47 U.S.C. § 557
Section 557 · Existing franchises
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad v. Heritage Cablevision of Dallas, Inc. (1989)
Most recently applied in 80 Wash. App. 901 - City of Ellensburg v. King Videocable Co. (March 1996)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) The provisions of—
(1) any franchise in effect on the effective date of this subchapter, including any such provisions which relate to the designation, use, or support for the use of channel capacity for public, educational, or governmental use, and
(2) any law of any State (as defined in section 153 of this title) in effect on October 30, 1984, or any regulation promulgated pursuant to such law, which relates to such designation, use or support of such channel capacity,
shall remain in effect, subject to the express provisions of this subchapter, and for not longer than the then current remaining term of the franchise as such franchise existed on such effective date.
(b) For purposes of subsection (a) of this section and other provisions of this subchapter, a franchise shall be considered in effect on the effective date of this subchapter if such franchise was granted on or before such effective date.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
For “the effective date of this subchapter” and “such effective date”, referred to in subsecs. (a) and (b), as 60 days after Oct. 30, 1984, except where otherwise expressly provided, see section 9(a) of Pub. L. 98–549, set out as an Effective Date note under section 521 of this title.
Amendments
1996—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 104–104 substituted “section 153” for “section 153(v)”.
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.