Title 58, Public Utilities, Services and Carriers

(A) The Department of Transportation may issue a general continuing permit to each cable television company operating in this State. Upon the reporting by the company of a proposed extension of its cable subject to this chapter and approval of the extension by the department, the…

Whenever the agency charged with the maintenance of such public lands, highways or public roads, or waters of the State deems it necessary to move or remove the poles or underground conduits of such telephone company or electric power company, all cable television cables and appu…

(a) The governing body of each municipality and each county in this State shall have the power and authority to regulate the operation of any cable television system which serves customers within its territorial limits by the issuance of franchise licenses after public notice sho…

As used in this article, the following terms mean: (1)(a) "Cable service" is defined as set forth in 47 U.S.C. Section 522(6). (b) For purposes of Chapter 12, Title 58 only, "cable service" does not include any video programming accessed via a service that enables end users to ac…

(A) Except as provided in Section 58-12-325, a person or entity providing cable service in this State on the effective date of this article under a franchise previously granted by the governing body of a municipality or county is not subject to nor may it avail itself of the stat…

(A) For purposes of this article, a cable service provider is deemed to have or have had a franchise to provide cable service in a specific municipality or unincorporated areas of a county if any predecessor entity of the cable service provider has or, after July 1, 2005, had a c…

At the time any certificate of franchise authority is issued by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State immediately shall post information relating to the certificate, specifically including all municipalities and counties described pursuant to Section 58-12-310(B)(2). At …

(A) Except as otherwise provided in Section 58-12-310, the holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority must pay a municipality or county a franchise fee equal to a specified percentage of the holder's gross revenues received from (1) the provision of cable or vide…

(A) A municipality or county may, upon reasonable written request but no more than once per year and only once with respect to any given period, review the business records of a cable or video service provider to the extent necessary to ensure payment of the franchise fee in acco…

No franchising authority, state agency, or political subdivision of the State may impose any cable system or video service network construction or cable or video service deployment build-out requirements on a holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority.

The holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority must comply with customer service requirements that are no more restrictive than the standards in 47 CFR 76.309(c). The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs must receive complaints from customers of the hold…

(A) Not later than one hundred twenty days after a request by a municipality or county, the holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority shall provide each municipality or county in which it provides cable or video service with capacity in its network to allow PEG …

(A) A cable or video service provider that has been granted a state-issued certificate of franchise authority may not deny access to service to any group of potential residential subscribers because of the income of the residents in the local area in which the group resides. (B) …

Should the holder of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority be found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be in noncompliance with the requirements of this article, the court must order the holder of the state-issued certificate of franchise authority, within a spec…

Nothing in this article affects the ability of a county or municipality to carry out its emergency preparedness responsibilities pursuant to Section 25-1-450(2) or its emergency alert system responsibilities pursuant to 47 CFR Part 11.

Any easement or right-of-way obtained after June 29, 1976, by the State or any political subdivision thereof for the purpose of constructing a highway or public road and any easement or right-of-way obtained by any telephone or electric power company from the owner of any land wh…

(A) The following sections of Article 2, Chapter 12, Title 58 shall apply to a cable or video service provider who has been granted a state-issued certificate of franchise authority under this article: Sections 58-12-20, 58-12-30(d) and (f), 58-12-60, 58-12-70, 58-12-110, and 58-…

(A) Competition between cable television, satellite, and other providers has promoted and continues to promote additional consumer choices for cable service, video service, and similar services, and the technology used to provide these services is not constrained or limited by mu…

Any person erecting or maintaining any such cable in violation of the provisions hereof shall forfeit and pay as a penalty therefor the sum of five dollars per day for each day such default continues after he shall have been given thirty days written notice specifying the default…

(A) Except as provided in subsection (C), a cable or video service provider that uses digital transmission technology to deliver cable or video programming must completely block all video and audio on any channel that a subscriber has not purchased at no charge to the subscriber.…

When a subscriber notifies the cable or video service provider that he wishes to block video and audio and one or more blocked channels are transmitted due to equipment failure of the cable or video service provider, the cable or video service provider that uses digital transmiss…

No cable television company may damage private property on which a utility pole is located without just compensation to the landowner for the damage suffered by the landowner's property.

No cable television company may install underground wires or other underground equipment on private property without the written consent of the property owner. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be…

Any cable television company which shall receive the benefits of operating under the grandfather clauses contained in this chapter shall pay to the county governing body or municipality the same fees as would be charged to a new franchising company by the county or municipality.

All cable television companies operating in the State shall make available one six megahertz channel for the transmissions of the South Carolina Educational Television Commission.