Chapter 166A

Section 1. The following terms as used in this chapter shall, unless the context requires otherwise, have the following meanings:— ''Community antenna television system'' or ''CATV system'', a facility as defined by federal law at 47 USC section 522 (7). ''CATV operator'' or ''Op…

Section 10. Complaints by any person as to the operation of any CATV system may be filed in writing with the department or with the issuing authority, each of which shall within ten days forward copies of such complaints to the other. The issuing authority and the department shal…

Section 11. Any license issued hereunder may after hearing be revoked by the issuing authority or the department for any of the following reasons:— (a) for false or misleading statements in, or material omissions from any application submitted under section four, five, or any ann…

Section 12. The department shall have the right to institute, or to intervene as a party in, any action in any court of competent jurisdiction seeking mandamus, injunctive or other relief to compel compliance with any provision of this chapter or any rule, regulation or order ado…

Section 13. Any license issued hereunder may be renewed after hearing by the issuing authority for additional periods each not to exceed ten years. An application for renewal shall be on forms to be prescribed by the department. Such forms shall set forth such facts as the depart…

Section 14. Any applicant for a license or renewal of a license who is aggrieved by a denial of its application by the issuing authority or by its failure to act within the period of sixty days, or any licensee who is aggrieved by the action of an issuing authority in modifying, …

Section 15. For a period of three years from the effective date of this chapter, the department shall study the necessity and desirability of rate regulation, and thereafter it may, upon its own motion or upon request of any issuing authority or licensee, after due hearing and in…

Section 16. The department may after hearing issue such standards and regulations as it deems appropriate to carry out the purpose of this chapter for which purpose it may employ such expert assistants as it deems necessary. The department shall have the authority to mediate betw…

Section 17. The department or its employees may visit the places of business and other premises and examine the records and facilities of all CATV companies to ascertain if all rules and regulations and orders of the department have been complied with, and any cases of non-compli…

Section 18. Any person or the officer, agent, or employee of any organization who willfully violates any provision of this chapter or of any rule, regulation, or order adopted thereunder, or who willfully procures, aids, or abets any violation of such a provision shall be punishe…

Section 19. The hearing provided for in sections eleven, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen shall be subject to the provisions of chapter thirty A. No other hearing provided for or required by any section of this chapter shall be subject to chapter thirty A but all such hearings shall…

Section 2. There shall be within the department of telecommunications and cable a division of community antenna television. Subject to section 4 of chapter 25C, the commissioner of the department shall have all the powers and duties under this chapter including, but not limited t…

Section 20. Any city or town may construct, purchase and operate a CATV system, but such operation shall be subject to this chapter as if the system were privately owned and operated.

Section 22. No operator shall enter into any agreement with persons owning, leasing, controlling or managing buildings served by a CATV system, or perform any act, that would directly or indirectly diminish or interfere with existing rights of any tenant or other occupant of such…

Section 2A. The commissioner shall preside at all hearings except as hereinafter provided. The consumer's council shall have the authority to represent the people of the commonwealth in all such hearings and shall be deemed an aggrieved party for the purposes of judicial or admin…

Section 3. No person shall construct, commence construction, or operate a CATV system in any city or town by means of wires and cables of its own or of any other person, without first obtaining as herein provided a written license from each city or town in which such wires or cab…

Section 4. No such license or renewal thereof shall be issued except upon written application to the appropriate issuing authority on an application form prescribed by the department. Such form shall contain such information as the division may prescribe as to the citizenship and…

Section 5. In the event a license is issued, each licensee shall agree to the following: (a) In installing, operating, and maintaining equipment, cable and wires, it shall avoid all unnecessary damage and injury to trees, structures, and improvements in and along the routes autho…

Section 6. No license issued under section three shall be granted until the issuing authority has held a public hearing thereon, first causing notice of the time and place of such hearing and of the subject matter sufficient for identification, to be published in a newspaper of g…

Section 7. No license or control thereof shall be transferred or assigned without the prior written consent of the issuing authority, which consent shall not be arbitrarily or unreasonably withheld. Such consent shall be given only after a hearing upon a written application there…

Section 8. Each licensee shall install its CATV system and maintain the quality of the signals transmitted over its system to its subscribers in accordance with standards to be prescribed by the Federal Communications Commission and the department. Each licensee shall file annual…

Section 9. No application for a license to operate a CATV system or for renewal, transfer or assignment of such a license shall be considered by an issuing authority unless it is accompanied by an application fee of one hundred dollars payable to the city or town. A licensee, ser…