Court Frees Cable-TV Firms of Obligation to Carry Local Channels

In a major victory for the cable-television industry, an appeals court Friday overturned longstanding federal regulations that require cable systems to carry the signals of all major broadcast stations in their communities.

A three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the current requirements, known as “must-carry rules,” are “fundamentally at odds” with the Constitution’s free speech guarantees.

The rules, imposed by the Federal Communications Commission in the mid-1960s as part of its effort to protect commercial broadcasters as the cable-TV industry expanded, have been vigorously opposed by cable operators on practical and constitutional grounds.

They argue that the rules limit their ability to serve subscribers with outside programming by forcing them to dedicate too many of their channels to local stations. While cable systems in many metropolitan areas now offer subscribers dozens of channels, smaller systems are far more limited.

In a 59-page decision, the appeals court said the “must-carry” rules “profoundly affect values that lie near the heart” of the First Amendment.

Unreached Audience

“They favor one group of speakers over another. They severely impinge on editorial discretion,” Judge J. Skelly Wright wrote for the panel. “And, most importantly, if a system’s channel capacity is substantially or completely occupied by mandatory signals, the rules prevent cable programmers from reaching their intended audience.”

The court said the commission was free to rewrite the rules “in a manner more sensitive to the First Amendment.”

Representatives of the cable industry hailed the court’s decision as a “grand-slam” victory; commercial broadcasters vowed to fight it.

James P. Mooney, president of the National Cable Television Assn., said the rules ran directly counter to the interests of consumers because they forced cable systems “to deny cable programming that our subscribers want.”

The appeals court, he said, “has forged a vital link in the growing chain of decisions establishing cable’s status as a First Amendment speaker and electronic publisher.”

Brian P. Lamb, president of C-SPAN, which provides public affairs programming to cable stations, said the ruling “creates an opportunity for cable industry-originated programming to be seen by millions more Americans.”

But Edward O. Fritts, president of the National Assn. of Broadcasters, said the decision “will have a major impact on the free over-the-air system of broadcasting in this country” if allowed to stand.

Decision Being Studied

“Must-carry assured that all viewers would receive local television signals, including local news and public affairs programming,” he said.

“The fact that cable systems can now pick and choose what local signals the public can see is a blow to the localized system of broadcasting in this nation.”

FCC spokesman Maureen Peratino said the agency was studying the decision and declined further comment.

The three-judge ruling combined two separate legal challenges.

In one, Turner Broadcasting System of Atlanta complained that, as a program supplier of such programming as Cable News Network, it was unable to reach cable stations that were forced to carry local signals.

In the second case, Quincy Cable Television Inc., a 12-channel system in Quincy, Wash., filed suit after the FCC fined it $5,000 for attempting to delete several Spokane stations from its selection.