Maine Law Regulating Public, Government Cable Channels Upheld

A cable television industry trade association lost its suit to invalidate five provisions of a Maine law governing how cable operators treat local public, educational, and governmental access channels because federal law doesn’t preempt the provisions, under a First Circuit ruling.

No provision of the federal Communications Act specifically bars the state’s attempt to protect these channels from operators’ allegedly discriminatory practices, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said.

Additionally, the provisions aren’t inconsistent with any Communications Act provisions. Thus, they aren’t facially unconstitutional under the supremacy clause, it said.

NCTA—The Internet & Television Association’s members include ...