Sidak Comments on FCC Rule That Would Reimplement 30% Horizontal Limit on Cable Operators in Competition Law 360

March 5, 2008

Competition Law 360 featured an article entitled "FCC Re-Imposes 30% Limit on Cable Operators," which discussed the Federal Communications Commission’s readoption of a rule that will prohibit cable operators like Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. from serving more than 30% of subscribers nationwide. In the article, Criterion founder J. Gregory Sidak agreed that the rule would almost certainly be appealed back to the D.C. Circuit.

"I'm sure this won't be the end of the story," Sidak said. "Sometimes, several different sides in a controversy will appeal different aspects of the order." He added that even though the FCC tends to be reversed more often than other regulatory agencies, it's still extremely hard to defeat it on statutory grounds.

"Whenever possible, you try and find a First Amendment hook and attack the agency that way," he said. "And there have been some really notable cases where the First Amendment argument succeeded."

To read the article in full, click here.