On December 9, 2008, pursuant to the court's instructions, Michigan communities filed a Petition for a Declaratory Ruling at the FCC, asking the FCC to declare that its treatment of PEG channels violates federal laws and regulations. (Due to the size of the exhibits, please contact our office if you are interested in obtaining copies.)

On November 24, 2008, the Michigan court that prevented Comcast from changing access channels to a digital format issued the following orders:

In the first order, the Court rejected claims by Comcast that Section 544(e) of the Cable Act entitles cable operators to transmit PEG channels in any format. Section 544(e) states that "No State or franchising authority may prohibit, condition, or restrict a cable system's use of any type of subscriber equipment or any transmission technology." But, as the Court noted, the FCC has emphasized that this provision does not affect local authority to enforce PEG requirements in a franchise, even where those may affect an operator's technological choices. Quoting from an FCC order, the court stated that the Cable Act "affirms the ability of an LFA to establish and enforce franchise provisions concerning facilities and equipment related to PEG channels and for educational and governmental use of channel capacity on institutional networks."

In a second order, the court denied a motion filed by Comcast in which Comcast had asked the court to immediately certify questions to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for review. This decision's effect was mainly procedural. Rather than sending these issues to the Sixth Circuit, the court elected to send them to the FCC for resolution (this was done on Dec. 9, 2008). The Court did reaffirm that Michigan law was preempted by federal law to the extent it would prevent localities from enforcing PEG requirements in existing franchises.

The Township of Meridian and the City of Dearborn filed suit in federal district court January 11, 2008, asking the court to stop Comcast from dropping analog PEG channels and providing those channels only as a digital service. On January 14, 2008, the court issued a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction (which remains in effect until a new order issues from the court) preventing Comcast from moving the PEG channels.

The trade press reports that a parallel action in Macomb County Circuit Court (Case 2008-000168), filed by the city of Warren, Michigan, also resulted in a temporary restraining order.

The text of the Meridian-Dearborn court's temporary restraining order is linked below.

Court's Opinion and Temporary Restraining Order (1/14/08)

Comcast's bid to convert PEG channels to a digital format suffered another blow on October 3. Judge Victoria Roberts ruled that Michigan cities could bring a lawsuit challenging the conversion, held that federal law preempted state laws that purported to invalidate PEG obligations in existing franchises, and said she would ask the FCC to rule whether converting PEG to a digital format violated federal law. The case was brought by Meridian Township, joined by Dearborn, Warren and Bloomfield Township.

The text of the court's October 3 decision is linked below.

Court's Decision and Order (10/3/08)

Selected additional pleadings from the case are linked below:

Complaint (1/10/08)
Cities' Memorandum of Law in Support of Motions for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction (1/10/08)
Comcast's brief opposing motion for preliminary injunction (1/12/08)
Cities' reply brief (1/13/08)
Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (5/7/08)
Response to Motion to Dismiss (6/30/08)
Response to Motion to Dismiss Memorandum of Law of Amicus Curiae (6/30/08)
Reply in Support of Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (7/14/08)
Comcast's Motion for Leave to File Supplemental Memorandum on Primary Jurisdiction (9/11/08)
Plaintiff's Response to Comcast's Supplemental Memorandum (9/19/08)

Congressional reactions to Comcast's actions:

News release from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce applauding Michigan court decision (1/15/08)
Hon. John Dingell's 12/21/07 letter to Comcast regarding its proposed PEG channel move
Comcast's Jan. 7, 2008, response to Chairman Dingell's letter

Click on these links for news articles reporting on the temporary restraining order by AP, the Detroit Free Press, Multichannel News, and AppRising.