Federal Communications Commission et al. v. Florida Power Corp. et al. (480 U.S. 245)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 25, 1987 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 480 U.S. 245 · 107 S. Ct. 1107
- Decided
- February 25, 1987
- Term
- October Term 1986
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Marshall
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court. These cases present consolidated appeals from a single decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit holding that 47 U. S. C. § 224 (the Pole Attachments Act) effects an unconstitutional taking of property without just compensation. I The Pole Attachments Act, 92 Stat. 35, as amended, 47 U. S. C. §224, was enacted by Congress as a solution to a perceived danger of anticompetitive practices by utilities in connection with cable television service. Cable television operators, in order to deliver television signals to their subscribers, must have a physical carrier for the cable; in most instances underground installation of the necessary cables is impossible or impracticable. Utility company poles provide, under such circumstances, virtually the only practical physical medium for the installation of television cables. Over the past 30 years, utility companies throughout the country have entered into arrangements for the leasing of space on poles to operators of cable television systems. These contracts have generally provided for the payment by the cable companies of a yearly rent for space on each pole to which cables were attached, the fixed costs of making modifications to the poles and of physical installation of cables being borne by the cable operators. In many States the rates charged by the…
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