Definition.
North Las Vegas Municipal Code § 12.24.020
in effect12.24.020 - Definition.
A. Unless otherwise expressly stated, for the purposes of this chapter words not defined in this section shall be given the meaning set forth in Title 47 of the United States Code, as amended, and, if not defined therein, their common and ordinary meaning.
B. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, words and abbreviations shall have the meanings given in this section, unless otherwise expressly stated.
"Access channel" means any channel on a cable system designated by a cable company for community, educational or governmental use.
"Affiliate" means any person who owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with an entity.
"Agreement" means the written agreement between the City and a cable company, evidencing the City's authorization for a cable company to provide cable service; for companies granted a cable franchise, all uses of the term shall refer to their agreement so styled; for companies granted a cable service permit, all uses of the term shall refer to their agreement so styled.
"Basic service" means any cable service tier which includes the retransmission of local television broadcast signals.
"Business license" means the written authorization required by the City for any person who commences, carries on, engages in or conducts a business, occupation, trade or employment, as delineated in Title 5 of this Code, within the City.
"Cable Act" means Title VI of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. Sections 521 et seq.
"Cable company," "company," or "cable operator" means a natural person, partnership, domestic or foreign corporation, limited-liability company, association, joint venture, or organization of any kind that has been granted a cable franchise or cable service permit by the City.
"Cable franchise" means the nonexclusive right or authorization granted by the City to install, construct, operate and maintain a cable system in the City rights-of-way to provide cable service, and other services allowed by law, to subscribers within all or a specified area of the City, in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in this chapter. Any such authorization, in whatever form granted, shall not mean or include any other license or permit required for the privilege of transacting and carrying on a business within the City as required by the ordinances and laws of the City, or for attaching devices to poles or other structures, whether owned by the City or a private entity, or for excavating or performing other work in or along rights-of-way.
"Cable ordinance" means North Las Vegas Municipal Code Chapter 12.24, as it may be amended from time to time.
"Cable service" means:
1. The one-way transmission to subscribers of video programming or 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.
"Cable service permit" means a nonexclusive authorization for use of City rights-of-way to provide cable service granted to a person:
1. Who holds a franchise granted by the City for purposes other than cable service; or
2. Who utilizes the system of another person.
Any such authorization, in whatever form granted, shall not mean or include any other license or permit required for the privilege of transacting and carrying on a business within the City as required by the ordinances and laws of the City, or for attaching devices to poles or other structures, whether owned by the City or a private entity, or for excavating or performing other work in or along rights-of-way.
"Cable system" or "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 and which is provided to multiple subscribers within the franchising authority, 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 rights-of-way; (3) a facility of a common carrier which is subject, in whole or in part, to the provisions of Title II of the Communications Act, 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; (4) an open video system that complies with 47 U.S.C. Section 573; or (5) any facilities of any electric utility used solely for operating its electric utility system. A reference to a cable system refers to any part thereof, including, without limitation, converters. The foregoing definition of "cable system" shall not be deemed to circumscribe or limit the valid authority of the City to regulate or franchise or permit the activities of any other communications system or provider of communications services to the full extent permitted by law.
"Channel" means a six megahertz (MHz) frequency band, which is capable of carrying either one standard video signal, a number of audio, digital or other nonvideo signals or some combination of such signals.
"Channel equivalent" means the system capacity required to provide the transmission of a video signal, with accompanying audio, that is in digital format and capable of producing sound and picture of NTSC quality or better, based on the technology then in use in the system.
"City" means the City of North Las Vegas, a political subdivision of the State of Nevada, or, as appropriate in the case of specific provisions of this chapter or an agreement, any board, bureau, authority, agency, commission, department of, or any other entity specifically designated by the City to act on behalf of the City, or any officer, official, employee or agent thereof, or any successor thereto. When used in a geographical or territory of jurisdiction context, "City" means the area within the corporate limits of the City.
"City council" or "council" means the City Council of the City of North Las Vegas, State of Nevada, the governing body of the City.
