roundtable: 2nd Circuit Decision in Time Warner Cable v. New York City

roundtable: 2nd Circuit Decision in Time Warner Cable v. New York City

2nd Circuit Decision in Time Warner Cable v. New York City

Jeffrey S. Hops (jhops@alliancecm.org)
Wed, 16 Jul 1997 15:56:18 -0700 (PDT) 

Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 15:56:18 -0700 (PDT)
Message-Id: <2.2.16.19970716185054.42bf4106@pop.igc.org>
To: access@majordomo.pobox.com, roundtable@cni.org
From: "Jeffrey S. Hops" <jhops@alliancecm.org>
Subject: 2nd Circuit Decision in Time Warner Cable v. New York City

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE								       
JULY 16, 1997										(202) 393-2650


FEDERAL APPEALS COURT DEFIES NEWS CORP. AND CITY OF NEW YORK:

RULING MANDATES THAT GOVERNMENT AND EDUCATIONAL CHANNELS 

WILL CONTINUE TO SERVE PUBLIC INTEREST


Washington, D.C. -- Alliance for Community Media Executive Director Barry
Forbes today expressed his satisfaction with the Second Circuit's decision
in Time Warner Cable of New York City et al. v. Bloomberg L.P. et al..  The
Court decided on July 3rd that the City of New York did not have a right
under the terms of its franchise agreements with Time-Warner Cable of New
York to replace the non-commercial programming of the city's "Crosswalks"
cable channels with the commercial services of Bloomberg Information
Television ("BIT") and Fox Network News ("FNN"), owned by Rupert Murdoch's
News. Corporation.

"The Second Circuit's opinion clearly determines that educational and
governmental access channels on cable television systems serve extremely
important purposes," stated Forbes.  "Congress stated in 1984 that the
purpose of governmental access channels was to show the public local
government at work.   The panel agreed with the Alliance that  'showing
government at work' means more than using the channel itself to illustrate
the concept of 'political spoils.'"

The decision stems from New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's attempt in October
1996 to allow BIT and FNN to transmit programming on two of the city's
non-commercial channels allocated for the city's use by its franchise
agreements with Time-Warner Cable.  In 1984, Congress stated that public,
educational and governmental  ("PEG") channels were intended to "provide
groups and individuals who generally have not had access to the electronic
media with the opportunity to become sources of information in the
electronic marketplace of ideas.  PEG channels also contribute to an
informed citizenry by bringing local schools into the home and by showing
the public local government at work."

Time Warner sought and won a temporary restraining order against the city
earlier this year in federal district court.  The City and Bloomberg L.P.
appealed to the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals.  Judge Jon Newman,
writing for the panel, observed that "Even though PEG channel capacity is
not currently being fully used by the City, any diversion of these scarce
channels from their proper use risks deterring potential users from
developing the programming for which these channels were intended.   Indeed,
it risks deterring the city itself from using 'G' [i.e., governmental]
channel capacity to serve the principal Congressional purpose of making the
operation of government better known to the citizens."

Judge Newman also stated that PEG channels serve an important purpose that
transcends the interests of either Time-Warner Cable or New York City.  "It
is precisely because much of PEG programming has a limited, often
specialized audience whose needs are not otherwise met that makes it
important not to divert PEG channels to non-PEG purposes," he stated.

The full text of the opinion is available at
http://www.tourolaw.edu/2ndCircuit/July97/96-9515.html.

The Alliance for Community Media is a national, non-profit membership
organization committed to assuring everyone's access to electronic media.
The Alliance accomplishes this by disseminating public information,
advancing a positive legislative and regulatory environment, and supporting
local organizing. Founded in 1976, the Alliance represents the interests of
an estimated 1.5 million community, religious and charitable groups and
individuals who use public, educational and governmental ("PEG") access
channels and facilities to speak to their memberships and their larger
communities.  The Alliance also serves the interests of over 1,200 PEG
access and local origination cable services throughout the country.

Jeffrey Hops
Director, Govt Relations
Alliance for Community Media
vox (202) 393-2650 x14
fax (202) 393-2653

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