Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 1332.23 – Video service authorization - video service as cable service

(A) Except as otherwise provided in divisions (B)(1) and (2) of this section, no person shall provide video service in this state on or after September 24, 2007, except pursuant to a video service authorization issued under section 1332.24 of the Revised Code. Nothing in sections 1332.21 to 1332.34 of the Revised Code equates authority to construct and operate telecommunications facilities in a public right-of-way to authority to provide access to video service.
(B)
1. (1)
  1. (a) Subject to division (B)(2) of this section, a person that offers service under a franchise or competitive video service agreement in effect on September 24, 2007, may continue on and after that date to provide service within the franchise area or the respective municipal corporation or unincorporated area of a township pursuant to the terms and conditions of the franchise or agreement. However, no such franchise or agreement shall be renewed or extended beyond the existing term of the franchise or agreement or its earlier termination pursuant to the terms and conditions of the franchise or agreement. With respect to such a franchise or competitive video service agreement but only for the time the franchise or agreement is in effect as provided under divisions (B)(1)(a) and (2) of this section, the authority of a township under sections 505.90 to 505.92 of the Revised Code, as those sections existed on the day before their repeal by Am. Sub. S.B. 117 of the 127th general assembly, shall continue, notwithstanding their repeal by that act.
  2. (b) Any person that is providing video service in this state on September 24, 2007, pursuant to the terms and conditions of an expired franchise or competitive video service agreement, or is otherwise providing video service on that date other than as described in division (B)(1)(a) of this section, has ninety days beginning on September 24, 2007, to file an application for a video service authorization under section 1332.25 of the Revised Code.
2. (2) A person that offers service under a franchise or competitive video service agreement pursuant to division (B)(1)(a) of this section may apply, under any of the following circumstances, under section 1332.25 of the Revised Code for a video service authorization to provide video service within an area served by its video service network on September 24, 2007, under that franchise or agreement:
  1. (a) Not sooner than one hundred twenty days before the expiration or termination of the person's franchise or competitive video service agreement for that area in accordance with its terms and conditions;
  2. (b) After any other person provides or sells video service in that area;
  3. (c) After receiving notice pursuant to division (A) of section 1332.27 of the Revised Code;
  4. (d) After a determination by the federal communications commission under 47 C.F.R. 76.907 that the person is subject in that area to effective competition as defined in 47 C.F.R. 76.905(b). Upon the effective date of a video service authorization obtained by the person under division (B)(2) of this section, the franchise or competitive video service agreement terminates, and no provision of that franchise or agreement is enforceable.
(C) Video service constitutes cable service over a cable system for the purposes of sections 1332.01 to 1332.10 of the Revised Code. For purposes of division (B)(4) of section 4939.05 and divisions (A)(3) and (D)(2) of section 4939.09 of the Revised Code, a municipal corporation that receives a video service provider fee described in section 1332.32 of the Revised Code constitutes a municipal corporation that charges a franchise fee, and a video service authorization described in section 1332.24 of the Revised Code constitutes a franchise between a cable operator and a municipal corporation.