Cablevision Asks Supreme Court To Review Constitutionality Of Must-Carry

As promised, Cablevision has asked the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the must-carry rules, which require cable operators to carry local broadcast stations.

Cablevision pointed out in its filing that even more than a decade ago, the Supreme Court's decisions -- two of them -- upholding must-carry was razor thin. The cable operator said that in the intervening years "the factual underpinnings of those decisions have evaporated." What was once a cable monopoly, Cablevision conceded to the court, "has been replaced by vibrant competition." Rather than being an MVPD bottleneck, Cablevision suggested, the market has been reshaped into a wide-necked vase in which all flowers can bloom. The rationale for the Turner decisions has been gutted, according to the company, while the FCC continues to subsume cable's editorial judgment. The commission has even expanded the rules to cover conduct that would not even be covered by the Turner rationale even if it were still relevant, the company said.