
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 17, 1993                   TAG: 9309170123
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

STATIONS' CHARGING CABLE OK, JUDGE RULES

A federal judge Thursday upheld a provision of the new cable TV law that requires cable operators to negotiate programming prices with local affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC and other broadcast networks.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson rejected cable industry arguments that this so-called "retransmission consent" clause of the 1992 cable act violates the industry's First Amendment rights to free speech.

The decision was a loss for Time Warner Entertainment Co., and two other companies that had challenged the constitutionality of several portions of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act.

Jackson upheld the constitutionality of all but three narrow sections of the law. A fourth section, the so-called "must carry" provision, is the subject of separate litigation.

- Associated Press

by CNB