Appeals Court Stops Leased Access Case

The US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati has stopped the cable industry's legal attack on new leased access rules to accommodate the Federal Communications Commission in the agency's ongoing dispute with the Bush administration's Office of Management and Budget. Last Friday, the court agreed to hold the case "in abeyance." It also ordered the FCC to update the court every 60 days on the status of its problems with OMB. The cable industry is appealing FCC rules to regulate the rates that third-party commercial programmers pay to access cable systems. Large cable operators have to set aside 15 percent or channels for leased access programmers. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association claims on behalf of cable operators that the FCC had imposed a rate structure that produced an illegally low amount of revenue. A few weeks ago, OMB refused to approve the FCC implementing regulations, saying the information collection burdens placed on cable operators violated the Paperwork Reduction Act.