Court affirms rules on cable access to sports

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the Federal Communications Commission's decision to bar cable operators from blocking access to some sports programming.

The FCC closed a loophole last year that allowed cable companies to deny access to channels delivered via terrestrial ground lines and not satellite feeds. The court denied Cablevision Systems' challenge that the FCC lacked the statutory authority to regulate the withholding of such programming. "We see nothing in the statute that unambiguously precludes the Commission from extending its program access rules to terrestrially delivered programming," the court said. But the court did vacate one part of the order, which the FCC will have to reexamine before any program access complaints can be addressed. The DC Circuit said the agency "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" by concluding that exclusive terrestrial programming contracts are categorically unfair.