(a) Upon obtaining the prior approval of the Commission, a cable television company may construct and maintain the wires, cables, and conduits necessary to its business upon, under or over any highway, and may erect and maintain the necessary fixtures, including poles and posts, for sustaining such wires and cables; provided, however, that such wires, cables and fixtures shall be placed or constructed so as not to unreasonably inconvenience public travel on the highway or the use thereof by public utilities or other persons or organizations having rights therein.
(b) Whenever the Commission shall find that public convenience and necessity require the use by a cable television company of the ducts, conduits, poles or other similar equipment, or any part thereof, on, over or under any highway or any right-of-way and belonging to another cable television company or public utility, and that such use will not result in injury to the owner or other users of such equipment or any right-of-way or in any substantial detriment to the service, and that such cable television companies or public utilities have failed to agree upon such use or the terms and conditions or compensation for the same, the Commission may order that such use be permitted and prescribe a reasonable compensation and reasonable terms and conditions for the joint use. If such use is ordered, the cable television company to which the use is permitted shall be liable to the owner or other users of such equipment for such damage as may result therefrom to the property of such owner or other users thereof.
(c) The Commission shall adopt procedures necessary and appropriate to hear and resolve complaints concerning such rates, terms, and conditions. For purposes of enforcing any determinations resulting from complaint procedures established pursuant to this subsection, the Commission shall take such action as it deems appropriate and necessary, including issuing cease and desist orders. For purposes of this section, a rate is just and reasonable if it assures a public utility or cable television company the recovery of not less than the additional costs of providing pole attachments, nor more than an amount determined by multiplying the percentage of the total usable space, or the percentage of the total duct or conduit capacity, which is occupied by the pole attachment by the sum of the operating expenses and actual capital costs of the public utility attributable to the entire pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way. As used in this subsection the term “pole attachment” means any attachment by a cable television system to a pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way owned or controlled by a public utility, and the term “usable space” means the space above minimum grade level which can be used for the attachment of wires, cables, and associated equipment. In establishing and regulating the rates, terms and conditions for pole attachments the Commission shall adopt as its own and follow, with appropriate modifications to reflect territorial rather than federal regulation, the rules and regulations as contained in section 1.1401 through and including 1.1412 of subpart J of part I of the Federal Communications Commission's Rules and Regulations, except for section 1.1402(a) for which the Commission shall substitute section 303(m) of this chapter.
(d) During the pendency of the matter before the Commission, under the complaint procedure established by subsection (c) of this section, or any subsequent legal action related thereto, the public utility or cable television company shall be obligated to continue to abide by and fulfill the terms and conditions of any prior pole attachment agreement, and to maintain and continue its poles and equipment and rights-of-way under the same terms and conditions as existed at the time of the filing of the complaint.
(e) The public utility or cable television company shall process all make ready requests and shall complete all such make ready requests within one hundred and twenty (120) days of its receipt of such requests. All conditions of pole use shall be in accordance with the National Electric Safety Code. The cable television company to which the use is permitted shall be liable to the owner or other users of such equipment for such damage as may result therefrom to the property of such owner or other users thereof.
(f) Any lease, rental or other method of making available facilities of rights-of-way, including pole space, which is in effect on December 28, 1984, shall be submitted to the Commission for approval within 120 days after December 28, 1984, and if such lease or rental or other method is disapproved by the Commission it shall thereupon become void. The terms and conditions including rates and charges to the cable television company, imposed by any public utility or cable television company under any such lease, rental or other method of making available such facilities or rights-of-way, including pole space, to a cable television company shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission in the same manner and to the same extent that rates and charges of public utilities or cable television companies generally are subject to the Commission's jurisdiction by virtue of the appropriate provisions of this title.