"City Manager" means the City Manager appointed by the City Council to perform such administrative functions of the City government as may be required of him/her by the council, or his/her designee.
"Code" or "this Code" means the official code of all the ordinances of a general and permanent character of the City as may be adopted and amended by the City Council, currently entitled the North Las Vegas Municipal Code.
"Control" means actual working control in whatever manner exercised.
"Converter" means an electronic device which may serve as an interface between a system and a subscriber's television receiver or other terminal equipment, and which may perform a variety of functions, including signal security, descrambling, electronic polling, frequency conversion and channel selection.
"Director of public works" and "City Clerk" mean the City departmental director so named in each case, or his or her designee.
"Educational access channel" or "educational channel" means any channel on a cable system designated by the company for educational use.
"Effective date" means the date upon which the company accepts the cable franchise after it has been approved by the franchising authority.
"Facilities" means antennae, transmitters, poles, wires, cables, conduits, amplifiers, instruments, equipment and other appliances used in connection therewith or appurtenant thereto to provide cable service in the City.
"FCC" means the Federal Communications Commission, its designee, or any successor thereto.
"Franchise" means a cable franchise as defined in this chapter, a franchise as defined in Chapter 12.20 of this Code, or any another franchise granted pursuant to law, as the context so determines.
"Franchise agreement" means a contract entered into between the franchising authority, and a public utility, including a cable company, granting use of public rights-of way to provide subscription services that sets forth the terms and conditions under which the franchise is to be granted and exercised.
"Franchise area" means the entire present territorial limits of the franchising authority and any area annexed thereto during the term of a cable franchise, or any specific area of the City defined in a franchise agreement as being the area encompassed by the franchise agreement.
"Franchising authority" means the City of North Las Vegas, or, as appropriate in the case of specific provisions of this chapter, any board, bureau, authority, agency, commission, department of, or any other entity specifically designated by the City Council to act on behalf of the City, or any officer, official, employee or agent thereof, or any successor thereto.
"Governmental access channel" or "government channel" means any channel on a cable system designated by a cable company for government use.
"Gross revenues" means any and all cash, credits, property or other consideration of any kind or nature arising from, attributable to, or in any way derived directly or indirectly by a cable company, its affiliates, or by any other entity that is a cable operator of the system, from the operation of such cable company's cable system (including the studios and other facilities associated therewith) to provide cable services. Gross revenues shall be calculated and reported based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"). Gross revenues include, by way of illustration and not limitation, monthly fees charged subscribers for any basic, optional, premium, per-channel, per-program service or cable programming service; installation, disconnection, reconnection and change-in-service fees; leased channel fees and any other fees from lease or license of the system for cable services; late fees and administrative fees; revenues from rentals or sales of converters or other equipment; studio rental, production equipment and personnel fees for programming carried on the system; advertising revenues; barter; revenues from program guides; revenues from home shopping and bank-at-home channels; and (to the extent permitted by applicable law) revenues from Internet services provided using the cable system. Gross revenues shall include an allocated portion of any revenue derived by the company or its affiliates pursuant to any regional, national or international compensation arrangement for any service or activity derived from the operation of the system in the service area, e.g., advertising. Such an allocation shall be based on the number of subscribers in the service area divided by the total number of subscribers relevant to such regional or national arrangements. Gross revenues shall not include any bad debt, provided, however, that all or any part of any such actual bad debt that is written off but subsequently collected shall be included in gross revenues in the period collected. Gross revenues shall not include any taxes on services furnished by a cable company which are imposed directly on any subscriber or user by the state, City or other governmental unit and which are collected by a cable company on behalf of such governmental unit. A cable franchise fee or cable service permit fee is not such a tax. Gross revenues shall exclude any net amount actually paid by a company to a programmer for pay or premium channels (i.e., video programming offered on a per-channel or per-program basis as those terms are applied in federal law).
"Installation" means the connection of system services to subscribers' television receivers or other subscriber owned or provided terminal equipment.
