Federal appeals court opens cable channels to satellite

The U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia has upheld FCC program access rules that require cable TV companies to make channels they own available to satellite and other rival TV providers.

The ruling is a setback for Comcast and Cablevision which sought to hold onto exclusive rights for programming that they do not beam onto satellites using a loophole in cable television rules. The FCC mandate was designed to close the loophole.

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