Cablevision Systems Corp. v. Federal Communications Commission
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
646 F.3d 695 (2011)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Section 628 of the Communications Act of 1934 prohibited cable operators from engaging in unfair methods of competition with the purpose of preventing other video operators from providing programming to subscribers. Pursuant to this law, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) (defendant) adopted an order extending its program-access rules to cable operators that competed with incumbent cable operators. The FCC found that although competition had increased in the video market, the four biggest cable operators controlled six of the country’s top 20 networks and almost half of the country’s regional sports networks. Under the new rules, incumbent operators could not deny access to their or an affiliate’s programming on a discriminatory basis. Cablevision Systems Corporation (Cablevision) (plaintiff), an incumbent cable operator, filed a petition for review of the order in federal court. Cablevision argued that the order was an unreasonable application of § 628 and violated Cablevision’s First Amendment rights.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Tatel, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.