CABLE/VIDEO OUTAGE CREDITS

Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB2698

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB2698

Introduced 2/6/2025, by Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

220 ILCS 5/13-520 new
220 ILCS 5/13-521 new

Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that every cable or video
provider operating in the State shall issue a prorated bill credit to
consumers for any service outage lasting more than one hour. Provides that
the credit shall be calculated based on the consumer's monthly service
rate, prorated for the duration of the outage, and that the credit shall be
automatically applied to the consumer's next billing cycle without
requiring any action or request from the consumer. Requires cable or video
providers to notify consumers of the outage and the applied credit within
24 hours after the restoration of service. Provides that internet
providers and cable or video providers shall maintain records of all
outages and corresponding bill credits issued for a minimum period of 3
years. Provides that the records shall be made available to the Illinois
Commerce Commission upon request for the purpose of ensuring compliance
with the Act. Provides that any cable or video provider that fails to issue
the required bill credits in accordance with the outage provisions shall
be subject to penalties as determined by the Commission. Provides that,
if, due to a contract dispute, a cable or video provider will not be
providing a consumer with a channel for which the consumer has been or will
be billed, the cable or video provider shall, within 10 days after the
cable or video provider knows that the contract dispute will result in the
loss of the channel, provide each affected consumer with notice that the
channel will not be provided due to a contract dispute. Provides that, if a
cable or video provider does not provide a consumer with a channel for
which the consumer has been billed, then the cable or video provider shall
credit the consumer an amount equal to the percentage of the consumer's
bill that the channel represents multiplied by the consumer's monthly
service rate, which shall be prorated for each hour that the consumer was
not provided with that channel due to a contract dispute. Requires that the
credit be applied on the statement issued to the consumer for the next
monthly billing cycle.
LRB104 09290 AAS 19348 b

A BILL FOR

HB2698
LRB104 09290 AAS 19348 b
1

AN ACT concerning regulation.

2

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3
represented in the General Assembly:

4

Section 5.
The Public Utilities Act is amended by adding
5
Sections 13-520 and 13-521 as follows:

6

(220 ILCS 5/13-520 new)
7

Sec. 13-520.
Prorated bill credits for internet, cable or
8
video service outages.

9

(a) As used in this Section:
10

"Broadband Internet" means lines or wireless channels that
11
terminate at an end user's location and enable the end user to
12
receive a minimum service level of 25 megabits per second
13
download speed and 3 megabits per second upload speed.
14

"Cable or video provider" means any person or entity
15
providing cable service or video service pursuant to
16
authorization under (i) the Cable and Video Competition Law of
17
2007; (ii) Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois Municipal Code;
18
(iii) Section 5-1095 of the Counties Code; or (iv) a master
19
antenna television, satellite master antenna television,
20
direct broadcast satellite, multipoint distribution services,
21
and other providers of video programming, whatever their
22
technology. "Cable or video provider" does not include a
23
landlord providing only broadcast video programming to a

HB2698
- 2 -
LRB104 09290 AAS 19348 b
1
single-family home or other residential dwelling consisting of
2
4 units or less.
3

"Consumer" means any person or entity that purchases cable
4
or video service for personal or business use.
5

"Internet provider" means a provider of broadband Internet
6
in this State.
7

"Outage" means any period of time during which a
8
consumer's internet, cable, or video service is unavailable,
9
excluding scheduled maintenance periods of which the consumer
10
has been notified at least 24 hours in advance.
11

(b) Every internet provider and cable or video provider
12
operating in this State shall issue a prorated bill credit to
13
consumers for any service outage lasting more than one hour.
14
This credit shall be calculated based on the consumer's
15
monthly service rate, prorated for the duration of the outage.
16
This credit shall be automatically applied to the consumer's
17
next billing cycle without requiring any action or request
18
from the consumer. Internet providers and cable or video
19
providers shall notify consumers of the outage and the applied
20
credit within 24 hours after the restoration of service.
21

(c) Internet providers and cable or video providers shall
22
maintain records of all outages and corresponding bill credits
23
issued for a minimum period of 3 years. Those records shall be
24
made available to the Illinois Commerce Commission upon
25
request for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this
26
Section.

HB2698
- 3 -
LRB104 09290 AAS 19348 b
1

(d) Any Internet provider or cable or video provider that
2
fails to issue the required bill credits in accordance with
3
this Section shall be subject to penalties, including, but not
4
limited to, fines, as determined by the Illinois Commerce
5
Commission.

6

(220 ILCS 5/13-521 new)
7

Sec. 13-521.
Contract disputes; notice; credit.

8

(a) As used in this Section:
9

"Broadband Internet" means lines or wireless channels that
10
terminate at an end user's location and enable the end user to
11
receive a minimum service level of 25 megabits per second
12
download speed and 3 megabits per second upload speed.
13

"Cable or video provider" means any person or entity
14
providing cable service or video service pursuant to
15
authorization under (i) the Cable and Video Competition Law of
16
2007; (ii) Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois Municipal Code;
17
(iii) Section 5-1095 of the Counties Code; or (iv) a master
18
antenna television, satellite master antenna television,
19
direct broadcast satellite, multipoint distribution services,
20
and other providers of video programming, whatever their
21
technology. "Cable or video provider" does not include a
22
landlord providing only broadcast video programming to a
23
single-family home or other residential dwelling consisting of
24
4 units or less.
25

"Consumer" means any person or entity that purchases cable

HB2698
- 4 -
LRB104 09290 AAS 19348 b
1
or video service for personal or business use.
2

"Internet provider" means a provider of broadband Internet
3
in this State.
4

(b) If, due to a contract dispute, an Internet provider or
5
a cable or video provider will not be providing a consumer with
6
a channel for which the consumer has been or will be billed,
7
the Internet provider or the cable or video provider shall,
8
within 10 days after the provider knows that the contract
9
dispute will result in the loss of the channel, provide each
10
affected consumer with notice that the channel will not be
11
provided due to a contract dispute. If an Internet provider or
12
a cable or video provider does not provide a consumer with a
13
channel for which the consumer has been billed, then the
14
provider shall credit the consumer an amount equal to the
15
percentage of the consumer's bill that the channel represents
16
multiplied by the consumer's monthly service rate, which shall
17
be prorated for each hour that the consumer was not provided
18
with that channel due to a contract dispute. The credit shall
19
be applied on the statement issued to the consumer for the next
20
monthly billing cycle. This Section applies to any channel
21
regardless of whether it is a local, a regional, or a paid
22
channel and regardless of whether the customer is billed
23
separately for the channel.

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