Sec. 76.944  Commission review of franchising authority decisions on 
          rates for the basic service tier and associated equipment.

    (a) The Commission shall be the sole forum for appeals of decisions 
by franchising authorities on rates for the

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basic service tier or associated equipment involving whether or not a 
franchising authority has acted consistently with the Cable Act or 
Secs. 76.922 and 76.923. Appeals of ratemaking decisions by franchising 
authorities that do not depend upon determining whether a franchising 
authority has acted consistently with the Cable Act or Secs. 76.922 and 
76.923, may be heard in state or local courts.
    (b) Any participant at the franchising authority level in a 
ratemaking proceeding may file an appeal of the franchising authority's 
decision with the Commission within 30 days of release of the text of 
the franchising authority's decision as computed under Sec. 1.4(b) of 
this chapter. Appeals shall be served on the franchising authority or 
other authority that issued the rate decision. Where the state is the 
appropriate decisionmaking authority, the state shall forward a copy of 
the appeal to the appropriate local official(s). Oppositions may be 
filed within 15 days after the appeals is filed, and must be served on 
the party(ies) appealing the rate decision. Replies may be filed 7 days 
after the last day for oppositions and shall be served on the parties to 
the proceeding.
    (c) An operator that uses the annual rate adjustment method under 
Section 76.922(e) may include in its next true up under Section 
76.922(e)(3) any amounts to which the operator would have been entitled 
but for a franchising authority decision that is not upheld on appeal.

[ 58 FR 29753 , May 21, 1993, as amended at  59 FR 17974 , Apr. 15, 1994;  60 FR 52121 , Oct. 5, 1995]

    Effective Date Note: At  60 FR 52121 , Oct. 5, 1995, in Sec. 76.944, 
paragraph (c) was added. Paragraph (c) contains information collection 
and recordkeeping requirements and will not become effective until 30 
days after approval has been given by the Office of Management and 
Budget.