The First Amendment and the Cable Television Operator: An Unprotective Shield against Public Access Requirements

Authors

Michael I. Meyerson

Abstract

This article focuses on the question of whether state-imposed public access requirements violate the First Amendment rights of the cable television operator. The author rejects a traditional approach to this issue and suggests that the appropriate analysis asks whether the law abridges expression the First Amendment was meant to protect. That is, do cable access requirements abridge speech safeguarded by the First Amendment? The article demonstrates that such requirements do not hinder, but in fact further, fundamental First Amendment interests. Finally, the article shows that access requirements fulfill the standards of the constitutional tests for each classification into which they could be placed.

Recommended Citation

Michael I. Meyerson, The First Amendment and the Cable Television Operator: An Unprotective Shield against Public Access Requirements, 4 UC Law SF Comm. & Ent. L.J. 1 (1981).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_comm_ent_law_journal/vol4/iss1/1