§ 45:1366 — Franchise fee

A. The holder of a certificate may be required, pursuant to an ordinance adopted by the local governmental subdivision, to pay a franchise fee equal to a specified percentage of such holder's gross revenues received from the provision of cable service or video service to subscribers located within the municipality or unincorporated areas of the parish and from advertising disseminated through cable service or video service and home shopping services as allocated under Subsection D of this Section. The fee shall not exceed five percent of the holder's gross revenues. The fee shall be uniformly applied to all holders of a state-issued certificate of franchise authority within the local governmental subdivision. The local governmental subdivision shall provide a copy of the enabling ordinance to the holder of a certificate as a condition to receiving any franchise fee payments. As a condition precedent to a certificate holder's obligation to pay a franchise fee established or changed pursuant to this Section, the local governmental subdivision shall provide each certificate holder with a copy of each rate change notification at least forty-five days in advance of the effective date of the rate change.
B. The holder of a certificate shall pay to the local governmental subdivision quarterly the aggregate amount of the franchise fees payable under this Section. Each payment shall be made within forty-five days after the end of the preceding quarter for which payment is being made and shall be accompanied by a statement showing the certificate holder's gross revenues attributable to the local governmental subdivision for that quarter.
C. Any supporting statements shall be confidential and exempt from disclosure as proprietary and trade secret information under any provision of state law.
D. The amount of a cable service provider's or video service provider's non-subscriber revenues from advertising disseminated through cable service or video service and home shopping services that is allocable to a local governmental subdivision is equal to the total amount of the cable service provider's or video service provider's revenue received from such advertising and home shopping services multiplied by the ratio of the number of subscribers in such municipality or in the unincorporated area of such parish on the preceding January first to the total number of subscribers receiving cable service or video service from the cable service provider or video service provider on that date.
E. The holder of a certificate may designate that portion of a subscriber's bill attributable to any franchise fee imposed pursuant to this Chapter and recover such amount from the subscriber as a separate line item on the bill.
F. No local governmental subdivision shall levy any tax, license, fee, or other assessment on a cable service provider or video service provider for or in connection with the use of public rights of way other than the franchise fee authorized by this Section or fee authorized by R.S. 45:1370 or a cable franchise fee or other fee imposed upon a cable service provider or video service provider in an existing franchise prior to August 15, 2008. No local governmental subdivision shall levy any other tax, license, fee, or other assessment on a cable service provider or video service provider or its subscribers, which is not generally imposed and applicable to a majority of all other businesses. Nothing in this Subsection shall restrict the right of any local governmental subdivision to impose ad valorem taxes, service fees, sales taxes, or other taxes and fees lawfully imposed on other businesses within such local governmental subdivision.
G. The certificate franchise fee authorized by this Section shall be in lieu of any permit fee, encroachment fee, degradation fee, inspection fee, or other fee assessed by a local governmental subdivision on a certificate holder for occupation of or work within its public rights of way.

Legislative History

Acts 2008, No. 433, §1.