Illinois Compiled Statutes
220 ILCS 5/ - Public Utilities Act.
Article XXII - Cable and Video Customer Protection Law

(220 ILCS 5/Art. XXII heading)

(220 ILCS 5/22-501)
Sec. 22-501. Customer service and privacy protection. All cable or video providers in this State shall comply with the following customer service requirements and privacy protections. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to an incumbent cable operator prior to January 1, 2008. For purposes of this paragraph, an incumbent cable operator means a person or entity that provided cable services in a particular area under a franchise agreement with a local unit of government pursuant to Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois

Municipal Code or Section 5-1095 of the Counties Code on January 1, 2007.
A master antenna television, satellite master antenna television, direct broadcast satellite, multipoint distribution service, and other provider of video programming shall only be subject to the provisions of this Article to the extent permitted by federal law.
The following definitions apply to the terms used in this Article:
"Basic cable or video service" means any service offering or tier that
includes the retransmission of local television broadcast signals.
"Cable or video provider" means any person or entity providing cable service or video service pursuant to authorization under (i) the Cable and Video Competition Law of 2007; (ii) Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois Municipal Code; (iii) Section 5-1095 of the Counties Code; or (iv) a master antenna television, satellite master antenna television, direct broadcast satellite, multipoint distribution services, and other providers of video programming, whatever their technology. A cable or video provider shall not include a landlord providing only broadcast video programming to a single-family home or other residential dwelling consisting of 4
units or less.
"Franchise" has the same meaning as found in 47 U.S.C. 522(9).
"Local unit of government" means a city, village, incorporated town, or a county.
"Normal business hours" means those hours during which most similar businesses in the geographic area of the local unit of government are open to serve customers. In all cases, "normal business hours" must include some evening hours at least one night per week or some weekend hours.
"Normal operating conditions" means those service conditions that are within the control of cable or video providers. Those conditions that are not within the control of cable or video providers include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages, telephone network outages, and severe or unusual weather conditions. Those conditions that are ordinarily within the control of cable or video providers include, but are not limited to, special promotions, pay-per-view events, rate increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods, and maintenance or upgrade of the cable service or video service network.
"Service interruption" means the loss of picture or sound on one or more cable service or video service on one or more cable or video channels.
"Service line drop" means the point of connection between a premises and the cable or video network that enables the premises to receive cable service or video service.
(a) General customer service standards:
(b) General customer service obligations:
(c) Bills, payment, and termination:
(d) Response to customer inquiries:
(e) Under normal operating conditions, each of the following standards related to installations, outages, and service calls will be met no less than 95% of the time measured on a quarterly basis:
(f) Public benefit obligation:
(g) After the cable or video providers have offered service for one year, the cable or video providers shall make an annual report to the Commission, to the local unit of government, and to the Attorney General that it is meeting the standards specified in this Article, identifying the number of complaints it received over the prior year in the State and specifying the number of complaints related to each of the following: (1) billing, charges, refunds, and credits; (2) installation or termination of service; (3) quality of service and repair; (4) programming; and (5) miscellaneous complaints that do not fall within these categories.
(h) To the extent consistent with federal law, cable or video providers shall offer the lowest-cost basic cable or video service as a stand-alone service to residential customers at reasonable rates. Cable or video providers shall not require the subscription to any service other than the lowest-cost basic service or to any telecommunications or information service, as a condition of access to cable or video service, including programming offered on a per channel or per program basis. Cable or video providers shall not discriminate between subscribers to the lowest-cost basic service, subscribers to other cable services or video services, and other subscribers with regard to the rates charged for cable or video programming offered on a per channel or per program basis.
(i) To the extent consistent with federal law, cable or video providers shall ensure that charges for changes in the subscriber's selection of services or equipment shall be based on the cost of such change and shall not exceed nominal amounts when the system's configuration permits changes in service tier selection to be effected solely by coded entry on a computer terminal or by other similarly simple method.
(j) To the extent consistent with federal law, cable or video providers shall have a rate structure for the provision of cable or video service that is uniform throughout the area within the boundaries of the local unit of government. This subsection (j) is not intended to prohibit bulk discounts to multiple dwelling units or to prohibit reasonable discounts to senior citizens or other economically disadvantaged groups.
(k) To the extent consistent with federal law, cable or video providers shall not charge a subscriber for any service or equipment that the subscriber has not affirmatively requested or affirmatively agreed to by name. For purposes of this subsection (k), a subscriber's failure to refuse a cable or video provider's proposal to provide service or equipment shall not be deemed to be an affirmative request for such service or equipment.
(l) No contract or service agreement containing an early termination clause offering residential cable or video services or any bundle including such services shall be for a term longer than 2 years. Any contract or service offering with a term of service that contains an early termination fee shall limit the early termination fee to not more than the value of any additional goods or services provided with the cable or video services, the amount of the discount reflected in the price for cable services or video services for the period during which the consumer benefited from the discount, or a declining fee based on the remainder of the contract term.
