Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 13.1 > Chapter 9 > Article 4 - Purposes and Powers

• Act: means the Communications Act of 1934. See Virginia Code 15.2-2108.19
• Articles of incorporation: means all documents constituting, at any particular time, the charter of a corporation. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Cable operator: means any person or group of persons that (i) provides cable service over a cable system and directly or through one or more affiliates owns a significant interest in such cable system or (ii) otherwise controls or is responsible for, through any arrangement, the management and operation of a cable system. See Virginia Code 15.2-2108.19
• Cable service: means the one-way transmission to subscribers of (i) video programming or (ii) other programming service, and subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for the selection or use of such video programming or other programming service. See Virginia Code 15.2-2108.19
• Cable television service: means (i) the one-way transmission to subscribers of video programming or other programming service; and (ii) subscriber interaction, if any, that is required for the selection or use of the video programming or other programming service. See Virginia Code 15.2-2108.2
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Distribution: means a direct or indirect transfer of cash or other property, except the corporation's own shares, or incurrence of indebtedness by a corporation to or for the benefit of its shareholders in respect of any of its shares. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Document: means (i) any tangible medium on which information is inscribed, and includes handwritten, typed, printed, or similar instruments and copies of such instruments, or (ii) an electronic record. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Employee: includes , unless otherwise provided in the bylaws, an officer but not a director. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Entity: includes any domestic or foreign corporation; any domestic or foreign nonstock corporation; any domestic or foreign unincorporated entity; any estate or trust; and any state, the United States and any foreign government. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Franchise: means an initial authorization, or renewal thereof, issued by a franchising authority, including a locality or the Commonwealth Transportation Board, whether such authorization is designated as a franchise, permit, license, resolution, contract, certificate, agreement, or otherwise, that authorizes the construction or operation of a cable system, a telecommunications system, or other facility in the public rights-of-way. See Virginia Code 15.2-2108.19
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Individual: means a natural person. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Interactive on-demand services: means a service providing video programming to subscribers over switched networks on an on-demand, point-to-point basis, but does not include services providing video programming prescheduled by the programming provider. See Virginia Code 15.2-2108.19
• Interest: means either or both of the following rights under the organic law governing an unincorporated entity:

  1. See Virginia Code 13.1-603

• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• local government: shall be construed to mean a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Ordinance: includes a resolution. See Virginia Code 15.2-2108.19
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes an individual and an entity. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Principal office: means the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, where the principal executive offices of a domestic or foreign corporation are located, or, if there are no such offices, the office, in or out of the Commonwealth, so designated by the board of directors. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Proceeding: includes civil suit and criminal, administrative, and investigatory action. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Record date: means the date fixed for determining the identity of the corporation's shareholders and their shareholdings for purposes of this chapter. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Shareholder: means a record shareholder. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• Shares: means the units into which the proprietary interests in a corporation are divided. See Virginia Code 13.1-603
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• Transfer: means any transaction in which (i) an ownership or other interest in the cable operator is transferred, directly or indirectly, from one person or group of persons to another person or group of persons, so that majority control of the cable operator is transferred; or (ii) the rights and obligations held by the cable operator under the cable franchise granted under this article are transferred or assigned to another person or group of persons. See Virginia Code 15.2-2108.19
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Video programming: means programming provided by, or generally considered comparable to, programming provided by a television broadcast station. See Virginia Code 15.2-2108.19
• written: means any information in the form of a document. See Virginia Code 13.1-603