Zito Media, L.P. v. Haggerty
Zito Media, L.P. v. Haggerty
Opinion of the Court
Presently pending before the Court are cross Motions for Summary Judgment. (Docs. 14 & 17). For the reasons that follow, we shall deny Plaintiff's Motion, (Doc. 14), and grant Defendants' Motion, (Doc. 17).
I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
This case raises an unsettled question of law related to the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 ("Cable Act").
(1) establish a national policy concerning cable communications;
*631(2) establish franchise procedures and standards which encourage the growth and development of cable systems and which assure that cable systems are responsive to the needs and interests of the local community;
(3) establish guidelines for the exercise of Federal, State, and local authority with respect to the regulation of cable systems;
(4) assure that cable communications provide and are encouraged to provide the widest possible diversity of information sources and services to the public;
(5) establish an orderly process for franchise renewal which protects cable operators against unfair denials of renewal where the operator's past performance and proposal for future performance meet the standards established by this subchapter; and
(6) promote competition in cable communication and minimize unnecessary regulation that would impose an undue economic burden on cable systems.
On July 19, 2017, Zito Media Communications, LLC, a sister company of Zito, was granted a cable franchise by Wysox Township, in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. (Id. at ¶ 4). Zito Media Communications, LLC, assigned the franchise agreement to Zito on August 1, 2017. (Id. at ¶ 6). Zito holds itself out as a provider of high-speed broadband and internet, digital cable television, and digital voice communications services for customers in a number of states, including Pennsylvania. (Doc. 18, ¶ 9).
The Haggertys, as noted, own an undeveloped parcel of property in Wysox Township, which was conveyed to them on January 18, 2000. (Doc. 16, ¶ 8). The Haggertys' property is traversed by an electric utility easement containing a number of utility poles, electric transmission wires, and other facilities which are owned by Pennsylvania Electric Company ("Penelec"), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corporation. (Id. at ¶ 10). The easement was originally granted by the Haggertys' predecessors in title in 1944 to a predecessor entity of Penelec known as Northern Pennsylvania Power Company ("NPPC"). (Id. at ¶ 11). The easement granted NPPC, and its successors and assigns, the right to "construct, maintain, and operate an electric line consisting of H frames, conductors, overhead and underground lightning protective wires, private communications wires, guys, push braces, and other necessary apparatus and equipment...." (Id. at ¶ 13). The easement further granted NPPC and its successors and assigns the right "to install on said line such additional apparatus and equipment as Grantee may deem necessary...." (Id. at ¶ 14).
Sometime in March 2017, representatives of Zito sought to utilize the easement and to affix its fiber optic cables to Penelec's poles within the easement and subsequently executed an agreement with Penelec obtaining permission to do so. (Id. at ¶ 15; Doc. 18, ¶ 12). The Haggertys have refused to permit Zito access to the easement and have expressly informed Zito *632that it may not affix its fiber optic cables to the Penelec poles in the easement. (Doc. 16, ¶ 16).
II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Zito initiated this action by filing a Complaint on September 18, 2017, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. (Doc. 1). In its Complaint, Zito alleges that the Haggertys' exclusion of Zito violates Section 621(a)(2) of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984,
III. STANDARD OF REVIEW
Summary judgment is appropriate if the moving party establishes "that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." FED. R. CIV. P. 56(a). A dispute is "genuine" only if there is a sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for the non-moving party, and a fact is "material" only if it might affect the outcome of the action under the governing law. See Sovereign Bank v. BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. ,
Initially, the moving party bears the burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine dispute of material fact, and upon satisfaction of that burden, the non-movant must go beyond the pleadings, pointing to particular facts that evidence a genuine dispute for trial. See
A court should not grant summary judgment when there is a disagreement about the facts or the proper inferences that a fact finder could draw from them. See Reedy v. Evanson ,
IV. DISCUSSION
With the aforesaid factual backdrop established, we are tasked with how to interpret § 541(a)(2) of the Cable Act as it applies to this scenario. As stated earlier, *633§ 541(a)(2) provides, in part, that "any franchise shall be construed to authorize the construction of a cable system over public rights-of-way, and through easements, which is within the area to be served by the cable system and which has been dedicated for compatible uses...."
