Court upholds heart of Cable Act; Time Warner vows to appeal but is pleased that three provisions are found unconstitutional. (Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992)

Broadcasting & Cable, September, 1993 by Jessell, Harry A.

Rejecting the cable industry claim to the First Amendment's top rank, a federal judge last Thursday upheld the government's right to regulate cable rates and programing distribution and TV stations' right to demand compensation from cable systems that carry their signals. But in affirming the three key provisions of the 1992 Cable Act--rate regulation, program access and retransmission consent--and several others, U.S.

District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson also struck down three as violations of the First Amendment. The provisions found unconstitutional were those capping the size of cable operators, prohibiting pay cable networks from offering unscrambled previews containing R-rated films and requiring satellite broadcasters (DBS) to carry a...

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