining a cable system.

(q)

State .....means the State of Virginia.

(r)

Subscriber .....shall mean the county or any person who is lawfully receiving, for any purpose or reason, any cable service from the cable operator, subject to the payment terms agreed upon with the cable operator.

(s)

Transfer .....shall mean any transaction in which (i) an ownership or other interest in the cable operator is transferred, directly or indirectly, from one person or group of persons to another person or group of persons, so that a majority of actual working control of the cable operator, in whatever manner exercised, is transferred; or (ii) the rights and obligations held by the cable operator under the cable franchise granted under this ordinance are transferred or assigned to another person or group of persons. However, notwithstanding clauses (i) and (ii) of the preceding sentence, a transfer of the cable franchise shall not include (a) transfer of an ownership or other interest in the cable operator to the parent of the cable operator or to another affiliate of the cable operator; (b) transfer of an interest in the cable franchise granted under this ordinance or the rights held by the cable operator under the cable franchise granted under this ordinance to the parent of the cable operator or to another affiliate of the cable operator; (c) any action that is the result of a merger of the parent of the cable operator; (d) any action that is the result of a merger of another affiliate of the cable operator; or (e) a transfer in trust, by mortgage, by other hypothecation, or by assignment of any rights, title, or interest of the cable operator in the cable franchise or the system used to provide cable in order to secure indebtedness.

(t)

Virginia Act .....means Va. Code Ann. § 15.2-2108.19, et seq., as amended. (Ord. No. 2011-22-C, 11-15-11.)