Opinion ID: 1726262
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Public rights of way

Text: In his order ruling against the taxpayers, the chancellor distinguished the cable medium from others on the ground that it required use of a public right of way in addition to the fact that there are no gross proceeds to be taxed in the case of, for example, broadcast television. There was uncontradicted testimony to the effect that a cable television enterprise pays a franchise fee for the use of the right of way. It is true that the use of public rights of way by cable television may subject it to more regulation as has been suggested in some cases. See City of Los Angeles v. Preferred Communications, Inc., 476 U.S. 488, 106 S.Ct. 2034, 90 L.Ed.2d 480 (1986); Central Telecommunications, Inc. v. TCI Cablevision, Inc., 800 F.2d 711 (8th Cir. 1986); Omega Satellite Products v. City of Indianapolis, 694 F.2d 119 (7th Cir. 1982); Community Communications v. City of Boulder, 660 F.2d 1370 (10th Cir. 1981). However, those cases involve regulation related to access to or use of the rights of way rather than a tax which has no relationship to the acquisition of the privilege of using public property. We thus find the fact that cable television uses public property and must obtain a franchise to do so should not control the result in this case.