CABLE-TELEVISION AND THE PUBLIC-INTEREST

Since passage of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, the cable industry has thoroughly demonstrated its failure to serve the public interest, as measured minimally in diversity of sources. Regulating cable's monopolistic tendencies could improve rates and service, and increase the range of sources within the constraints of the commercial marketplace. However, to fulfill the promise of the First Amendment, subsidized noncommercial public spaces also need to be universal on cable services, as sites not merely of individual expression but for the practice of civic life.