Cable TV Regulations Appealed : Company Town

Two days before new cable TV rules are to take effect, the industry’s main trade group challenged them in federal court Thursday. The National Cable Television Assn. asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to review the regulations, which are designed to cut rates another 7% on average. The regulations are to take effect Saturday.

The association did not lay out its arguments in the court brief, but it said the Federal Communications Commission’s plan violates the First and Fifth amendments of the Constitution. The association also said the FCC, in writing the rules, overstepped its legal authority. The 1992 Cable Act authorized the FCC to craft cable regulations. In previous arguments, the industry has said the rate regulations affect cable systems’ ability to “publish”--provide entertainment and information programs and services to the public--and constitute a restriction on free speech. The industry also has argued the regulations are confiscatory, violating the Fifth Amendment.

Earlier this month, Time Warner Inc. appealed the rate regulations on the same grounds as those identified by the cable association.

The group’s appeal was expected. It joins challenges to the FCC’s first set of rate regulations. Those rules, issued last year, were intended to cut cable rates by 10%.