Sec. 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.

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    (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. If a cable system adopts such an 
increased charge, the cable system must notify all subscribers in 
writing that they may be subject to such a charge for changing service 
tiers more than the specified number of times in any twelve month 
period.
    (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.