18-2201. Legislative declaration; regulatory powers.

342 words·~2 min read·/ne/chapter-18/18-2201

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the furnishing of community antenna television service is a business affected with such a public interest that it must be regulated locally. All municipalities in Nebraska are hereby authorized and empowered, by ordinance, to regulate, prohibit, and consent to the construction, installation, operation, and maintenance within their corporate limits of all persons or entities furnishing community antenna television service. All municipalities, acting through the mayor and city council or village board of trustees, shall have power to require every individual or entity offering such service, subject to reasonable rules and regulations, to furnish any person applying therefor along the lines of its wires, cables, or other conduits, with television and radio service.

The mayor and city council or village board of trustees shall have power to prescribe reasonable quality standards for such service and shall regulate rate increases so as to provide reasonable and compensatory rents or rates for such service including installation charges. In the regulation of rate increases the procedure provided in section 18-2206 shall be used in any franchise granted or renewed after May 23, 1979. Such person or entity furnishing community antenna television service shall be required to carry all broadcast signals as prescribed by franchise and permitted to be carried by Federal Communications Commission regulations during the full period of the broadcast day of its stations.

Any statutory authority the district court might have to review rates under this section is limited only to the matter of rate increases. Plaintiff whose suit is addressed to rates as initially set rather than to an increase thereof has not stated a cause of action under this section. Bard v. Cox Cable of Omaha, Inc., 226 Neb. 880, 416 N.W.2d 4 (1987).

A merely prospective cable television customer has no standing as a ratepayer to seek to void a franchise because of excessive rates, and any complaint about the rates themselves must first be directed to the ratesetting body. Hall v. Cox Cable of Omaha, Inc., 212 Neb. 887, 327 N.W.2d 595 (1982).