Court guts cable ownership cap

What the media gatekeepers failed to accomplish for themselves with the rogue 1996 Telecommunications Act, they can just get their activist judges to do.

One of the basics that every American broadcasting student learns is that the nation's airwaves are a public trust, and the FCC is empowered to limit how many broadcasting outlets a corporation can own - in order to prevent oligopolies that stifle the free flow of ideas.

Since 1993, the FCC has said that a cable TV company can't cover over 30% of the nation's cable market. It was a reasonable guideline.

But now the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has thrown out this rule - not for any constitutional reason, but because they simply don't like this rule.

If you want to talk about legislating from the bench, this ruling is it. What matchbook law school did these judges attend?

The court's decision is a boon for right-wing cable giants like Comcast or other cable companies that try to control the flow of news and commentary - and gouge the consumer.

With this, the states need to step in and start exercising the oversight that the FCC is hamstrung from providing.

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/08/28/business/business-us-cable-fcc-ownership.html)