686
Opinion of Ginsburg, J.
television service for those unwilling or unable to subscribe to cable, and has remanded the case for further airing centered on that allegedly overriding, content-neutral purpose. Ante, at 646-648, 666-668. But an intertwined or even discrete content-neutral justification does not render speculative, or reduce to harmless surplus, Congress' evident plan to advance local programming. See ante, at 676-677, 679-680 (O'Connor, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).
As Circuit Judge Williams stated:
"Congress rested its decision to promote [local broadcast] stations in part, but quite explicitly, on a finding about their content—that they were 'an important source of local news and public affairs programming and other local broadcast services critical to an informed electorate.' " 819 F. Supp., at 58, quoting Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, § 2(a)(11).
Moreover, as Judge Williams persuasively explained, "[the] facts do not support an inference that over-the-air TV is at risk," 819 F. Supp., at 63, see id., at 62-65; "[w]hatever risk there may be in the abstract has completely failed to materialize." Id., at 63. "The paucity of evidence indicating that broadcast television is in jeopardy," see ante, at 667, if it persists on remand, should impel an ultimate judgment for the appellants.
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