Cite as: 512 U. S. 622 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
(state law imposing tax upon cable television, but exempting other media, is not content based, in part due to lack of evidence that cable programming "differs systematically in its message from that communicated by satellite broadcast programming, newspapers, or magazines").
In short, Congress' acknowledgment that broadcast television stations make a valuable contribution to the Nation's communications system does not render the must-carry scheme content based. The scope and operation of the challenged provisions make clear, in our view, that Congress designed the must-carry provisions not to promote speech of a particular content, but to prevent cable operators from exploiting their economic power to the detriment of broadcasters, and thereby to ensure that all Americans, especially those unable to subscribe to cable, have access to free television programming—whatever its content.
We likewise reject the suggestion, advanced by appellants and by Judge Williams in dissent, that the must-carry rules are content based because the preference for broadcast stations "automatically entails content requirements." 819 F. Supp., at 58. It is true that broadcast programming, unlike cable programming, is subject to certain limited content restraints imposed by statute and FCC regulation.7 But it does not follow that Congress mandated cable carriage of broadcast television stations as a means of ensuring that par-7 See, e. g., 47 U. S. C. § 303b (1988 ed., Supp. IV) (directing FCC to consider extent to which license renewal applicant has "served the educational and informational needs of children"); Pub. L. 102-356, § 16(a), 106 Stat. 954, note following 47 U. S. C. § 303 (1988 ed., Supp. IV) (restrictions on indecent programming); 47 U. S. C. § 312(a)(7) (allowing FCC to revoke broadcast license for willful or repeated failure to allow reasonable access to broadcast airtime for candidates seeking federal elective office); 47 CFR § 73.1920 (1993) (requiring broadcaster to notify victims of on-air personal attacks and to provide victims with opportunity to respond over the air); En Banc Programming Inquiry, 44 F. C. C. 2d 2303, 2312 (1960) (requiring broadcasters to air programming that serves "the public interest, convenience or necessity").
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