§ A210-15. Transfer of ownership.

A. 

No transfer of effective ownership or control of the cable system shall take place, whether by forced or voluntary sale, lease, mortgage, assignment, encumbrance or any other form of disposition, without prior notice to and approval by the Borough Council. The Council shall receive an application for transfer at least 60 days prior to the proposed transfer, and the notice shall include full particulars of the proposed transfer. Sixty days following receipt of an application for transfer and following a properly noticed public hearing, of which the grantee and the proposed assignee(s) or transferee(s) shall be given 10 days' written notice and at which they shall be entitled to present evidence, the Council shall act to approve or disapprove, by resolution, the proposed transaction stating therein the basis for its decision. The sixty-day period may be extended by the Council, if necessary, to include at least two regularly scheduled Council meetings. If the Council fails to act within the sixty-day period or any extension thereof, such transfer shall be deemed approved. Council approval or disapproval of the requested transfer shall be based on a determination of whether or not the proposed transferee(s) possesses the character, legal, financial and technical qualifications to operate a cable system and whether the quality of service to be expected from the proposed transferee(s) would be satisfactory to meet the needs of the subscribers. The following conditions must be met prior to the grantee's application for approval of transfer:

(1) 

The grantee's franchise fees or any pro rata portion thereof must be paid in full.

(2) 

All personal property taxes and other assessments levied by federal, state or local government must be paid in full or suitable provisions made for securing the same.

(3) 

All violations of this ordinance must be corrected or waived by Council resolution.

(4) 

The grantee shall pay to the Borough a nonrefundable transfer fee in the amount of $100 to be submitted with the application for approval of transfer.

B. 

For the purpose of this section, a "transfer of effective ownership or control" shall be taken to mean and include the acquisition, within any consecutive period of 36 months, of not more than 10% interest in the grantee's voting stock, franchise, plant, equipment or other property used in the conduct of the business, but such definition shall not include:

(1) 

A pledge or hypothecation or mortgage or similar instrument transferring conditional ownership in all or part of the system's assets to a lender or creditor in the ordinary course of business so long as the lender does not thereby acquire the right to control the system's operations, but no such transfer or conditional title can be made absolute without prior approval of the Council;

(2) 

The disposition of facilities or equipment no longer required in the conduct of business; or

(3) 

Transfer of limited partnership interests in instances where the grantee is a limited partnership, provided that there is no change of or transfer of control in the general partner or general partnership interests.