Agape Church, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission

738 F.3d 397, 407 U.S. App. D.C. 408
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedDecember 27, 2013
Docket12-1334
StatusPublished
Cited by65 cases

This text of 738 F.3d 397 (Agape Church, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Agape Church, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, 738 F.3d 397, 407 U.S. App. D.C. 408 (D.C. Cir. 2013).

Opinions

Opinion for the Court filed by Senior Circuit Judge EDWARDS.

Concurring opinion filed by Circuit Judge KAVANAUGH.

EDWARDS, Senior Circuit Judge:

In the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 (the “Cable Act”), Congress enacted provisions requiring cable television systems to dedicate some of their channels to local broadcast stations, creating so-called “must-carry” rights for stations electing such mandatory carriage. See 47 U.S.C. §§ 534-35. Section 614(b)(7), the principal statutory provision at issue in this case, states that must-carry broadcast signals “shall be viewable via cable on all television receivers of a subscriber which are connected to a cable system by a cable operator or for which a cable operator provides a connection.” 47 U.S.C. § 534(b)(7).

In 2007, with the growing prominence of digital broadcasting, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”) promulgated a rule requiring “hybrid” cable companies — ie., those that provide both analog and digital cable service — to “downconvert” from digital to analog broadcast signals from must-carry stations for subscribers with analog television sets. Carriage of Digital Television Broadcast Signals, Third Report and Order, 22 FCC Red. 21,064 (2007) (“Viewa-bility Rule”). This downconversion requirement ensured that digital broadcast programs from protected must-carry stations would be converted by the cable companies from digital to analog signals before transmission to customers. In other words, cable subscribers with analog television sets would be able to view the digital programs from must-carry broadcast stations without the need of special equipment. By its terms, the Viewability Rule was scheduled to expire in 2012, unless extended by the Commission.

In 2012, following notice and comment rulemaking, the FCC allowed the down-conversion requirement to expire. In [401]*401place of the Viewability Rule, the Commission promulgated a new rule that allows cable operators to provide conversion equipment to analog customers, either “for free or at an affordable cost that does not substantially deter use of the equipment.” Carriage of Digital Television Broadcast Signals, Fifth Report and Order, 27 FCC Red. 6529, 6534 (2012) (“Sunset Order”). Petitioners, a group of must-carry broadcasters, now seek review of the Sunset Order. Petitioners claim that the FCC’s new rule cannot be squared with Congress’s mandate that must-carry broadcast signals “shall be viewable via cable on all television receivers of a subscriber which are connected to a cable system.” 47 U.S.C. § 534(b)(7) (emphasis added).

Petitioners have advanced four claims in support of their petition for review.

• First, Petitioners contend that the Commission’s new rule violates the plain terms of the statute and, thus, cannot survive review under Chevron Step One. Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 843 n. 9, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984) (“The judiciary ... must reject administrative constructions which are contrary to clear congressional intent. If a court, employing traditional tools of statutory construction, ascertains that Congress had an intention on the precise question at issue, that intention is the law and must be given effect.” (citations omitted)).
• Second, Petitioners essentially assert that the new rule is manifestly contrary to the statute and, therefore, cannot survive scrutiny under Chevron Step Two. Id. at 843-44 [104 S.Ct.2778].
• Third, Petitioners claim that the FCC’s new rule is not supported by reasoned decisionmaking and, therefore, is arbitrary and capricious. Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass’n of the U.S. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43 [103 S.Ct. 2856, 77 L.Ed.2d 443] (1983) (“Normally, an agency rule would be arbitrary and capricious if the agency has relied on factors which Congress has not intended it to consider, entirely failed to consider an important aspect of the problem, offered an explanation for its decision that runs counter to the evidence before the' agency, or is so implausible that it could not be ascribed to a difference in view or the product of agency expertise.”).
• Finally, Petitioners argue that the FCC’s notice and comment rulemaking procedures were fatally flawed because the agency’s Sunset Rule was not a logical outgrowth of the agency’s notice of proposed rulemaking. CSX Transp., Inc. v. Surface Transp. Bd., 584 F.3d 1076, 1080 (D.C.Cir.2009) (“[A] final rule fails the logical outgrowth test and thus violates the APA’s notice requirement where interested parties would have had to divine the agency’s unspoken thoughts, because the final rule was surprisingly distant from the proposed rule.” (quotation and citation omitted)).

Petitioners’ claims lack merit. The FCC’s 2007 Viewability Rule was not mandated by the statute. Rather, the rale was promulgated by the Commission as a stopgap measure to preserve access to must-carry broadcast programs for the significant number of cable customers with analog television sets. Since 2007, however, the telecommunications market — including the technology in use by broadcasters, cable distributors, and customers — has changed dramatically. The congressionally mandated transition from analog to digital broadcasting is complete, nearly all new televisions on the market are digital-ready, and many cable companies have aban[402]*402doned analog service altogether in favor of all-digital operations. And, most critically, in 2012 there were significantly more home conversion devices in use (27 million) to display digital channels on analog sets than there were customers actually subscribing to analog cable service with down-conversion (12.6 million). Petitioners do not dispute that these trends are expected to continue. Rather, Petitioners take the position that the Cable Act requires the FCC to maintain the regulatory scheme embodied in the Viewability Rule so long as there are hybrid cable companies providing service to subscribers who use analog television sets. Petitioners’ argument effectively freezes time in the face of shifting technology and finds no support in the law.

The FCC’s new rule allowing cable operators to offer analog subscribers equipment in lieu of downconversion was within its authority under the statute, supported by reasoned decisionmaking, and properly promulgated pursuant to notice and comment rulemaking procedures in which interested parties should have anticipated that the change was possible. We therefore deny the petition for review.

I. Background

The history of the Cable Act is recounted in detail in Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC (Turner II), 520 U.S. 180, 117 S.Ct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
738 F.3d 397, 407 U.S. App. D.C. 408, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/agape-church-inc-v-federal-communications-commission-cadc-2013.