Leased Access Rules Change Indefensible, LAPA Says
The cable industry continues "to whine, bitch, moan and complain like little children" about the supposed burden of cable leased access rules yet "happily" takes money for providing that leased access, said the Leased Access Programmers Association (LAPA) in a…
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docket 07-42 posting Tuesday. Cable operators say leased access rules violate their First Amendment rights, but the Constitution doesn't give "the right to big business to control what the media may choose to disseminate or not to disseminate to the American public," LAPA said. It said the FCC's eliminating the requirement cable operators offer leased access on a part-time basis (see 1906060029) leaves most programmers without options since they can't afford to pay for a full-time channel. It said cable operators never presented evidence they were losing money by offering part-time access.