Editorial Notes
Constitutionality

For information regarding the constitutionality of certain provisions of this section, see the Table of Laws Held Unconstitutional in Whole or in Part by the Supreme Court on the Constitution Annotated website, constitution.congress.gov.

Amendments

1996—Subsec. (c)(2). Pub. L. 104–104 substituted “a cable operator may refuse to transmit any leased access program or portion of a leased access program which contains obscenity, indecency, or nudity and” for “an operator”.

1992—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–385, § 9(a), inserted “to promote competition in the delivery of diverse sources of video programming and” after “purpose of this section is”.

Subsec. (b)(5). Pub. L. 102–385, § 9(d), amended par. (5) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (5) read as follows: “For the purposes of this section—

“(A) the term ‘activated channels’ means those channels engineered at the headend of the cable system for the provision of services generally available to residential subscribers of the cable system, regardless of whether such services actually are provided, including any channel designated for public, educational, or governmental use; and

“(B) the term ‘commercial use’ means the provision of video programming, whether or not for profit.”

Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 102–385, § 9(b)(1), inserted “and with rules prescribed by the Commission under paragraph (4)” after “purpose of this section”.

Subsec. (c)(4). Pub. L. 102–385, § 9(b)(2), added par. (4).

Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 102–385, § 10(a), inserted “or the cable operator” after “franchising authority” and inserted at end “This subsection shall permit a cable operator to enforce prospectively a written and published policy of prohibiting programming that the cable operator reasonably believes describes or depicts sexual or excretory activities or organs in a patently offensive manner as measured by contemporary community standards.”

Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 102–385, § 9(c), added subsec. (i).

Subsec. (j). Pub. L. 102–385, § 10(b), added subsec. (j).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 1992 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 102–385 effective 60 days after Oct. 5, 1992, see section 28 of Pub. L. 102–385, set out as a note under section 325 of this title.

Effective Date

Section effective 60 days after Oct. 30, 1984, except where otherwise expressly provided, see section 9(a) of Pub. L. 98–549, set out as a note under section 521 of this title.