Court Opinion

ID: 9450968
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:01:52.863832+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:30.644941
License: Public Domain

BURGER, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
The majority remands to the Commission for a fuller exposition of its reasons for the Section 307(b) characterizations made in this case.
The basis for the holding is the majority’s view that the Commission’s action amounted to a significant extension of the doctrine of Huntington Broadcasting Co. v. F CC, 89 U.S.App.D.C. 222, 192 F.2d 33 (1951). The Commission’s asserted expansion of the Huntington doctrine is thought by the majority to lie in the fact that application of the principle of that case on this record “narrowed” the Commission’s further inquiry as to suitability of the applicants.
I believe the majority’s position erroneous, for the Huntington principle seems to me in no way to depend on the consideration advanced. That the application of that doctrine together with the *203preference under Section 307(b) for first local transmission services results in diminution or, as here, elimination of the standard comparative issue has no relevance to a proper characterization of communities under that Section.
The only question for decision here is whether there was a reasonable basis for the Commission’s characterization of Intervenor’s application as one for Mon-roeville and Appellant’s as one for Pittsburgh. In making those classifications, the Commission considered proposed coverage, power and antenna pattern. These are appropriate factors under the Huntington standard and I find no reason to require more.
I would therefore affirm.