U.S. Supreme Court rejected attempt by Time Warner Entertainment ...
U.S. Supreme Court rejected attempt by Time Warner Entertainment (TWE) to challenge constitutionality of law limiting number of cable subscribers that single company could control. Acting without comment Tues., court declined to hear TWE’s appeal of U.S. Appeals Court,…
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D.C., decision last May that unanimously upheld constitutionality of 1992 Cable Act provisions restricting MSOs’ ownership of cable systems and programming (CD May 22 p4). TWE, joint venture of AOL Time Warner and AT&T, argued that law’s subscriber limits and channel occupancy rules violated First Amendment protections of free speech for cable operators. But appeals court said both provisions were content-neutral and advanced important govt. interests. In separate, case now before same appeals court, AOL Time Warner and AT&T are challenging actual 30% subscriber and 40% channel occupancy limits set by FCC under Cable Act. Ruling in that case, in which oral arguments were heard in Oct., is expected soon. Representatives of AOL Time Warner, AT&T and NCTA declined comment. Gene Kimmelman, co-dir. of Consumers Union’s Washington office, called Supreme Court ruling “an important win for consumers” and said it “reaffirms that Congress can challenge the monopolistic practices of cable operators.”