Court Opinion

ID: 9456846
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:03:54.401015+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:07.150627
License: Public Domain

FLOYD R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I concur in the result. I think the FCC has authority over CATV systems but that the order under review is confiscatory and hence arbitrary.
It is certainly in the public interest for the FCC to regulate CATV systems which partake of a monopoly in disseminating and transmitting TV programs in certain areas. Undoubtedly their operations have a substantial effect on licensed broadcasters; and from the public viewpoint they provide a real service in offering the public a wider variety of programs with improved reception. Whether they do this with less annoying and irritating commercials I do not know. It appears to the casual viewer that the commercials have over the years become increasingly longer in length, more frequent and sometimes louder so that some news programs and some motion picture programs amount to little more than a series of disjointed commercials. It is thus uncertain whether the CATV systems would give the public any relief from the ever-increasing commercials; and, of course, if the CATV systems were allowed to inject their own commercials, this would constitute an additional irritation and legal trespass upon the viewers’ time. This, however, is a matter that must await future development.
Southwestern Cable recognized the CATV systems’ impact on TV broacasting and clearly upheld the Commission’s authority to meet the issue in that case, while noting that the extent of the Commission’s authority had not yet been judicially determined. Congress, of course could set out the limits but has not seen fit to do so and for a variety of reasons might not act upon the problem. The FCC, therefore, will have to regulate the development of this new and important electronic development in a manner best suited to the public interest, as the need arises and the opportunity presents itself.
The Fortnightly case of course only considered the CATV systems as they *1329are now constituted as a disseminator and viewer of programs rather than an originator or broadcaster. In this light CATV does not violate the Copyright Act of 1909. The only import of this decision is that it does definitely classify the CATV systems as transmission facilities rather than broadcasting facilities. Now the FCC, by imposing originating responsibility of even a limited type on certain CATV systems, changes their essential operation from that of a pure transmission facility to that of at least a limited broadcast facility. Then once assuming a broadcast function, the CATV systems would have to be further regulated in the public interest by the FCC; and of course local origination in the CATV systems could eventually open up many avenues for mass media communication. There is, and the majority opinion does not rule out, the possibility that optional or voluntary compliance with the FCC order might take place.
While it appears to me that the FCC’s rule on limited origination is in the public interest, it does not appear that the FCC has shown a sufficient basis for exercising its authority at this time. The Commission does have broad authority under 47 U.S.C. § 151, “to make available * * * a rapid, efficient, Nationwide * * * communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges”; but the Commission’s particular order on origination, at this time at least, would be extremely burdensome and perhaps remove from the CATV field many entrepreneurs who do not have the resources, talent and ability to enter the broadcasting field. The order is thus oppressive and arbitrary at this time, but that does not mean that with the continued development of the CATV systems and with the systems’ impact upon broadcasting, it might not in the future be advisable and in the public interest to compel origination of local programs. It would appear to me that the CATV systems should be permitted to remain basically a transmission facility at this time, with allowance for the CATV systems to experiment on origination without being compelled to do so.
Another difficulty is in now assessing future development of the CATV systems’ operation. The FCC is to be commended in attempting to anticipate how this electronic phenomenon can and should be used in the public interest. This can be done by allowing experimentation with voluntary origination without placing a burden that to some would be confiscatory.