The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should not...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should not stay the FCC’s recent order allowing its so-called viewability rules to expire this year, the commission said in a reply brief filed with the court. NAB, Agape Church and…
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other broadcasters appealed the order and asked the court to stay it pending judicial review (CD Aug 3 p5). “The FCC’s decision to permit the viewability rule to sunset is based on a reasonable interpretation of the statute and the ordinary meaning of the term ‘viewable,'” the commission said in its brief. “That term is reasonably understood to be satisfied if a provider makes programming watchable by an effective means,” including with equipment like a set-top box, the commission said. Furthermore, the broadcasters’ claims that they will suffer irreparable harm are based “on speculative assertions regarding loss of subscribership and advertising that are unsupported by the record and in conflict with FCC findings,” the commission said. But viewers of must-carry stations, particularly low-income viewers, will suffer without a stay of the order, the National Hispanic Media Coalition said in a response in support of the broadcasters’ stay motion filed with the court. The court “should view with great skepticism cable operators’ First Amendment arguments, since the since the viewability rules, and the must-carry rules which they implement, are content neutral,” the coalition said.