mid-1987.
In 1984, the FCC began to restrict local government control of cable prices and programming. Municipalities were discouraged from impeding cable's new rivals, such as satellite dishes or private systems in apartment complexes. Recently, several California courts have held that cable TV is not a utility, but an "electronic publisher," whose competitors are pro- tected the First Amendment. With great implications for the nation's 5,000-6,000 municipal cable-TV franchises, the...