Telecommunications: Digital Equity in Video Franchising Act of 2022.

Existing law, the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006, establishes a procedure for the issuance of state franchises for the provision of video service, defined to include video programming services, cable service, or open-video system service, administered by the Public Utilities Commission. The act provides that the holder of a state franchise is not a public utility as a result of providing video services and does not provide the commission with authority to regulate the rates, terms, and conditions of video service except as explicitly set forth in the act. The act establishes a state franchise fee to be remitted to a local jurisdiction based on the franchiseholder's gross revenues, as defined, derived from the provision of cable or video service within that jurisdiction. The act prohibits a cable operator or video service provider that has been granted a state franchise from discriminating against, or denying 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. The act limits the maximum fine that could be assessed for a violation of the access requirement. This bill would revise and recast the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 to, among other things, (1) rename the act as the Digital Equity in Video Franchising Act of 2022, (2) revise the definition of "gross revenue" for purposes of calculating the franchise fee for a local jurisdiction, (3) require a franchise applicant to submit a description of the households that are known to be unserved in the video service area footprint that is proposed by the applicant, (4) establish the policy of the state that subscribers and potential subscribers of a state video franchiseholder should benefit from equal access, as defined, to service within the service area and prohibit a cable operator or video service provider that has been granted a state franchise from denying equal 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, and (5) repeal the maximum amount of fine that could be assessed for a violation of the equal access requirement.