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2  MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORP. v. HALLECK 

Opinion of the Court 

of editorial discretion over the speech and speakers on the 
public access channels. 
  Under the state-action doctrine as it has been articulated 
and  applied  by  our  precedents,  we  conclude  that  opera-
tion  of  public  access  channels  on  a  cable  system  is  not  a 
traditional, exclusive public function.  Moreover, a private 
entity such as MNN who opens its property for speech by 
others  is  not  transformed  by  that  fact  alone  into  a  state 
actor.  In operating the public access channels, MNN is a 
private actor, not a state actor, and MNN therefore is not 
subject  to  First  Amendment  constraints  on  its  editorial 
discretion.    We  reverse  in  relevant  part  the  judgment  of 
the  Second  Circuit,  and  we  remand  the  case  for  further 
proceedings consistent with this opinion. 

I 
A 
  Since  the  1970s,  public  access  channels  have  been  a 
regular feature on cable television systems throughout the 
United  States.    In  the  1970s,  Federal  Communications 
Commission  regulations  required  certain  cable  operators 
to  set  aside  channels  on  their  cable  systems  for  public 
access.    In  1979,  however,  this  Court  ruled  that  the  FCC 
lacked  statutory  authority  to  impose  that  mandate.    See 
FCC v. Midwest Video Corp., 440 U. S. 689 (1979).  A few 
years later, Congress passed and President Reagan signed 
the  Cable  Communications  Policy  Act  of  1984.    98  Stat. 
2779.  The Act authorized state and local governments to 
require cable operators to set aside channels on their cable 
systems for public access.  47 U. S. C. §531(b). 
  The  New  York  State  Public  Service  Commission  regu-
lates  cable  franchising  in  New  York  State  and  requires 
cable operators in the State to set aside channels on their 
cable  systems  for  public  access.    16  N. Y.  Codes,  Rules  & 
Regs.  §§895.1(f),  895.4(b)  (2018).    State  law  requires  that 
use  of  the  public  access  channels  be  free  of  charge  and