Court Upholds FCC Ruling Regarding Cable and Apartments
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheldthe FCC’s ruling that prohibited exclusivity agreements between cable companies and owners of apartment buildings and other multi-unit developments. More of an administrative law/communications law decision than an antitrust decision. But it is worth reading. The opinion begins:
Finding that exclusivity agreements between cable companies and owners of apartment buildings and other multi-unit developments have an anti-competitive effect on the cable market, the Federal Communications Commission banned such contracts. The Commission believes that these deals—which involve a cable company exchanging a valuable service like wiring a building for the exclusive right to provide service to the residents—may be regulated under section 628 of the Communications Act as cable company practices that significantly impair the ability of their competitors to deliver programming to consumers. The Commission thus forbade cable operators not only from entering into new exclusivity contracts, but also from enforcing old ones. Petitioners, associations representing cable operators and apartment building owners, argue that the Commission exceeded its statutory authority, arbitrarily departed from precedent, and otherwise violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Having carefully considered the parties’ excellent submissions, we disagree and conclude that the Commission acted well within the bounds of both section 628 and general administrative law.
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