§  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]