"Leased access channel" or "commercial access channel" means any channel on a cable system designated for use by a person unaffiliated with the cable company.
"Normal business hours" means those hours during which most similar businesses in the community are open to serve customers, including some evening hours at least one night per week and/or some weekend hours.
"Normal operating conditions" means those service conditions that are within the reasonable control of a cable company. Conditions that are not within the reasonable control of a cable company include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages and telephone network outages. Conditions that are within the reasonable control of a cable company include, but are not limited to, special promotions, pay-per-view events, rate increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods, and maintenance or upgrade of a cable system.
"Outage" means a service interruption affecting all subscribers that are served by any single node of the system that facilitates the provision of cable service to subscribers within a discrete area within the service area.
"Person" means any natural person, including the estate of a natural person, or any association, firm, partnership, joint venture, corporation, limited-liability company or other legally recognized entity, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, but such term does not include the City.
"Premium service" means any cable service offered on a per-channel, per-program or per-view basis.
"Public access channel" or "community access channel" means any channel on a cable system set aside by a cable company for use by the general public, including groups and individuals, and which is available for such use on a nondiscriminatory basis under the terms and conditions set forth by an agency established by interlocal agreement for oversight of such access.
"Public improvements" means any improvement for roadways and pavements, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, landscaping, street lights, foundations, poles and traffic signal conduits, water mains, sanitary and storm sewers, tunnels, subways, people movers, viaducts, bridges, monorails, underpasses and overpasses, or other public facilities across, along, over or under any rights-of-way, or other such improvements which are to be used by the general public.
"Right-of-way" or "rights-of-way" means public property, including air space, which is dedicated to, granted to, or held or prescriptively used by the City for public street purposes.
"Service area" means an area within the City specified in an agreement wherein a cable company is authorized to provide cable services.
"Service interruption" means loss of picture or sound on one or more channels, or degradation of picture or sound beyond permissible levels as defined by applicable law, caused by the system.
"Street" means the surface, the air space above the surface and the area below the surface of the full width of the rights-of-way, including sidewalks and thoroughfares, alleys, places or ways of any kind used by the public or open to the public as a matter of right for the purposes of vehicular traffic or vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
"Subscriber" means any person lawfully receiving any cable service provided by the company by means of or in connection with its cable system, whether or not a fee is paid for such cable service.
"System upgrade" means a major improvement or enhancement in the technology or service capabilities made by a cable company to its cable system.
"Transfer" means:
1. Any transaction in which:
a. Any ownership or other right, title or interest of more than five percent in a cable company or its cable system is transferred, sold, assigned, leased, sublet or mortgaged, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part; or
b. There is any change or transfer of control of a cable company or cable system; or
c. The rights and/or obligations held by a cable company under its cable franchise or cable service permit are transferred, directly or indirectly, to another party; or
d. Any change or substitution occurs in the managing general partners of a cable company, where applicable; or
e. A cable company, or its corporate parents at any level, enters into any transaction that materially increases the debt that is to be borne by the cable system directly or indirectly, in a manner that will adversely affect subscribers.
2. A rebuttable presumption that a transfer of control has occurred shall arise upon the acquisition or accumulation of five percent or more of the ownership of an entity by any person or group of persons acting in concert, none of whom already own or control fifty (50) percent or more of such right or control, singularly or collectively.
3. The cable company is responsible for ensuring that the intent of this chapter regarding transfers is carried out. If for any reason an event occurs that would require the City's approval of a transfer pursuant to this chapter, whether or not such event is directly or indirectly within the cable company's control, such event shall constitute a transfer for purposes of this chapter and any applicable law.
"User" means a person or organization using a channel or equipment and facilities for purposes of producing or transmitting material, as contrasted with the receipt thereof in the capacity of a subscriber.
(Ord. 1312 § 1 (part), 1999)
Source: City of North Las Vegas, Nevada, Municipal Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/nv/north_las_vegas/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT12STSIPUPL_CH12.24CACORECO_12.24.020DEFetched: 11/1/2026