On June 22, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a Cablevision challenge to an FCC must-carry order. The FCC order granted a market-modification request that requires Cablevision to carry WRNN-TV, which traditionally serves communities in upstate New York, to Long Island communities. The court found that the order did not stand in violation of Cablevision’s First and Fifth Amendment rights, and that the market modification was well within the scope of the FCC’s discretion to further the purposes of the statute.

In a move supportive of broadcasters generally, the court interpreted the statutory purposes of the market-modification provisions to promote free over-the-air television, and not merely to protect over-the-air’s “natural market.” The opinion stated that statutory purposes are not “served only by granting broadcasters the minimum must-carry coverage necessary for survival; [nor are they] frustrated by actions which result in a station’s greater prosperity.”

NAB filed a brief as Amicus Curiae in the case. Read the court’s opinion here.