Preferred Communications, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles
Opinion
Lead Opinion
We revisit some of the issues left open in Preferred Communications, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, 754 F.2d 1396 (9th Cir.1985), aff'd, 476 U.S. 488 , 106 S.Ct. 2034 , 90 L.Ed.2d 480 (1986).
Background
Los Angeles, like most large cities, requires permits for those seeking to provide cable television service to city residents. Under its Charter, the city may grant any “franchise, permit or privilege to erect, construct, lay, maintain and operate, poles, pipes, conduits, wires or cable upon, over, under, in, across or along any street ... road or other place ... for the purpose of ... communication by telephone, telegraph or signal systems.” Los Angeles, Cal., Ordinance No. 58,200, § 2(4). The ordinance specifies that franchises are to be awarded through a process known as a notice of sale (“NOS”). Id. § 5; see also CR 450 ¶34.
To adapt the general franchise process to cable television, in 1976 the city developed a “Cable Communications in Los Angeles Master Plan.” CR 158 ¶ 6, CR 175 ¶ 6. Under this plan, the city is divided into fourteen cable franchise areas; each area is served by one cable operator. CR 114 exh. A, at 5-6. Once the city decides to issue an NOS for an area,…