§ 9:1153. Grant or denial of franchise.

(a)

The committee shall consider the facts and information of the application and the public hearing, together with other facts and information available to the committee demonstrating the following:

(1)
The applicant's legal, financial, technical, and other qualifications to operate the franchise;

(2)
The adequacy and feasibility of the applicant's construction plan;

(3)
The availability of capacity of facilities to install the system;

(4)
The applicant's overall ability to provide viable competitive franchise for the term of the franchise;

(5)
The extent of installation of facilities and equipment of existing cable operators detailing the per-strand-mile density of areas served, unserved areas and the per-strand-mile density of such and the location of the facilities and equipment of the existing operators in the areas for which the applicant is applying;

(6)
The public interest; and

(7)
The extent to which existing operators have installed facilities and equipment in the area.

After consideration of these factors, the committee shall report to the full council its recommendation as to whether to grant or deny the applicant a cable television franchise. No provision of this chapter shall be construed as requiring the committee to recommend that a franchise be granted, or as requiring the city-parish to grant a franchise.

(b)

Not less than thirty (30) days nor more than sixty (60) days after the public hearing, the full council shall receive the report and recommendation of the cable franchise selection committee. The council shall then act upon the application. A failure to receive seven (7) affirmative votes to approve the application shall be considered a denial of the application. In approving an application, the council may alter, amend, or restrict the franchise as necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements and policies of this resolution, FCC rules and regulations, the Cable Communications Act of 1984 (47 U.S.C. 521 et seq.), and any other relevant provision of law and ordinance.

(c)

The rights granted to a franchise to operate a cable television system shall not be exclusive of other applicants or providers of similar services, and the city-parish reserves the right to grant a similar franchise within or without the same designated service area.

(d)

In granting a nonexclusive franchise, the council may require the grantee (successful applicant) to pay to the city-parish, at a specified time, an amount to be determined by the committee or its designee to be used to offset all direct, reasonable costs incurred by the city-parish in granting the franchise, to the extent that those costs are not defrayed by fees forthcoming from the provisions of section 9:1150(d) of this chapter

(e)

The decision of the council concerning selection of franchise applicants and the awarding of a franchise shall be final.

(Ord. No. 9035, § 1, 12-13-89)