FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



FACT SHEET


                                                October 1995

                        CABLE TELEVISION FACT SHEET

                             CABLE HOME WIRING

"Cable home wiring" is the cable wiring located inside a subscriber's home or apartment that
has been installed by a cable operator or its contractor.  It does not include such items as
amplifiers, converters, decoder boxes or remote control units. 

After a subscriber voluntarily terminates cable service, the cable operator may (1) leave the
home wiring in place, or (2) notify the consumer that it will remove the wiring unless the
consumer purchases it from the cable operator on a per-foot, replacement cost basis.

If the wire was previously transferred or sold to the subscriber, the subscriber owns it, and
the cable company cannot remove it or restrict its use, regardless of the reason for service
termination.

If the subscriber does not already own the wiring and declines to purchase it from the cable
operator, the cable operator may remove the home wiring within 30 days of the subscriber's
refusal, but it must do so at no charge to the subscriber, and it must pay the cost of any
damage caused by removing the wire.

To leave the wiring inside and remove the wiring outside the subscriber's home, a cable
operator may, for single unit dwellings, sever the cable approximately 12 inches outside the
point where the cable wire enters the outside wall of the subscriber's home.  For multiple
unit dwellings, the cable operator may sever the wire approximately 12 inches outside the
point where the cable wire enters the subscriber's individual dwelling unit, except in cases of
"loop-through" or other similar series wire configurations which are not covered by the home
wiring rules.

If the cable operator fails to remove the wiring within 30 days of the subscriber's refusal to
purchase it, the cable company forfeits its right to the wire and may not remove it or restrict
its use at any later time.  

A cable operator will not be held responsible for any signal leakage which occurs from the
home wiring once the operator ceases providing service over that wiring.

Petitions for reconsideration of the home wiring rules are currently pending before the
Commission.