Ruling: Michigan Cities Can Still Prevent Migration Of PEG Channels

Judge Victoria Roberts of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division has ruled that Michigan cities will be able to continue to prevent the migration of their public, educational and government channels into the 900-channel area at least until the Federal Communications Commission sets policy on the treatment of such channels. In a dispute between Comcast and a number of cities, Judge Roberts ruled that when there is a conflict between state and federal law, the state is preempted and federal law specifies that local franchisees can regulate PEG channels. However, she offered, many other issues raised in the suit are not addressed by federal law. The cities have specific language in community franchises that bar the movement of PEG channels without the prior permission of the local franchising authority; or language that bars extra charges to subscribers in order to receive PEG programming.