Law Commons^™

Deplatformed: Social Network Censorship, The First Amendment, And The Argument To Amend Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act, John A. Lonigro

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Antitrust Analysis Of Sports League Contracts With Cable Networks, Stephen Ross

Stephen F Ross

This Article discusses the proper antitrust treatment of package sales to cable. Part I considers whether the antitrust laws apply at all to such sales; it concludes that section one of the Sherman Act does apply and that neither the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 not baseball's historic exemption from the antitrust laws prevents antitrust scrutiny of these contracts. Part II explains why cable package sales should be analyzed under a rule of reason test focused on the effect of a sale on fan viewership. Finally, Part III responds to several possible objections to the rule of reason standard proposed …

Keeping Pace: The U.S. Supreme Court And Evolving Technology, Brian Thomas

Politics Summer Fellows

Contemporary mainstream discussions of the Supreme Court are often qualified with the warning that the nine justices are out of touch with everyday American life, especially when it comes to the newest and most popular technologies. For instance, during oral argument for City of Ontario v. Quon, a 2010 case that dealt with sexting on government-issued devices, Chief Justice John Roberts famously asked what the difference was “between email and a pager,” and Justice Antonin Scalia wondered if the “spicy little conversations” held via text message could be printed and distributed. While these comments have garnered a great deal of …

Pole Position: National Cable & Telecommunications Ass'n V. Gulf Power Co. And The Implications Of The Fcc's Pole Attachments Act Reading Higher Ground, Darci Deltoro

Akron Law Review

Both high-speed Internet access via commingled cables and wireless communications are complex and cutting edge topics in today’s world of ever changing information technology. This Note examines how these issues were addressed recently in Nat’l Cable & Telecomms. Ass’n, Inc. v. Gulf Power Co. (Gulf Power). Part II of this Note provides a review of the Pole Attachments Act, focusing particularly on using the purpose behind the Act to establish the minimum and maximum limitations of its coverage. Part III discusses the factual and procedural history of the Gulf Power case, first addressing the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh …

Disruption And Deference, Olivier Sylvain

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cable Television In Massachusetts, Padraig O'Malley

Padraig O'Malley

Today the electromagnetic spectrum is crowded with signal traffic used for just about every conceivable communications purpose, ranging from standard navigational time signals at the Very Low Frequency band to satellite communications at the Superhigh Frequency band. Between these two frequency extremes there are five other frequency bands — Low Frequency, Medium Frequency, High Frequency, Very High Frequency, and Ultra High Frequency — each of which can accommodate only a limited number of uses, and each of which is better suited for some uses than for others. Because the spectrum was, like oil, once believed to be in almost unlimited …

Merger Review By The Federal Communications Commission: Comcast-Nbc Universal, Christopher S. Yoo

All Faculty Scholarship

The Communications Act of 1934 created a dual review process in which mergers in the communications industry are reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as well as the antitrust authorities. Commentators have criticized dual review not only as costly and redundant, but also as subject to substantive and procedural abuse. The process of clearing the 2011 Comcast-NBC Universal merger provides a useful case study to examine whether such concerns are justified. A review of the empirical context reveals that the FCC intervened even though the relevant markets were not structured in a way that would ordinarily raise anticompetitive concerns. …

I Want My Mtv, But Not Your Vh1: A La Carte Cable, Bundling, And The Potential Great Cable Compromise, Holly Phillips

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Dr. Boulderlove; Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Local Antitrust Liability , Kevin Charles Boyle

Pepperdine Law Review

Community Communications v. Boulder arose in the context of local cable registration, but the decision raised the specter of antitrust liability for nearly any local regulatory activity. This comment reviews state legislation enacted in response to Boulder against a framework of the post-Boulder "Parker Doctrine" and its probable requirements.

The Fourth Estate And The Third Level: Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. V. Federal Communications Commission—Cable Television And Intermediate Scrutiny, R. Stuart Phillips

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tying And Consumer Harm, Daniel A. Crane

Articles

Brantley raises important issues of law, economics, and policy about tying arrangements. Under current legal principles, Brantley was on solid ground in distinguishing between anticompetitive ties and those that might harm consumer interests without impairing competition. As a matter of economics, the court was also right to reject the claim that the cable programmers forced consumers to pay for programs the customers didn’t want. The hardest question is a policy one - whether antitrust law should ever condemn the exploitation of market power in ways that extract surplus from consumers but do not create or enlarge market power. I shall …

Unfit For Prime Time: Why Cable Television Regulations Cannot Perform Trinko's 'Antitrust Function', Keith Klovers

Michigan Law Review

Until recently, regulation and antitrust law operated in tandem to safeguard competition in regulated industries. In three recent decisions-Trinko, Credit Suisse, and Linkline-the Supreme Court limited the operation of the antitrust laws when regulation "performs the antitrust function." This Note argues that cable programming regulations-which are in some respects factually similar to the telecommunications regulations at issue in Trinko and Linkline-do not perform the antitrust function because they cannot deter anticompetitive conduct. As a result, Trinko and its siblings should not foreclose antitrust claims for damages that arise out of certain cable programming disputes.