(m) Cable or video providers shall not discriminate in the provision of services for the hearing and visually impaired, and shall comply with the accessibility requirements of 47 U.S.C. 613. Cable or video providers shall deliver and pick-up or provide customers with pre-paid shipping and packaging for the return of converters and other necessary equipment at the home of customers with disabilities. Cable or video providers shall provide free use of a converter or remote control unit to mobility impaired customers.
(n)(1) To the extent consistent with federal law, cable or video providers shall comply with the provisions of 47 U.S.C. 532(h) and (j). The cable or video providers shall not exercise any editorial control over any video programming provided pursuant to this Section, or in any other way consider the content of such programming, except that a cable or video provider may refuse to transmit any leased access program or portion of a leased access program that
contains obscenity, indecency, or nudity and may consider such content to the minimum extent necessary to establish a reasonable price for the commercial use of designated channel capacity by an unaffiliated person. This subsection (n) shall permit cable or video providers to enforce prospectively a written and published policy of prohibiting programming that the cable or video provider reasonably believes describes or depicts sexual or excretory activities or organs in a patently offensive manner as measured by contemporary community standards.
(o) Cable or video providers will maintain a listing, specific to the level of street address, of the areas where its cable or video services are available. Customers who inquire about purchasing cable or video service shall be informed about whether the cable or video provider's cable or video services are currently available to them at their specific location.
(p) Cable or video providers shall not disclose the name, address, telephone number or other personally identifying information of a cable service or video service customer to be used in mailing lists or to be used for other commercial purposes not reasonably related to the conduct of its business unless the cable or video provider has provided to the customer a notice, separately or included in any other customer service notice, that clearly and conspicuously describes the customer's ability to prohibit the disclosure. Cable or video providers shall provide an address and telephone number for a customer to use without a toll charge to prevent disclosure of the customer's name and address in mailing lists or for other commercial purposes not reasonably related to the conduct of its business to other businesses or affiliates of the cable or video provider. Cable or video providers shall comply with the consumer privacy requirements of Section 26-4.5 of the Criminal Code of 2012, the Restricted Call Registry Act, and 47 U.S.C. 551 that are in effect as of June 30, 2007 (the effective date of Public Act 95-9)
and as amended thereafter.
(q) Cable or video providers shall implement an informal process for handling inquiries from local units of government and customers concerning billing issues, service issues, privacy concerns, and other consumer complaints. In the event that an issue is not resolved through this informal process, a local unit of government or the customer may request nonbinding mediation with the cable or video provider, with each party to bear its own costs of such mediation. Selection of the mediator will be by mutual agreement, and preference will be given to mediation services that do not charge the consumer for their services. In the event that the informal process does not produce a satisfactory result to the customer or the local unit of government, enforcement may be pursued as provided in subdivision (4) of subsection (r) of this Section.
(r) The Attorney General and the local unit of government may enforce all of the customer service and privacy protection standards of this Section with respect to complaints received from residents within the local unit of government's jurisdiction, but it may not adopt or seek to enforce any additional or different customer service or performance standards under any other authority or provision of law.
(s) Cable or video providers shall credit customers for violations in the amounts stated herein. The credits shall be applied on the statement issued to the customer for the next monthly billing cycle following the violation or following the discovery of the violation. Cable or video providers are responsible for providing the credits described herein and the customer is under no obligation to request the credit. If the customer is no longer taking service from the cable or video provider, the credit amount will be refunded to the customer by check within 30 days of the termination of service. A local unit of government may, by ordinance, adopt a schedule of credits payable directly to customers for breach of the customer service standards and obligations contained in this Article, provided the schedule of customer credits applies on a competitively neutral basis to all providers of cable service or video service in the local unit of government's jurisdiction and the credits are not greater than the credits provided in this Section.
(t) The enforcement powers granted to the Attorney General in Article XXI of this
Act shall apply to this Article, except that the Attorney General may not seek penalties for violation of this Article
other than in the amounts specified herein. Nothing in this Section shall limit or affect the powers of the Attorney General to enforce the provisions of Article XXI
of this
Act or the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
(u) This Article
applies to all cable and video providers in the State, including but not limited to those operating under a local franchise as that term is used in 47 U.S.C. 522(9), those operating under authorization pursuant to Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois Municipal Code, those operating under authorization pursuant to Section 5-1095 of the Counties Code, and those operating under a State-issued authorization pursuant to Article XXI of this
Act.

(Source: P.A. 97-1108, eff. 1-1-13; 97-1150, eff. 1-25-13; 98-45, eff. 6-28-13.)

(220 ILCS 5/22-502)
Sec. 22-502. The provisions of this Article are a limitation of home rule powers under subsection (h) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution.

(Source: P.A. 95-9, eff. 6-30-07; 95-876, eff. 8-21-08.)

(220 ILCS 5/22-503)
Sec. 22-503. The provisions of this Article are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.

(Source: P.A. 95-9, eff. 6-30-07; 95-876, eff. 8-21-08.)