Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., et al. v. Federal Communications Commission et al. (520 U.S. 180)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 31, 1997 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 520 U.S. 180 · 117 S. Ct. 1174
- Decided
- March 31, 1997
- Term
- October Term 1996
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Kennedy
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to a portion of Part II-A-1. Sections 4 and 5 of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 require cable television systems to dedicate some of their channels to local broadcast television stations. Earlier in this case, we held the so-called “must-carry” provisions to be content-neutral restrictions on speech, subject to intermediate First Amendment scrutiny under United States v. O’Brien, 391 U. S. 367, 377 (1968). A plurality of the Court considered the record as then developed insufficient to determine whether the provisions were narrowly tailored to further important governmental interests, and we remanded the case to the District Court for the District of Columbia for additional factfinding. On appeal from the District Court’s grant of summary judgment for appellees, the case now presents the two questions left open during the first appeal: First, whether the record as it now stands supports Congress’ predictive judgment that the must-carry provisions further important governmental interests; and second, whether the provisions do not burden substantially more speech than necessary to further those interests. We answer both questions in the affirmative, and conclude the must-carry provisions are consistent with the First Amendment. I An outline of the Cable Act, Congress’ purposes in…
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