TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC., Et Al. V. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Et Al
520US1 Unit: $U38 [09-13-99 10:41:59] PAGES PGT: OPIN 180 OCTOBER TERM, 1996 Syllabus TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC., et al. v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION et al. appeal from the united states district court for the district of columbia No. 95±992. Argued October 7, 1996ÐDecided March 31, 1997 Sections 4 and 5 of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Compe- tition Act of 1992 (Cable Act) require cable television systems to dedi- cate some of their channels to local broadcast television stations. In Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC, 512 U. S. 622 (Turner), this Court held these so-called ªmust-carryº provisions to be subject to in- termediate First Amendment scrutiny under United States v. O'Brien, 391 U. S. 367, 377, whereby a content-neutral regulation will be sus- tained if it advances important governmental interests unrelated to the suppression of free speech and does not burden substantially more speech than necessary to further those interests. However, because a plurality considered the record as then developed insuf®cient to deter- mine whether the provisions would in fact alleviate real harms in a direct and material way and would not burden substantially more speech than necessary, the Court remanded the case. After 18 months of additional fact®nding, the District Court granted summary judgment for the Government and other appellees, concluding that the expanded record contained substantial evidence supporting Congress' predictive judgment that the must-carry provisions further important governmen- tal interests in preserving cable carriage of local broadcast stations, and that the provisions are narrowly tailored to promote those interests.
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