TIME WARNER, the media group, won a Supreme Court victory yesterday in the battle to keep rival internet companies from using its cable network.
The Supreme Court, in its final session before the summer holidays, ruled that cable television operators in America do not have to throw open their networks to allow rivals access to their high-speed broadband lines.
Time Warner operates one of the biggest US cable TV companies, which also offers high-speed broadband internet access.
The ruling overturned an earlier court victory for dial-up internet service providers (ISPs), which have argued that they should be allowed to offer their services over cable television lines in much the same way as they do over phone lines.
The ruling is a blow for such companies, which include Earthlink and Brand X, the ISP that brought the case.
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Paul Cappucetti, the chief counsel for Time Warner, argued successfully that Time Warner and other cable operators have been striking individual deals to offer cable access to ISPs, rather than being forced to do business with them by regulation and legislation.
A Time Warner spokesman said: “We would rather keep government out of this, and let the deals in the marketplace decide who can have access to our cable network.”
The Supreme Court ruling paves the way for further deregulation of the US telecoms sector, which could be opened up further to foreign competition.