Connecticut § 16-333 - Regulations: Safety of operations, facility construction, system installation, community access channel, personal privacy protections, carriage of television broadcast signals, subscriber inquiries and complaints.

§ 16-333. Regulations: Safety of operations, facility construction, system installation, community access channel, personal privacy protections, carriage of television broadcast signals, subscriber inquiries and complaints.

Sec. 16-333. Regulations: Safety of operations, facility construction, system installation, community access channel, personal privacy protections, carriage of television broadcast signals, subscriber inquiries and complaints. (a) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority may issue orders and regulations governing safety of operations of community antenna television systems.

(b) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 to: (1) Establish minimum construction and extension requirements for underground community antenna television facilities in areas where underground facilities of other public utilities already exist; (2) establish technical standards of performance for the installation of community antenna television systems, including standards for the drilling of holes and the location of such holes in buildings to be served.

(c) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 requiring each community antenna television company to maintain at least one specially designated, noncommercial community access channel available to the public and establishing minimum standards for the equipment supplied by such company for the community access programming and requirements concerning the availability and operation of such channel.

(d) The authority shall, not later than March 1, 1984, adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 (1) establishing personal privacy protections for community antenna television subscribers, including, but not limited to, standards for the types of individually identifiable data that a community antenna television company may collect on its subscribers, (2) requiring each such company to notify each of its subscribers of such privacy protections, and (3) prohibiting each company from disclosing such data without the prior approval of the subscriber. The authority shall incorporate the provisions of such regulations in each new or existing certificate of public convenience and necessity issued under section 16-331.

(e) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 incorporating the provisions of Subpart D of 47 CFR 76 in effect on January 1, 1983, and applying to community antenna television companies.

(f) The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall adopt regulations (1) establishing procedures to be followed by community antenna television companies in responding to subscriber inquiries and complaints, and (2) establishing standards, based on the number of subscriber complaints to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority concerning service provided by a community antenna television company, under which the authority shall impose civil penalties on the company or initiate proceedings for the revocation of the company's franchise, provided nothing herein shall limit the authority of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority under sections 16-10a and 16-41.

(g) The standards and procedures adopted pursuant to this section, subsection (d) of section 16-331, section 16-333f, subsection (a) of section 16-333i and sections 16-333k to 16-333m, inclusive, shall be minimum standards of performance for community antenna television companies and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority may adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 establishing higher standards of performance.

(1963, P.A. 425, S. 5; P.A. 75-486, S. 1, 69; P.A. 77-614, S. 162, 610; P.A. 79-533, S. 3; P.A. 80-82; 80-482, S. 4, 40, 162, 345, 348; P.A. 83-33, S. 1, 2; 83-80, S. 1, 2; P.A. 84-240, S. 2, 4; 84-546, S. 50, 173; P.A. 88-202, S. 2; P.A. 94-22, S. 2; P.A. 98-121, S. 5; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 75-486 replaced public utilities commission with public utilities control authority; P.A. 77-614 replaced authority with division of public utility control within the department of business regulation, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 79-533 added Subsec. (b) re regulation of community antenna television systems; P.A. 80-82 added Subsec. (c) re maintenance of public access channels; P.A. 80-482 made division of public utility control an independent department and deleted reference to abolished department of business regulation; P.A. 83-33 added Subsec. (d), requiring department to adopt regulations re personal privacy protections; P.A. 83-80 was added editorially by the Revisors as Subsec. (e) re incorporation of federal regulations re carriage of television broadcast signals; P.A. 84-240 added Subsec. (f) re inquiries and complaints by subscribers and notices to subscribers; P.A. 84-546 confirmed action of the Revisors in adding P.A. 83-80, S. 1 as Subsec. (e); P.A. 88-202 deleted the provisions of Subsec. (f) detailing matters to be addressed in regulations re subscriber inquiries and complaints and specifying information to be included with bills, i.e. company's telephone number, DPUC's consumer assistance number and procedures when service is interrupted and added Subsec. (g) which allows the department of public utility control to set higher standards of performance; P.A. 94-22 changed “public access” to “community access” for consistency of reference in Subsec. (c); P.A. 98-121 made technical changes to Subsec. (g); pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Department of Public Utility Control” and “department” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “Public Utilities Regulatory Authority” and “authority”, respectively, effective July 1, 2011.