Its AG Says Maine a la Carte Law Violates No Federal Law, Tells NAB Not to Worry
No federal law pre-empts Maine’s a la carte cable law, its Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) told a federal court Monday. Comcast and programmers are challenging the law mandating cable operators provide a la carte options, at U.S. District Court…
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in Bangor (see 1909160027). Frey opposed the cablers’ motion for preliminary judgment Monday in case 19-cv-00410. Federal law pre-empts state laws that regulate programming content, but this law gives cable operators and programmers “complete discretion to select the channels and programs they will make available to subscribers,” Frey said. “Chapter 308 simply requires that once a particular channel or program is selected, it must be made available individually.” That's no conflict with pre-emption “because cable operators can easily comply with both Chapter 308 and the applicable provisions of federal law,” the Maine AG said. Plaintiffs wrongly claim “they have a First Amendment right to require customers to buy HGTV and Animal Planet in order to watch Discovery and to require customers to buy ‘NCIS’ and ‘Big Brother’ in order to watch ‘60 Minutes,’” he said. National and Maine broadcaster associations shouldn’t “worry,” Frey said in footnote 10. Amici broadcasters raised concerns viewership will drop if cable operators don’t have to carry signals in the federally mandated basic service tier, but the Maine law “does not impact this basic tier,” Frey wrote. “Before a person may request individual channels and programs, one must first become a subscriber. And becoming a subscriber necessarily means obtaining the federally-required basic tier of service, including local broadcast stations” and public, educational and governmental channels. “NAB supports and is gratified by the Maine AG’s interpretation," a spokesperson said.