Court OKs TV rules opposed by Comcast, Cablevision

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has upheld regulations that require cable TV companies to make channels they own available to satellite TV providers and other rivals on equal terms.

The ruling leaves in place the Federal Communications Commission "program access" rules which prevent cable operators from striking exclusive deals for satellite-delivered programming in which the operator has a financial interest. The court decided that the FCC was reasonable to conclude that the rules were still necessary, but that at the current pace of change in the marketplace, they probably won't be the next time the FCC reviews them. The court essentially concluded that, while the multichannel video marketplace had gotten more competitive, it was not sufficiently so to render arbitrary and capricious the FCC's decision to renew the program access rules for another five years back in 2007.The ruling marks a setback for Cablevision Systems Corp. and Comcast Corp., the cable companies that had challenged the rules in court.