§ 49-33. Compliance required; standards.

A. 

Compliance with construction and technical standards. The grantee shall construct, install, operate and maintain its system in a manner consistent with all laws, local laws, construction standards, governmental requirements, Federal Communications Commission technical standards and detailed technical standards submitted by the grantee as part of the application, which standards are incorporated by reference herein. The system shall be designed, constructed, operated and maintained for twenty-four-hour-a-day continuous operation. The system shall produce, for reception on subscribers' receivers which are in good working order, either monochrome or color pictures (provided that the receiver is color-capable) which are free from any significant interference or distortion which would cause any material degradation of video or audio quality.

B. 

State of the art. The grantee shall construct, install, operate and maintain its system in accordance with the highest standards of the art of cable communications, such standards to include but not be limited to the following:

(1) 

The system will be spaced to permit a minimum of 750 MHz operation and will be capable of utilizing state-of-the-art converters and be compatible with cable-ready television sets.

(2) 

The system will utilize converters which will make the system adaptable for the development of future services.

(3) 

The grantee shall maintain its system facilities in a manner which will continue to enable it to add new services and associated equipment as they are developed, available and proved marketable to subscribers. The new services and associated equipment will be added to the system facilities when they are determined to be technically reliable and adaptable to the system at a cost to the subscriber that is acceptable in the marketplace.

C. 

Prior to the erection of any towers, poles or conduits or the upgrade or rebuild of the cable communications system under this chapter, the grantee shall first submit to the town and other designated parties for approval a concise description of the facilities proposed to be erected or installed, including engineering drawings, if required, together with a map and plans indicating the proposed location of all such facilities. No erection or installation of any tower, pole, underground conduit or fixture or any rebuilds or upgrading of the cable communications system shall be commenced by any person until approval therefor has been received from the town; provided, further, that such approval shall not be unreasonably withheld.

D. 

Contractor qualifications. Any contractor proposed for work of construction, installation, operation, maintenance and repair of system equipment must be properly licensed. In addition, the grantee shall submit to the town a plan to hire persons locally for the construction, installation, operation, maintenance and repair of the system equipment consistent with federal regulations.

E. 

The grantee's system and associated equipment erected by the grantee within the town shall be so located as to cause minimum interference with the proper use of streets, alleys and other public ways and places and to cause minimum interference with the rights and reasonable convenience of property owners who adjoin any of said streets, alleys or other public ways and places. No pole or other fixtures placed in any public ways by the grantee shall be placed in such a manner as to interfere with normal travel on such public way.

F. 

The town does not guarantee the accuracy of any maps showing the horizontal or vertical location of existing substructures. In public rights-of-way, where necessary, the location shall be verified by excavation.

G. 

Construction, installation, operation and maintenance of the cable communications system shall be performed in an orderly and workmanlike manner in accordance with then-current technological standards. All cables and wires shall be installed, where possible, parallel to electric and telephone lines. Multiple cable configurations shall be arranged in parallel and bundled with due respect for engineering considerations.

H. 

The grantee shall at all times comply with:

(1) 

The National Electrical Safety Code (National Bureau of Standards).

(2) 

The National Electrical Code (National Bureau of Fire Underwriters).

(3) 

The Bell System Code of Pole Line Construction.

(4) 

Applicable Federal Communications Commission or other federal, state and local regulations.

(5) 

Standards as set forth in the franchise.

I. 

In any event, the system shall not endanger or interfere with the safety of persons or property in the franchise area or other areas where the grantee may have equipment located.

J. 

Any antenna structure used in the cable communications system shall comply with construction, marking and lighting of antenna structure standards as required by federal and state law or regulation.

K. 

All worker facilities, conditions and procedures that are used during construction, installation, operation and maintenance of the cable system shall comply with the standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

L. 

RF leakage shall be checked at reception location for emergency radio services to prove measurable interference signal combinations are possible. Stray radiation shall be measured adjacent to any proposed aeronautical navigation radio sites to prove no measurable interference to airborne navigational reception in the normal flight pattern. Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations shall govern. The system shall cause no measurable interference in television signal reception to any operating receiver not connected to and serviced by the system.

M. 

The grantee shall maintain equipment capable of providing standby power for a minimum of 24 hours for the head end and three hours for all optical fiber node locations on the distribution system.