New Jersey § 48:5a-3

§ 48:5a-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.