Sec. 76.971  Commercial leased access terms and conditions.

    (a)(1) Cable operators shall place leased access programmers that 
request access to a tier actually used by most subscribers on any tier 
that has a subscriber penetration of more than 50 percent, unless there 
are technical or other compelling reasons for denying access to such 
tiers.
    (2) Cable operators shall be permitted to make reasonable selections 
when placing leased access channels at specific channel locations. The 
Commission will evaluate disputes involving channel placement on a case-
by-case basis and will consider any evidence that an operator has acted 
unreasonably in this regard.
    (3) On systems with available leased access capacity sufficient to 
satisfy current leased access demand, cable operators shall be required 
to accommodate as expeditiously as possible all leased access requests 
for programming that is not obscene or indecent. On systems with 
insufficient available leased access capacity to satisfy current leased 
access demand, cable operators shall be permitted to select from among 
leased access programmers using objective, content-neutral criteria.
    (4) Cable operators that have not satisfied their statutory leased 
access requirements shall accommodate part-time leased access requests 
as set forth in this paragraph. Cable operators shall not be required to 
accept leases for less than one half-hour of programming. Cable 
operators may accommodate part-time leased access requests by opening 
additional channels for part-time use or providing comparable time slots 
on channels currently carrying leased or non-leased access programming. 
The comparability of time slots shall be determined by objective factors 
such as day of the week, time of day, and audience share. A cable 
operator that is unable to provide a comparable time slot to accommodate 
a part-time programming request shall be required to open an additional 
channel for part-time use unless such operator has at least one channel 
designated for part-time leased access use that is programmed with less 
than 18 hours of part-time leased access programming every day. However, 
regardless of the availability of partially programmed part-time leased 
access channels, a cable operator shall be required to open an 
additional channel to accommodate any request for part-time leased 
access for at least eight contiguous hours, for the same time period 
every day, for at least a year. Once an operator has opened a vacant 
channel to accommodate such a request, our other leased access rules 
apply. If, however, the operator has accommodated such a request on a 
channel already carrying an existing full-time non-leased access 
programmer, the operator does not have to accommodate other part-time 
requests of less than eight hours on that channel until all other 
existing part-time leased access channels are substantially filled with 
leased access programming.
    (b) Cable operators may not apply programming production standards 
to leased access that are any higher than those applied to public, 
educational and governmental access channels.
    (c) Cable operators are required to provide unaffiliated leased 
access users the minimal level of technical support necessary for users 
to present their

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material on the air, and may not unreasonably refuse to cooperate with a 
leased access user in order to prevent that user from obtaining channel 
capacity. Leased access users must reimburse operators for the 
reasonable cost of any technical support actually provided by the 
operator that is beyond that provided for non-leased access programmers 
on the system. A cable operator may charge leased access programmers for 
the use of technical equipment that is provided at no charge for public, 
educational and governmental access programming, provided that the 
operator's franchise agreement requires it to provide the equipment and 
does not preclude such use, and the equipment is not being used for any 
other non-leased access programming. Cable operators that are required 
to purchase technical equipment in order to accommodate a leased access 
programmer shall have the option of either requiring the leased access 
programmer to pay the full purchase price of the equipment, or 
purchasing the equipment and leasing it to the leased access programmer 
at a reasonable rate. Leased access programmers that are required to pay 
the full purchase price of additional equipment shall have all rights of 
ownership associated with the equipment under applicable state and local 
law.
    (d) Cable operators may require reasonable security deposits or 
other assurances from users who are unable to prepay in full for access 
to leased commercial channels. Cable operators may impose reasonable 
insurance requirements on leased access programmers. Cable operators 
shall bear the burden of proof in establishing reasonableness.
    (e) Cable operators may not set terms and conditions for commercial 
leased access use based on content, except:
    (1) To the limited extent necessary to establish a reasonable price 
for the commercial use of designated channel capacity by an unaffiliated 
person; or
    (2) To comply with 47 U.S.C. 532 (h), (j) and Sec. 76.701.
    (f)(1) A cable operator shall provide billing and collection 
services for commercial leased access cable programmers, unless the 
operator demonstrates the existence of third party billing and 
collection services which in terms of cost and accessibility, offer 
leased access programmers an alternative substantially equivalent to 
that offered to comparable non-leased access programmers.
    (2) If an operator can make the showing required in paragraph (f)(1) 
of this section, it must, to the extent technically feasible make 
available data necessary to enable a third party to bill and collect for 
the leased access user.
    (g) Cable operators shall not unreasonably limit the length of 
leased access contracts. The termination provisions of leased access 
contracts shall be commercially reasonable and may not allow operators 
to terminate leased access contracts without a reasonable basis.
    (h) Cable operators may not prohibit the resale of leased access 
capacity to persons unaffiliated with the operator, but may provide in 
their leased access contracts that any sublessees will be subject to the 
non-price terms and conditions that apply to the initial lessee, and 
that, if the capacity is resold, the rate for the capacity shall be the 
maximum permissible rate.

[ 58 FR 29753 , May 21, 1993, as amended at  61 FR 16401 , Apr. 15, 1996;  62 FR 11381 , Mar. 12, 1997]