The Cable Television Franchise is regulated by Gardena Municipal Code Chapter 5.20 and the corresponding franchise agreement with the cable television service provider. It is unlawful for any person to construct, install or operate a cable system in the city within any public way without a properly granted franchise awarded pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.

A franchise granted by the City shall encompass the following purposes:

• To permit the grantee to engage in the business of providing cable service, and such other services as may be permitted by law that grantee provides to subscribers within the designated service area;
• To permit the grantee to erect, install, construct, repair, rebuild, reconstruct, replace, maintain, and retain, cable lines, related electronic equipment, supporting structures, appurtenances, and other property in connection with the operation of the cable system in, on, over, under, upon, along and across streets or other public places within the designated service area;
• To permit the grantee to maintain and operate said franchise properties for the origination, reception, transmission, amplification, and distribution of television and radio signals and for the delivery of cable services, and such other services as may be permitted by law;
• To set forth the obligations of the grantee under the franchise.

Any franchise granted pursuant to this chapter shall be nonexclusive. The grantor specifically reserves the right to grant, at any time, such additional franchises for a cable system, as it deems appropriate, subject to applicable state and federal law, provided that if the grantor grants an additional franchise, then the material provisions of any such additional franchise shall be reasonably comparable to the terms and conditions contained in the initial grantee’s franchise, so that all grantees are accorded competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory treatment.

Any person desiring an initial franchise for a cable system shall file an application with the City. A reasonable nonrefundable initial application fee established by the City shall accompany the initial franchise application to cover all validly documented reasonable costs associated with processing and reviewing the application, including without limitation costs of administrative review, financial, legal and technical evaluation of the applicant, consultants (including technical and legal experts and all costs incurred by such experts), notice and publication requirements with respect to the consideration of the application and document preparation expenses. In the event such validly documented reasonable costs exceed the application fee, the selected applicant(s) shall pay the difference to the City within thirty days following receipt of an itemized statement of such costs.