On January 18, 1999, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its decision in the appeal of the FCC’s Open Video System (OVS) rules. For background information on OVS please see OVS FAQs.

The City of Dallas, the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), and BellSouth had all challenged various aspects of the rules. The Court upheld certain aspects of the rules, and, in very good news for local governments, struck down the FCC’s attempt to preempt local franchising of OVS providers. The following is short analysis of the Fifth Circuit's ruling.