Judge Dismisses 6 of 7 Counts in Cable Lawsuit

MIAMI — A federal judge has dismissed most of a lawsuit filed by cable companies challenging Broward County, Fla.’s requirement that they lease space on their high-speed networks to Internet access providers.

U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks on Monday dismissed six of the seven counts raised in the lawsuit filed by Comcast Corp. and Advocate Communications Inc. against Broward County.

He ruled the companies lacked legal standing to bring the claims, which asserted that the county’s open-access rule impaired contracts, usurped federal powers and violated due process.

The remaining claim argued that the open-access rule violates cable companies’ 1st Amendment right to free speech by limiting availability of their facilities and forcing them to participate in others’ speech.

Philadelphia-based Comcast is the nation’s third-largest cable operator, with 8.2 million subscribers.

Portland, Ore., and Fairfax City, Va., have passed similar open-access rules, drawing protests and threats of lawsuits from most of the nation’s major cable companies.

The OpenNet Coalition, which represents hundreds of Internet service providers and Internet-related companies, praised the judge’s ruling.

“By immediately throwing out six of the seven counts for lack of standing, Judge Middlebrooks has decisively undercut 99% of the cable industry’s challenge,” OpenNet co-Director Rich Bond said. “The remaining claim, an unsupported 1st Amendment argument, is the weakest one advanced by the plaintiffs, and we expect it to meet the same fate in the near term.”