Old Court Defeat Could Help Cable Now

OLD COURT DEFEAT COULD HELP CABLE NOW
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
With the Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Kevin Martin considering new cable-carriage handouts for local TV stations, the cable industry is warning the FCC that it will challenge the rules on both First and Fifth Amendment grounds. Under a plan proposed by FCC Chairman Martin, TV stations that demand cable carriage after the digital television transition could get cable operators to deliver the signals in analog and digital to all cable homes. The few cable systems that are all-digital -- presumably meaning all customers have digital reception on all TV sets -- would be exempt from the dual carriage mandate. The FCC’s Fifth Amendment problem with regard to dual carriage is that federal law bans cable operators from receiving payment from must-carry stations. “A dual-carriage rule would, absent the payment of just compensation to the cable companies, violate the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment,” says law firm Cooper & Kirk. A Fifth Amendment victory for cable could prove expensive for the federal government.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6474371.html