§ 9-9. Program content.

(a)

The PAC has designed its policies and facilities so as to encourage high-quality, creative community programming.

(b)

A producer, or user shall indemnify and agree to hold harmless the PAC, the City of Laredo, the local cable company or companies, and their officers and employees against any and all liability arising out of such use of the public access channel or PEG facilities and equipment, or out of any breach of the access program contract, application for cablecast, and/or statement of compliance. This indemnification shall not be an admission of liability nor shall it be for the benefit of third parties.

(c)

Although it is not the intention of the PAC to judge community program quality, the following policies have been established based on certain legal and local considerations.

(d)

Public access programming must not contain:

(1)

Obscene matter, or the use of language which is obscene.

(2)

The direct or indirect presentation of lottery information.

(3)

Advertising, whether in the form of a confined "commercial" or dispersed throughout a program.

(4)

Any direct solicitation of funds.

(5)

Material which constitutes libel, slander, invasion of privacy or publicity rights, unfair competition, violation of trademark or copyright, or incitement to riot, or which violates laws regarding homeland security, public nudity, or any other local, state or federal law. A sponsor or user that engages is any unlawful activity, including, without limitation, slander, libel, incitement to riot, and violation of laws regarding homeland security or public nudity, may be subject to prosecution. The authorization of a given user to use the channel and the cablecast of the programming do not constitute a representation that the use is lawful, or that the city has reviewed the content of the programming.

(6)

Materials which require rights held by broadcast stations, networks, sponsors, music licensing organizations, performers, representatives, copyright holders or other persons for cablecast, unless the producer presents written authorization for the use of any such materials.

(e)

To preserve the non-commercial character of the public access channel, funding sponsors may be acknowledged on the air no more than once during a program, either at the beginning or end.

(1)

An acknowledgement may consist only of a neutral, non-promotional identification of the funding sponsors (for example, "Funding for this program was provided by _______").

(2)

Such acknowledgements may be made audibly and/or visually. If the acknowledgement is visual, donors must be identified by name only, shown on the screen only in plain block letters for no longer than fifteen (15) seconds at the bottom of the screen in type not to exceed one (1) inch in height.

(f)

Submission of programming violating the program content rules defined herein may result in the suspension or forfeiture of privileges of using the public access channel and PEG facilities and equipment.

(g)

The public access media services manager may impose suspension or forfeiture of privileges as referred to in subsections 9-9(f) and 9-12(a) as follows:

(1)

First violation: thirty-day suspension,

(2)

Second violation: ninety-day suspension,

(3)

Third violation: one-year suspension.

(4)

Continued violation of these policies by any user or producer may result in a permanent forfeiture of the privilege of using PAC facilities.

(Ord. No. 2009-O-052, § 2(Exh. A, § 8), 4-6-09)