NCTA: FCC Terrestrial Exemption Decision is Arbitrary, Capricious

The cable industry -- notably Cablevision and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association -- continues to fight the Federal Communications Commission's order closing the terrestrial exemption for competitor's access to an operator's co-owned programming.

The exemption had excluded terrestrially delivered cable networks, like many regional sports nets (RSNs), from the FCC's rule mandating access to competing distributors of networks in which a distributor has a financial interest. The FCC ruled back in January that cable operators who do not share their owned terrestrially-delivered regional sports networks with their competitors will be presumed to be in violation of FCC rules against unfair acts or practices.