Maine Loses Appeal to Enforce a la Carte Cable TV Law (1)

A Maine law requiring cable companies to allow subscribers to buy access to individual channels, rather than as part of a bundle, can’t be enforced, a federal district court ruled Wednesday.

The decision by a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upholds a preliminary injunction granted by a lower court that was sought by a subsidiary of Comcast Corp., which is challenging the law.

The panel agreed with the lower court’s conclusion that the law, enacted in 2019, “implicates the First Amendment and therefore triggers some form of heightened—either intermediate or strict—judicial scrutiny.”

A ...