The Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge from cable companies to the 18-year-old requirement that they carry local broadcast stations. The court had already upheld the requirement twice, in both 1994 and 1997, but Cablevision recently challenged the ruling again because they were upset by being forced to carry Kingston, New York’s WRNN, a station that carries largely home-shopping and infomercials.

Cablevision insists in a court filing that the rules are no longer necessary because “the monopolistic nature of the cable industry…has been replaced by vibrant competition” — giving these channels distribution platforms elsewhere.

“We continue to believe that WRNN — a shopping channel that moved its transmitter to reach our service area but has no local viewers — has manipulated the must-carry rules at our customers’ expense,” Cablevision said in a statement. “In doing so, WRNN has exposed just how obsolete these regulations have become, especially in light of the vigorous competition and other market conditions that have developed over the last decade.”

NAB, in contrast, issued a statement praising the ruling and saying the rules “protect the public’s access to niche broadcast programming, including foreign language, religious and independent TV stations.”
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Tags: broadcast programming, Cable, Cablevision, court, distribution platforms, independent tv stations, Kingston, kingston new york, NAB, New York, requirement, vigorous competition, WRNN

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