§ 76.980 - Charges for customer changes.

§ 76.980 Charges for customer changes.

(a) This section shall govern charges for any changes in service tiers or equipment provided to the subscriber that are initiated at the request of a subscriber after initial service installation.

(b) The charge for customer changes in service tiers effected solely by coded entry on a computer terminal or by other similarly simple methods shall be a nominal amount, not exceeding actual costs, as defined in paragraph (c) of this section.

(c) The charge for customers changes in service tiers or equipment that involve more than coded entry on a computer or other similarly simple method shall be based on actual cost. The actual cost charge shall be either the HSC, as defined in Section 76.923 of the rules, multiplied by the number of persons hours needed to implement the change, or the HSC multiplied by the average number of persons hours involved in implementing customer changes.

(d) A cable operator may establish a higher charge for changes effected solely by coded entry on a computer terminal or by other similarly simple methods, subject to approval by the franchising authority, for a subscriber changing service tiers more than two times in a twelve month period, except for such changes ordered in response to a change in price or channel line-up.

(e) Downgrade charges that are the same as, or lower than, upgrade charges are evidence of the reasonableness of such downgrade charges.

(f) For 30 days after notice of retiering or rate increases, a customer may obtain changes in service tiers at no additional charge.

Note 1 to § 76.980:

Cable operators must also notify subscribers of potential charges for customer service changes, as provided in § 76.1604.

[58 FR 29753, May 21, 1993, as amended at 65 FR 53617, Sept. 5, 2000]