                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

ACCESS OF TENANT TO CABLE, SATELLITE, AND OTHER TELEVISION FACILITIES (§
55.1-1222)

No landlord of a multifamily dwelling unit shall demand or accept payment of any
fee, charge, or other thing of value from any provider of cable television
service, cable modem service, satellite master antenna television service,
direct broadcast satellite television service, subscription television service,
or service of any other television programming system in exchange for granting a
television service provider mere access to the landlord&#8217;s tenants or
giving the tenants of such landlord mere access to such service. A landlord may
enter into a service agreement with a television service provider to provide
marketing and other services to the television service provider designed to
facilitate the television service provider&#8217;s delivery of its services.
Under such a service agreement, the television service provider may compensate
the landlord for the reasonable value of the services provided and for the
reasonable value of the landlord&#8217;s property used by the television service
provider.

No landlord shall demand or accept any such payment from any tenants in exchange
for such service unless the landlord is itself the provider of the service, nor
shall any landlord discriminate in rental charges between tenants who receive
any such service and those who do not. Nothing contained in this section shall
prohibit a landlord from (i) requiring that the provider of such service and the
tenant bear the entire cost of the installation, operation, or removal of the
facilities incident to such service or (ii) demanding or accepting reasonable
indemnity or security for any damages caused by such installation, operation, or
removal.

HISTORY: 1982, c. 323, § 55-248.13:2; 2000, c. 760; 2003, cc. 60, 64, 68; 2017,
c. 730; 2019, c. 712.