Court Throws Out FCC's Cable Subscriber Cap [Telecom]

From Broadcasting and Cable website:

> The U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with Comcast saying the > 30% subscriber limit is "arbitrary and capricious" > By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/28/2009 > Comcast and the cable industry have won a big victory in > court. > The U.S. Court of Appeals Friday threw out the FCC's cap > on the number of cable subscribers one operator can > serve, saying the FCC was "derelict" in not giving DBS > its due as a legitimate competitor. > "We agree with Comcast that the 30% subscriber limit is > arbitrary and capricious. We therefore grant the petition > and vacate the Rule," said the court, which concluded > that there was ample evidence of an increasingly > competitive communications marketplace and that cable did > not have undue control on the programming pipeline." > But FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski suggested the court > decision would not be the last word on the cap.

Rest at

Since I no longer work for, nor subscribe to, any cable TV company, this doesn't affect me. But I suspect that certain other TD readers will have opinions...

Neal McLain

***** Moderator's Note *****

This is probably old hat to those in the industry, but I'm confused: I didn't know there _was_ a limit, nor what it was supposed to accomplish. More details, please.

Bill Horne

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Posted 5 years ago by Neal McLain in General Telecommunications Forum

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