Total Telecable, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission and United States of America

Petitioner, Total Teleeable, Inc. (Total) seeks review of a decision of the Federal Communications Commission. It owns and operates a community antenna television (CATV) system serving Anacortes, Bellingham, Burlington, Mount Vernon, and Sedro Woolley, Washington. The Commission’s order denied without a hearing Total’s request for a waiver of the nonduplication requirements of the Commission’s rules. Total here asserts that the nonduplication rule is invalid on its face and as applied under the First and Fifth Amendments, and that if the rule is valid, the Commission’s failure to provide a hearing violates pertinent statutes and the Commission’s own rules.

A description of the functioning of CATV systems and a history of the Commission’s regulatory activities in relation to CATV appears in United States v. Southwestern Cable Co., 1968, 392 U. S. 157 at 161-167 , 88 S.Ct. 1994 , 20 L. Ed.2d 1001 and will not be repeated here. That case upheld the Commission’s authority to regulate CATV systems, but did not decide the questions discussed in this opinion.

I.

The facts.

Total’s CATV systems began operating in Bellingham in 1951. There was then no local television station. It…