Unfortunately, Congress has not provided a definition of the phrase "dedicated for compatible uses" and this omission has generated significant confusion and disagreement among the district and circuit courts. Of primary confusion among the courts is whether to interpret "dedicated" as a legal term of art or according to its ordinary and common meaning. As a term of art, "dedicated" in the context of property law indicates that the property "was set apart ...to some public use; as to make a private way public by acts evincing an intention to do so." RCN Telecom Services, Inc. v. DeLuca Enterprises, Inc. ,
To date, four circuit courts have specifically addressed the proper construction of the term, and each of the courts has favored the legal definition. See Cable Arizona Corp. v. Coxcom, Inc. ,
While acknowledging the trend of the courts in adopting the legal definition, Zito nevertheless asks us to interpret the term in its ordinary sense, relying on the reasoning of the Southern District of Indiana. See West v. Louisville Gas & Electric Co. , 4:16-cv-00145-RLY-TAB,
In West , the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana distinguished Loretto 's facts, noting that the law in that case "granted cable operators an absolute right to install its cable systems on a landlord's property regardless of whether an easement had been granted ." West ,
Faced with a similar argument, the Eleventh Circuit reached the opposite conclusion. In McNeil , the Court noted that every modern residence, for the most part, "is linked to electric, telephone, and/or video programming services," which, if we read the term broadly, would grant "franchised cable companies the same unencumbered right of access to private property which the Supreme Court held to be a compensable taking in Loretto ." McNeil ,
Zito appears to argue, to the contrary, that the Eleventh Circuit supports the broader reading. In particular, Zito cites Centel Cable TV Co. v. Thos. J. White Dev. Corp. , No. 8814148,
Considering both the West and McNeil decisions, we are more persuaded by the Eleventh Circuit's analysis. The ubiquity of utility connections not only in public spaces but also into individual residences would give cable companies unfettered access regardless of the property owners' interests. Additionally, as the circuit courts have noted, including the Third Circuit, in its original form the Cable Act included a section requiring landlords of multi-unit dwellings to permit access to cable companies, provided they receive just compensation. H.R.Rep. No. 934, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 59. Significantly, Congress dropped this provision from the final bill that was enacted, including the mandate for devising a method to calculate just compensation. "The fact that section 633 was not part of the Act as it ultimately emerged from Congress is a strong indication that Congress did not intend that cable companies could compel the owner of a multi-unit dwelling to permit them to use the owner's private property to provide cable service to apartment dwellers." Cable Investments, Inc. v. Woolley ,
Of course the case at bar does not involve multi-unit dwellings. But the point remains that Congress contemplated the very actions that would be permitted by a broader reading of "dedicated," complete with a method for calculating just compensation, and deliberately deleted the section. This legislative history is instructive. If Congress did not intend to permit cable providers mandatory access to multi-unit dwellings, then it makes little sense to interpret "dedicated" in such a way that would permit it. Accordingly, we find that the only reasonable interpretation of "dedicated" is according to its legal definition. The Cable Act, therefore, only permits Zito to access easements that have been dedicated for public use.
Adopting the legal definition, we must now consider whether the easement here was so dedicated. As noted, the term "dedicated" in the legal sense indicates an appropriation and setting aside of "one's private property to some public use; as to make a private way public by acts evincing an intention to do so." RCN Telecom Services ,
*636As noted earlier, the parties raise other arguments regarding whether Zito has a private right of action under the Cable Act or whether Zito's access to the easement would constitute a compensable taking. Because we find that the Cable Act does not permit access to the easement at issue, we have no need to consider these latter two arguments. Therefore, we shall grant Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment and deny Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment.
V. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we shall grant Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment and deny Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment. An order commensurate with this memorandum will issue separately.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ZITO MEDIA, L.P. v. James M. HAGGERTY, Felice C. Haggerty, Joseph Haggerty, and Michele Haggerty
- Status
- Published