Maine's a la Carte Cable Law Won't Survive Legal Challenge, AEI's Lyons Says
Comcast and programmers will win their legal challenge of a Maine law requiring cable provide channels a la carte (see 1909100041), American Enterprise Institute's Daniel Lyons blogged Tuesday. The Communications Act pre-empts that, and the law raises problems such as…
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that cable companies usually buy content in agreements that spell out how it will be marketed and few programmers make channels available individually, he said. It's problematic the law applies to cable TV but not other MVPDs, he said. Section 544(b)(1) of the Communications Act says franchise authorities can't "establish requirements for video programming," and federal courts have used that section to invalidate franchise authorities trying to dictate particular channels or programs be part of a cable company offering, he noted.