Free Speech And The Myth Of The Internet As An Unintermediated Experience, Christopher S. Yoo

All Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, a growing number of commentators have raised concerns that the decisions made by Internet intermediaries — including last-mile network providers, search engines, social networking sites, and smartphones — are inhibiting free speech and have called for restrictions on their ability to prioritize or exclude content. Such calls ignore the fact that when mass communications are involved, intermediation helps end users to protect themselves from unwanted content and allows them to sift through the avalanche of desired content that grows ever larger every day. Intermediation also helps solve a number of classic economic problems associated with the Internet. …

Co-Use Of Compatible Private Easements By Cable Television Franchisees Under The 1984 Cable Act: Federal Refinement Of An Established Right, Richard D. Harmon

Golden Gate University Law Review

Before the Cable Act became law, a number of obstacles had retarded cable television's growth and development. One such obstacle involved private landowners, especially real estate developers and landlords. By the 1980s, many developers were attempting to physically exclude franchised cable television disseminators from their developments so that the resulting captive audience could be served, on an exclusive basis, by the developer or someone with whom the developer had contracted. These exclusionary practices represented a serious problem, since it is estimated that half of all new residential construction in the United States is now in the form of planned or …

Communications Law, Richard D. Harmon

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Be Kind, Please Rewind - The Second Circuit Gives Cable Providers Something To Watch In Cartoon Network L.P., V. Csc Holdings, Inc., Peter Hamner

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Practice Before The Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel In 17 U.S.C. § 111 Distribution Proceedings, Mark J. Davis

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The 1976 Act showed foresight in extending the section 115 compulsory phonorecord license model to secondary transmissions under section III. Congress' intent was to encourage flexible market forces to set the value of cable rebroadcasts. Instead of statutory rates, they fixed minimal guidelines for the distribution of collected retransmission royalties. Originally an obscure and very technical section of the Copyright Act, the impact of section III has expanded with the merger of cable television, radio, cable, satellite, and broadband distribution of digital media. The millions of dollars in royalties paid annually by cable systems provide a tempting target for copyright …

Cable Open Access And Direct Access To Intelsat, Kenneth Katkin

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari, Minority Media And Telecommunications Council V. Md/Dc/De Broadcasters Ass'n, No. 01-639 (U.S. Oct. 17, 2001), Angela J. Campbell, Amy S. Wolverton

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari, Time Warner Entertainment Co. V. F.C.C., No. 01-223 (U.S. Aug. 08, 2001), Fernando Bohorquez, Jr., Angela J. Campbell

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

The Electronic Media And The Flight From First Amendment Doctrine: Justice Breyer's New Balancing Approach, Jerome A. Barron

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Contemporary First Amendment issues in cases involving the electronic media transcend traditional conflicts between the government and the speaker. The speaker is not easy to identify. Listeners, programmer and medium operators or distributors all have competing claims to First Amendment protection. To determine whose interests shall prevail, courts increasingly seek a methodology that accounts for these warring interests. Justice Breyer, along with Justice Souter and, in some respects, Justice Stevens, have been instrumental in reviving balancing as a First Amendment approach in these situations.

In two recent First Amendment cable television cases Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC (Turner II) …

Cable Television, New Technologies And The First Amendment After Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. V. F.C.C., Erik Forde Ugland

Missouri Law Review

From the moment it emerged as an independently viable communications medium, the cable television industry has been forced to operate within the shadow of regulatory oversight. With passage of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992,' and judicial endorsement of much of that legislation in Turner BroadcastingSystem, Inc. v. F.C.C., cable's future rests squarely in the hands of the federal government. Congress, with some help from the Supreme Court, has made it clear that any blueprints for the future of the nation's communications infrastructure will have to pass through Washington. This article is divided into four parts. …

Authors, Editors, And Uncommon Carriers: Identifying The "Speaker" Within The New Media, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

First Amendment analysis has historically depended on whether a party is a speaker, an editor, or a carrier. With communications technology rapidly evolving, determining which category is appropriate becomes increasingly complex, and ascertaining the First Amendment protections that are applied to various actors in the process of diffusing ideas becomes difficult. This article looks to the historical treatment of the First Amendment rights of speakers, editors, and distributors. This article traces the Supreme Court’s treatment of speech regulations on new technologies, from telegraph and telephone regulations to the seminal Turner Broadcast System, Inc. v. FCC case that created rules for …

Regulation Of The Video Marketplace: Access Duties Under The Video Dialtone Order & (And) The Cable Television Consumer Protection And Competition Act Of 1992, Robert K. Hahm

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Crash Test On The Information Superhighway: Constitutional Problems With The 1992 Cable Act Must-Carry Regulations, Amy Renee Wolverton

Georgia State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The First Amendment And Fcc Rule Making Under The 1992 Cable Act, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the First Amendment implications of the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) regulations issued under the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 19921 (1992 Cable Act). The 1992 Cable Act imposes numerous requirements that are beyond the scope of this Article. This Article analyzes only the FCC's exercise of rule making discretion under the 1992 Cable Act.

Additionally, it must be remembered that an under-staffed FCC was given an enormous amount of work to do within fixed time limits. Therefore, it must be expected that the rulemaking would be vulnerable to second-guessing. Nonetheless, whenever a governmental entity …

Interim Hearing On The Cable Television Consumer Protection And Competition Act Of 1992: The Impact On Cable Television Rates And Services In California, Senate Committee On Energy And Public Utilities

California Senate

No abstract provided.

Test Of A Taking: An Analysis Of The 1984 Cable Act’S “Mandatory Access” Provision , Marybeth W. Fahey

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Material Burden Test: The Better Method Of Determining Takings Issues Arising Under Section 621(A)(2) Of The Cable Communications Policy Act Of 1984

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

General Legislation, S. Barrow

California Regulatory Law Reporter

No abstract provided.