Second Circuit Appeals Court Rejects Cablevision's Must-Carry Challenge

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a must-carry challenge and gave a shout-out to the rule as meant to help TV stations do more than just survive. The court this week rejected Cablevision's challenge to an FCC order requiring carriage of WRNN New York in some Long Island communities under the market-modification provisions of must-carry. In the process, it took an expansive view of the benefits of the must-carry rule, citing the Supreme Court's Turner decision and concluding that it did not mean to limit must-carry to the minimum of replicating a DMA. The FCC had added the communities to WRNN's market for must-carry purposes. Cablevision balked, saying the station was shopping for beachfront property, and took the decision to court. Oral argument was held in April 2008 in what was just the latest in an ongoing tug-of-war between the station and Cablevision over carriage.