Cable Operators' Fifth Amendment Claims Applied to Digital Must-Carry‪.‬

I. INTRODUCTION As we face the widespread transition from analog to digital television, arguments are being made with increasing frequency by organizations such as the National Cable Television Association ("NCTA") that regulations like digital must-carry violate cable operators' Fifth Amendment rights. (1) These arguments have been made in the past, although most cases have failed to reach the Fifth Amendment claims by deciding the issues solely on First Amendment grounds. (2) And yet, without a clear understanding of the extent of the property rights held by cable operators, and the relationship between such property rights and speech rights, the legal analysis of such claims will remain incomplete.