Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1994
ISSN
1061-6578
Publisher
University of California Hastings College of Law
Language
en-US
Abstract
Here is the problem as Congress saw it: A distributor of television programming (a cable television operator or a distributor of television programming via other media) cannot thrive unless it can supply viewers with top-rated programming. Few customers want to subscribe to a service that lacks NBC's Seinfeld, the latest episodes of General Hospital, or even PBS educational documentaries. Special provisions in the 1976 Copyright Act gave cable operators some liberty to retransmit broadcast programming. However, that Act created no such liberties for programming originating from within cable companies. Because the national market for programming is dominated by a few large cable operators, smaller distributors - such as direct broadcast satellites (DBS) and multichannel, multipoint distribution services (MMDS) (wireless cable) - may find it difficult to obtain permission to show popular programming that originates from their large competitors.
Recommended Citation
Wendy J. Gordon & Anne E. Gowen, Mandated Access: Commensurability and the Right to Say 'No' , in 17 Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal 225 (1994). Available at: https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/2027
