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 Sutter County
 Code of Ordinances
 Appendix 1000. FRANCHISES
 SubChapter 500. SMALL SYSTEM FRANCHISES

  § 1060-517. OPERATIONAL STANDARDS  

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  • The CATV system shall be installed and maintained in accordance with the highest and best accepted standards of the CATV industry, to the effect that subscribers shall receive the highest quality service technically possible. In determining the satisfactory extent of such standards, the following, among others, shall be considered as minimum requirements for the CATV system:

    (a)

    The system shall be installed using all band equipment capable of passing the entire VHF television and FM broadcast spectrum (i.e., no less than 50 to 300 MHz, including the so-called mid-band region); and, further, it shall have the capability of converting the UHF television broadcasting range to channels between 50 to 300 MHz for distribution to subscribers, and must at a minimum, be capable of passing 35 video signals.

    (b)

    Signals shall be transmitted from the antenna origination point to all subscriber tapoff points, regardless of location on the distribution portion of the system, without the introduction of any noticeable degradation of color fidelity, picture intelligence, or audio distortion. Color phase shift introduced by system components between the off-the-air receiving antennas and the customer tapoff shall not exceed two degrees under any circumstances, on a cumulative basis.

    (c)

    The system and all equipment in the system shall be rated for continuous 24 hours per day operation.

    (d)

    The system shall provide a signal level of not less than 2,000 micro volts, as measured across 72 ohms at the subscriber's television received, on the highest channel, by frequency, carried by the system and not less than 1,500 micro volts on the lowest channel, by frequency, carried on the system to all color television receivers connected to the system. No channels shall exceed the highest and lowest values for the highest and lowest channels by more than .5 decibel for more than 50% of the time.

    (e)

    The system shall provide equivalent service levels of not less than 1,500 microvolt on the highest channel and not less than 1,000 microvolt on the lowest channel (both as measured across the 72 ohm drop cable) to all black and white receivers connected to the system.

    (f)

    The system shall provide a minimum signal of not less than 200 micro volts on the lowest intensity FM channel (as measured at the customer service drop terminal point) delivered, and a maximum signal intensity of not more than three decibels greater level than the lowest intensity FM channel delivered by the cable (i.e., all FM channels carried by the system shall be flat to within three decibels from the lowest and highest FM channels carried, and the lowest of these shall be not lower than 200 micro volts across 72 ohms).

    (g)

    The system design and operation shall exhibit a signal plus noise to noise ratio of not less than forty (40) decibels as measured at the extremities of all trunk and customer distribution lines covering the franchise area.

    (h)

    Hum modulation of the picture (video) carrier shall not exceed 5% at any point in the system.

    (i)

    All active components in the system shall have a VSWR not to exceed 1.5 to 1; all passive devices in the system shall have input, output, and return losses of not less than 20 decibels.

    (j)

    The system shall maintain a minimum video carrier to aural carrier ratio of 15 decibels and a maximum video carrier to aural carrier ratio of 18 decibels for all television channels. such video carrier to aural carrier relationship shall be established in such a manner that the color subcarrier, if present, to video carrier relationship shall not be degraded below its as-received off-the-air ration by more than .25 decibel.

    (k)

    Carriage of so-called local channels shall be accomplished in such a way that these channels, as delivered to the system subscribers, if delivered on-channel, shall be at least 57 decibels stronger, as measured at the customer receiver tuner input terminals, than any stray direct pickup from these channels. If this is not possible, channel conversion of these stations shall be made to utilize other regular VHF channels, mid-band, or octave channels for the delivery of these stations to the customers' receivers.

    (l)

    The system shall be designed in such a way that twenty-channel operation is possible at the outset, utilizing either mid-band frequencies for cable carriage of one or more channels. It shall be demonstrated that such carriage is possible in the County without introduction into the cable television lines of direct pickup from radio services operating in the mid-band region, which would tend to interfere with the carriage of one or more proposed television channels in this frequency range.

    (m)

    If the octave-frequency grouping method of providing spectrum space for additional channels (more than the 12 regular VHF channels) is utilized, it shall be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the County Administrative Officer that such equipment is operational and available for delivery.

    (n)

    The CATV system shall be installed and maintained in accordance with the engineering report of the Television Allocation Study Organization (TASO). The master antenna to be installed for the CATV system shall be located where the signal strength of the television stations to be received shall not be less than 55 micro volts per meter for low band channels (2 through 6) and shall not be less than 800 micro volts for high-band channels (7 through 13) for at least 50% of the time.