§ 53-C:6 — Installation of Cable Television in Manufactured Housing Parks

I. A cable television operator who affixes or causes to be affixed cable television facilities to the dwelling of a tenant in a manufactured housing park shall:
(a) Do so at no cost to the landlord of such manufactured housing park.
(b) Indemnify the landlord for damages, if any, arising from the installation or the continued operation thereof or both.
(c) Not interfere with the safety, functioning, appearance, or use of the manufactured housing park, nor with the rules and regulations of the owner dealing with the day-to-day operations of the property, including the owner's reasonable access rules for soliciting business.
II. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a landlord from contracting with the cable television operator for work in addition to standard installation.
III. No cable television operator shall enter into any agreement with persons owning, leasing, controlling, or managing a manufactured housing park served by a cable television system or perform any act which would directly or indirectly diminish or interfere with the rights of any tenant to use a master or individual antenna system.
IV. A cable television operator shall obtain the landlord's consent to affix cable television system facilities to a privately owned utility pole within the manufactured housing park by delivery to the owner, in person or by certified mail, return receipt requested, of a copy of this section and a signed statement that the cable television operator will be bound by the terms of this section to the owner or lawful agent of the property upon which the cable television system facilities are to be affixed.
V. The cable television operator shall present and review with the owner prior to any installation, plans and specifications for the installation, and shall abide by reasonable installation requests by the owner. The cable television operator shall inspect the premises with the owner after installation to insure conformance with the plans and specifications. The owner may waive in writing the prior presentation of the plans and specifications. The cable television operator shall be responsible for the maintenance of any equipment installed on the owner's premises and shall be entitled to reasonable access for maintenance. The cable television operator shall also, prior to any installation, provide, upon the request of the owner, a certificate of insurance covering all the employees or agents of the installer or cable television operator as well as all equipment of the operator.
VI. If the owner of any privately owned utility pole intends to require the payment of any sum in excess of a nominal amount, defined as the amount paid by the cable television operator to utility companies for installation of similar facilities on their poles, in exchange for permitting the installation of cable television system facilities to the privately owned utility pole, the owner shall notify the cable television operator by certified mail, return receipt requested, within 20 days of the date on which the owner is notified that the cable television operator intends to install cable television system facilities on the privately owned utility pole within the manufactured housing park. Absent such notice, it shall be conclusively presumed that the owner shall not require payment in excess of the nominal amount specified in this section for the connection.
VII. If the owner gives notice, the owner shall, within 30 days after giving notice, advise the cable television operator in writing of the amount the owner claims as compensation for affixing cable television system facilities to his or her privately owned utility pole. If within 30 days after receipt of the owner's claim for compensation, the cable television operator has not agreed to accept the owner's demand, the owner may bring an action in the superior court for the county in which the real estate is located to enforce the owner's claim for compensation. The action shall be brought within 6 months of the date on which the owner first made a demand upon the cable television operator for compensation.
VIII. It shall be presumed that reasonable compensation shall be the nominal amount, but the presumption may be rebutted and overcome by evidence that the owner has a specific alternative use for the space occupied by cable television system facilities or equipment, the loss of which shall result in a monetary loss to the owner, or that installation of cable television system facilities or equipment upon the privately owned utility pole will otherwise substantially interfere with the use and occupancy of the pole to an extent which causes a decrease in the resale or rental value of the real estate. In determining the damages to any real estate injured when no part of it is being taken, consideration is to be given only to such injury as is special and peculiar to the real estate, and there shall be deducted therefrom the amount of any benefit to the real estate by reason of the installation of cable television system facilities.
IX. The foregoing steps to claim or enforce a demand for compensation in excess of the nominal amount shall not impair or delay the right of the cable television operator to install, maintain, or remove cable television system facilities to a tenant's dwelling on the real estate. The superior court shall have original jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this section.
X. In addition to other remedies allowed by law, a manufactured housing park owner may be assessed by a district court a civil penalty of $500 and other reasonable damages for discriminating in rental charges or other charges to tenants based on the tenants' subscription to a cable television service or for demanding or accepting payment, except as provided in this section, for the affixing of cable television facilities to a privately owned utility pole within the manufactured housing park.

Legislative History

2007, 197:2, eff. July 1, 2007.